Listen to your body. Lifestyle decisions made,

[vicandug]

Well, I have spent the past week in the CCU at Dandenong hospital after a visit to the GP cos I just wasn't feeling right.
I was feeling a bit tight in the chest and was having a bit of trouble breathing.  Not unlike a flu.  I went to my gp on Sunday, had an ECG and was sent straight to hospital where I had numerous tests.
It turns out I have 30% blockage in a few spots.  Not enough to cause a heart attack but enough to make me sit up and listen.
So please, everyone...  If it doesn't feel right then it just might not be right so have it looked at.

Anyways, while in there I have thought a lot about what I want out of life.  We have always had a dream to travel our wonderful country like snails with our house on our back. So that we will.
I don't think it's going to be a quick process.  Things need to be done.
I have emailed the bank to find out about when the fixed loan portion of the house finishes.  I am also getting loan information for if we choose to rent the house out.  No big deal if we can't. We can sell it and rent when and if we get sick of travelling. 
I am going to start listing things we don't use on Gumtree and get rid of them.

My question to myswaggers, is if anyone has done this, is there anything they had to organise but didn't think of?  Are there things they wish they had done but didn't?  Any help is always appreciated.

Thanks

Vicki

 

[speewa158]

 Follow Your Heart  , Full fill dreams    , Be in inspiration to other to do the same  . Get out there & make DUST  , Phone home to tell them where you are      . Let the world know You Did it & didn't sit back to wait for the inevitable  & rack up the memories & Miles   

[gclan]

Yeah, what he said

Hope the health improves, and good luck with living the dream

[maverick01]

Mate,
        I'm guessing you would have already read my post about our issues in life. Remember this life is far too short to sit back and think I will start traveling or doing the things i enjoy next year or when I retire.

Get out and live life. Everyone only ever gets 1 chance.

If your ever up our way, brisbane way give us a bell and we can catch up or if you need a bed for the night we have a spare bed. I can't offer you a place to setup the camper as we don't have the room but there is always a bed available.


If you and your wife are going to travel and are a bit concerned about your health. If you can afford to buy or rent please go and get yourself either an EPIRB or satellite phone or even better get both.

I have an ear if you want to chat anytime day or night.


Maverick01

[Mallory Black]

Hi Mate
sounds good but....if you want out of the current house great but I'd suggest buying another smaller/cheaper property, rent it out and when sick of travelling just move in yourself.
Seen plenty of nomads get priced out of the market because they could not buy back in.
All about lifestyle,
Other option, you might instead want to buy into a retirement community so in that case keep the money in a term deposit till the decision can be made.

[Patr80l]

Follow Your Heart  , Full fill dreams    , Be in inspiration to other to do the same  . Get out there & make DUST  , Phone home to tell them where you are      . Let the world know You Did it & didn't sit back to wait for the inevitable  & rack up the memories & Miles   

Follow your heart?    Not the best analogy.

[vicandug]

Hi Mate
sounds good but....if you want out of the current house great but I'd suggest buying another smaller/cheaper property, rent it out and when sick of travelling just move in yourself.
Seen plenty of nomads get priced out of the market because they could not buy back in.
All about lifestyle,
Other option, you might instead want to buy into a retirement community so in that case keep the money in a term deposit till the decision can be made.

We don't 'want out' of the house but it might be the only option available financially.  We aren't old enough for the retirement thing and I think Ug (Graeme) would go nuts living in something like that.  We both love our home but owning a house isn't the only way to live.

[IanC]

We are having some deep and meaningfuls in our house lately too.  Fortunately not due to health circumstances.  But we have just moved Dad from the home he built himself 50 years ago into a high care ward at a nursing home.  He just turned 75.  This time last year he was fine. 

Worked until he was 73.  Local builder,  long hours, weekends, didn't live an expensive life, provided well for us kids and mum. 

I know that I am wired the same way.  High work ethic, whatever it takes to get the job done.  If it means working late or weekends thats what happens. 

But looking at Dad and how quickly he deteriorated well it is his legacy to me to take stock and make some changes, for myself and my family.  After all I am only 25years behind him and that will go in a blink......

[vicandug]

We are having some deep and meaningfuls in our house lately too.  Fortunately not due to health circumstances.  But we have just moved Dad from the home he built himself 50 years ago into a high care ward at a nursing home.  He just turned 75.  This time last year he was fine. 

