I call it Jon’s Secret Quinque  Plan For Life and Health. I’m off to a running start.

I’ve decided to focus on five essential health issues – my food, my eyes, my diabetes, my heart, and my kidney stone – all at once and put them behind m, if they will let me, at least for a while.

This is the first time I’ve spoken openly about this plan, but it seems promising and sounds like it is taking shape.

I’m off to a good start.

(Above, Maria blogging before her belly dancing class.)

Every one of my doctors thinks this is a great idea, even though a couple of them were initially bewildered.

I see it as a kind of bundle.

Of these issues, the most serious, of course, is my heart.

It’s been more than a decade since my open heart surgery, and if anything is likely to bring an end to my life, it is my heart.

Diabetes is second, Covid-19 knocked my diabetes numbers into the sky, and I urgently need to get those numbers back where they should be.

My foot issues have been severe but certainly not life-threatening. My kidney stone could cause a lot of trouble in my kidney and make me very uncomfortable for a long time. I need to get rid of it.

Diabetes could shorten my life considerably if not taken seriously.

I take it seriously.

The toe surgery scheduled for next week allowed me to tackle these issues more or less simultaneously and hopefully get all of them on the right track.

I wasn’t sure how this would work, but I’m nearly halfway there. And I’m exhausted—lots of doctors, lots of waiting, lots of tests.

I saw a cardiologist yesterday to “clear me” for foot surgery. The examination went very well. My heart is sound.

My EKG has not changed over the past year; my heartbeat is strong. I have nitroglycerin emergency heart pills I’m supposed to carry around; I have not had to use them once in all of these years.

I have no angina, shortness of breath, or another heart system. When I settle my foot problems, I’ll add daily walks to my exercise plan. I’ve started walking again, and there is no trouble.

Because all of my doctors had to examine me to “clear” my surgery next week, I realized I had a perfect chance to gauge my health, not just the foot, but the whole picture. There was a lot of testing and poking, but I’m almost done.

My primary care nurse and I worked out a diabetes plan that has worked beyond our expectations.

She put me on a new and experimental insulin I inject once weekly and changed the regular insulin doses to be closer to my meals.

I have a new insulin shot for bedtime. I have been prescribed the new Litre 2 sensor kit that allows me to monitor my blood sugar instantly after eating without any needles, meters, strips, or finger jabs. I only need a small sensor on my arm and a smartphone.

I saw my eye doctor this morning; he said my eyesight had improved over the year with my glasses; my vision is 20-20.

Diabetes has caused some trouble in my retina; it was frightening. It’s gone. Diet and special eye drops. Besides my tired eyes from being on the computer for much of the day, my eyesight is not a problem for now. I did not expect it to be better than last year. I was proud of that.

I’m having trouble handling bright light driving at night and into the sun. I have a new prescription for glasses with tinted lenses.

Three down, two to go.

I will see Amy the following Monday for the final clearance for my surgery. She and I will get to go over all this. Two days later, my toe goes.

The diabetes program is a real success.

In two months, my blood sugar has dropped from the 200 plus numbers Covid brought on back down to a fasting average of 140, a good place for me to be.

I’ve also lost seven pounds in the past few months, mainly through diet changes. My meals are small and healthy, and I eat very little for dinner or afterward.

I think the heart disease and diabetic issues are controlled, and I feel stronger and better.

As to the foot issue, we hope amputating the toe will make it possible for me to walk quickly and regularly, as I have done for many years.

I know it’s risky, and it will be painful, and the recovery period will be a struggle and a strain.

After the surgery, I’ll be fitted for another custom-made brace to support the foot, not the toe.

I’m looking ahead to that. Walking will add to my soul and my life.

I also know I am very fortunate to be undergoing this procedure at the hands of a nationally-respected surgical podiatrist.

A very well-meaning friend reassured me that he understood in my advancing age that I know that making a decision like mine doesn’t make it easy. I know that, but trusting Dr. Daly and my decision makes it much more manageable. I’m not thinking of easy.

It isn’t easy to like being old. But there it is. It has been good for me.

I can’t join the elderly community of lament and resignation; I just can’t.

Getting old is not easy. Neither is giving birth, being an adolescent, being young, looking for secure work, being black, being an immigrant, being a woman, being poor,  being a Ukranian, or living in America.

I have it a lot easier than most people and a lot to live for.

I am grateful for my work with radical acceptance; it has helped prepare me for life, not just lurch from crisis to crisis. I am not sad about it, just a little scared.

So if the surgery works, the foot plan will be a smashing success.

That leaves the kidney stone, which has caused some bleeding and another discomfort. My urinary specialist doctor will operate on the kidney stone on May 12th, one month after my toe amputation.

I won’t be cut, touched, or invaded, and the surgery is done in the same place my toe surgery is.

Dr. Capello uses a machine to bombard the kidney stone with dust and sand; the stone passes out of the body 75 percent of the time.

If that doesn’t work, he’ll try the same thing again.

If that doesn’t work, he will try a more invasive procedure that works 95 percent of the time but has a more painful healing process.

Either way, I like the odds.

Together, they suggest a winner.

If that works, my Quinque project will succeed; I hope there will be some space between me and my health issues as I turn 76.

There are no promises and no guarantees in this race. These are more formidable odds than betting on the horses, which I did for several years. But I am a gambler and a sucker for odds like that.

During this recovery period, I will stay focused on my work and the development of my soul.

Work is a necessary dimension of the spiritual life; without it, I am here only to live off the fruits of the earth. That’s not enough for me.

I have lots of good work to do.

Facing my health is one of those tasks; this is where I put my money where my big mouth is and find people to meet with and talk to about important things.