Getting Ready While Getting Old

The time has finally arrived.

Tomorrow, my wife, our youngest son, and I depart for a three month trip to London where I will be teaching as part of a Villanova study abroad program.

We are quite excited about the opportunity, and we’ve spent a good deal of time getting ready for it.

But it seems like the prep required for such a trip now is much different than if I had done this 20 years ago, when I was only 40 years old.

In just the past month, I have had appointments with the following doctors:

• cardiologist
• urologist
• opthamologist
• dermatologist
• otolaryngologist
• dentist
• optometrist

These were all just routine check-ups, but it was nice to get a clean bill of health from all of them before our trip. There was also a trip to the ER (via ambulance) in the middle of all of those doctors’ visits, but that had a positive outcome as well.

The doctors have all assured me that there are doctors and hospitals in London should something go wrong, but I’m hoping I won’t have to find out.

So with all of those doctor visits out of the way, I can now start thinking about the fun parts of the trip.

Like where we will eat our first meal, where we will buy groceries, what museums to visit, what plays to see, what towns to visit, and of course, what material to cover in my class.

So tomorrow will be my last blog written while in the good ole’ USA; future posts will be coming to you from across the pond.

By the way, there was also a visit to the veterinarian this past weekend, but that was for our dog, not me. Nellie got a clean bill of health as well.