Worked until he was 73.  Local builder,  long hours, weekends, didn't live an expensive life, provided well for us kids and mum. 

I know that I am wired the same way.  High work ethic, whatever it takes to get the job done.  If it means working late or weekends thats what happens. 

But looking at Dad and how quickly he deteriorated well it is his legacy to me to take stock and make some changes, for myself and my family.  After all I am only 25years behind him and that will go in a blink......

I totally agree.   What I have isn't serious but enough to make me stop and think about things. We have been putting it off until...  The kids grow up, the kids all leave home. (One is 24, not sure that will ever happen) when we have paid off the house, when we have saved more money, all the normal excuses but one day there won't be any time for when we......

[rossbarb]

Hi!
We are in the process of setting p our retirement van, an off road Free Spirit caravan (great) and I am slowly culling the house of excess stuff, a little bit each week to the op shop, they can gain the benefit, Hubby has to clean out the shed now that is a different matter,,
We are painting our house, finishing the garden off so we can rent the house and shed, but have built an add on for our van so will store all the stuff we dont want to get rid of in there. Have heard the NRMA is the only insurance company that will insure your stuff while it is in storage but you have to have contents insurance the previous year.
So we to are in the process as well, we have lost one friend last week to cancer and another one is in a bad way too so that has made us sit up and move a bit quicker
Best wishes for the future
Barb

[firefox]

So what some don't know is I had 2 minor heart attacks in 2010. Caused by stress.
I was lucky but it wasn enough to tell me to slow down.

Speaking from experience, there is nothing that can't be done on the road. Trust me I am even running a court case being on the road.

My suggestion is really simple. GO... NOW..
The hardest part is GOING once you are on the road you will be surprised. Even if you go and stay nearby and finish things off.

Health may not be there tomorrow, however most that know me, can see how I have changed and look healthier just need to loose a little weight.
Justin

[Marschy]

Well, I have spent the past week in the CCU at Dandenong hospital after a visit to the GP cos I just wasn't feeling right.
I was feeling a bit tight in the chest and was having a bit of trouble breathing.  Not unlike a flu.  I went to my gp on Sunday, had an ECG and was sent straight to hospital where I had numerous tests.
It turns out I have 30% blockage in a few spots.  Not enough to cause a heart attack but enough to make me sit up and listen.
So please, everyone...  If it doesn't feel right then it just might not be right so have it looked at.

Anyways, while in there I have thought a lot about what I want out of life.  We have always had a dream to travel our wonderful country like snails with our house on our back. So that we will.
I don't think it's going to be a quick process.  Things need to be done.
I have emailed the bank to find out about when the fixed loan portion of the house finishes.  I am also getting loan information for if we choose to rent the house out.  No big deal if we can't. We can sell it and rent when and if we get sick of travelling. 
I am going to start listing things we don't use on Gumtree and get rid of them.

My question to myswaggers, is if anyone has done this, is there anything they had to organise but didn't think of?  Are there things they wish they had done but didn't?  Any help is always appreciated.

Thanks

Vicki

 

What did you think of having an angiogram? A bit freaky, you can feel the stuff they inject into you flowing through your veins. Your blockages obviously weren't serious enough to warrant a angioplasty (stent insertion). Now that is another experience altogether. When they block the artery by inflating the catheter it causes an angina attack, not nice. But it is over and done with in seconds.

[Bird]

Selling up and going on the road sounds good.... but I would think coming back to nothing would be very worrying..

[xcvator]

I've heard that you're a long time dead, and that looking down at the grass is better than the alternative,I can't vouch for that but having a stent put at 1:30 am  frightened the sh1t out of me.
 You're kids are adults now whether they want to be or not,it's YOUR life now, so live YOUR life as you see fit.
Good luck and my best wishes go with you what ever you choose to do, and you've got a great camper to do whatever in 

[feisty]

Exercise and eat well.  Be your best. Pretty simple really. ......

[Homer_Jay]

Selling up and going on the road sounds good.... but I would think coming back to nothing would be very worrying..

I agree, and it is something I couldn't bring myself to do.
But this is a lot to do with what we think is the normal for society (you grow up, get a job, get married, have kids, buy a house, pay the house off, retire, sit at home on a misery pension for a few years, then die and leave something to the kids).

I think now days people are starting to break that mould and are enjoying life more. The fear comes from doing something different to everyone else. We are a lot like sheep!

If you spend years on the road enjoying life as compared to going to work, and at the end you come back and rent instead of owning a house, are you really that much worse off? In fact the pension will favor you more if you are renting!
When I started work about 23 years ago, I worked with this guy who was about late 40's, he was the most miserable old bastard I have ever met. I have never in my life known anyone to be so negative about everything! He worked in the same job his whole life and lived in the same house since he married, drove the same old falcon, he hated any change. Anyway, one day his wife had a health scare, they sold their house and the beloved falcon, bought a 4wd and a caravan, quit his job (we were all that surprised we didn't believe it!) and hit the road. Now that was 20 years ago!
I still keep in touch with people I used to work with at that place (people seem to stay there forever) and a couple of the guys keep in touch with this guy when they are traveling through the town. And apparently he is like a different guy, happy as anything, not a care in the world and loving life! Best thing that he could have done.
He picks up a bit of work here and there, and they live pretty frugal I guess. But it goes to show there are other options in life.
This guy will finish traveling one day, I guess they will then move into a retirement village and rent. Would he really have been better off if he spent the last 20 years in that job that he hated so much?We just gotta have the guts to step away from the Heard!

[gronk]

What you have MAY be irreversable, but with a couple of pills a day, some exercise and a good diet will have you living a long time yet.....but STRESS is the one thing you don't need.

Do things that you are comfortable with, not what others say you should do.......where ever that may lead !! 

BTW, I've got 20% ..

[oldmate]

Exercise and eat well.  Be your best. Pretty simple really. ......

doesnt always work like that.  My Best mate father, used to run 10km each way to the train station for work, every day for as long as i can remember, they always ate healthy never did i ever see them with takeaway, churchy type people, never smoked, never drank. got home from work one night, said good evening, walked up the stair for a shower, had a heart attach which killed him instantly. Ambos didnt even try resuscitation. He was 50. 

[feisty]

Totally agree but with 63 per cent of the australian adult population overweight it can't hurt now can it.......

[oldmate]

Totally agree but with 63 per cent of the australian adult population overweight it can't hurt now can it.......

totally agree with you too 

[gronk]

Yeh, my father used to be a fitness freak...up until he was 74 yrs old...then a quadruple bypass......brother had a hearty, 57 yrs old, came out of a week long coma fairly good....me, I've got 20% blockage......so you could say hereditary ...nothing you can do except do all the good things and hope it keeps it at bay.....but the main thing is to improve your lifestyle and at least prolong your life..

[vicandug]

Yeh, my father used to be a fitness freak...up until he was 74 yrs old...then a quadruple bypass......brother had a hearty, 57 yrs old, came out of a week long coma fairly good....me, I've got 20% blockage......so you could say hereditary ...nothing you can do except do all the good things and hope it keeps it at bay.....but the main thing is to improve your lifestyle and at least prolong your life..

I am going to do all the good things and improve my lifestyle.
Travel - remove the stress, relax and enjoy life, smell the roses and every other plant that is in Australia.
Eat better and exercise - walking around taking in the sites of Australia and sampling all the food I can.  (Even if its cooked on the webber)

[xcvator]

Goodonya 

[cheif carlos]

doesnt always work like that.  My Best mate father, used to run 10km each way to the train station for work, every day for as long as i can remember, they always ate healthy never did i ever see them with takeaway, churchy type people, never smoked, never drank. got home from work one night, said good evening, walked up the stair for a shower, had a heart attach which killed him instantly. Ambos didnt even try resuscitation. He was 50. 

Agree with you, my maternal grandparents (with 1 still alive at 95 other passed at 94) have truly only had takeaway a handful of times, eaten mostly home grown vegetables etc have always looked overweight.

Same but opposite

Unfortunately we are all different and cannot be compared regular check ups best prevention 

[TheWall]

totally agree with you too 

Except don't take up cycling as THE WORLD will hate you for getting out and being active when they are not. Jealousy is a curse. Just this month got back under 100kg after 10 years of being overweight. Life is just better when fit and healthy and making better choices etc

Good message that health checks are for the brave and not the other way around. Takes courage to get things checked out and even more to start getting them fixed by changing life long habits etc etc.

Read somewhere that the 40-50 age group in triathlons is faster than the 30-40 as they have that little bit more awareness of health etc and are better prepared.

Thanks for posting