I’m not sure if my husband Graham and I had any definite plans for how to spend our first year post retirement.

In the pre-myeloma days, I think we often talked about traveling more and spending more time together doing the things we love to do. My multiple myeloma diag­nosis turned everything upside down for a while. Our plans shifted to much more day-to-day things, such as doctor visits, man­agement of treat­ment side effects, and the hope of better health.

As I’ve said before, I was lucky and recovered well from my stem cell trans­plant and went into remission. Even with the likelihood of better times ahead, our plans to travel at that point were quite modest.

The biggest change since my stem cell trans­plant in 2015 was when we returned to our home in Scotland last year after many years of living in southeast Asia. Once we were home, life took on a different tune, and we enjoyed being back in Scotland (apart from the weather!). Graham con­tinued to do some freelance work for the com­pany that had employed him in Asia, and we both spent happy times catching up friends and family.

A few months ago, Graham was encouraged to take up his pre­vi­ous job again and we con­sidered returning to live in Singapore. It was a tempting offer in many ways. Graham would have a steady income again, I’d be able to return to the doctors and the health care system that had been so good for me, and it would be nice and warm! However, there would also be downsides asso­ci­ated with such a move. Rather than spending more time together, we’d return to a life where Graham was work­ing long hours and was often away from home.

We chatted and ruminated over the pros and cons of the potential move. After much deliberation, Graham said that he felt that this move would rather put our life on hold again. And then he asked me: “What were we waiting for?” He was referring to our dream of traveling more and spending more time together.

Well, I’m not sure, I thought. I certainly don’t want to feel that I’m waiting for relapse! I want to live my life to the full and enjoy every day that I can. Living life to the full for me includes traveling.

Traveling for me is not so easy as it used to be, but maybe now, right now, is the time to go back to our pre­vi­ous pre-myeloma plans, I thought.

So Graham turned the job offer down, and we got back to thinking more about what we wanted to do at this particular time of our lives. Spending time together doing the things we love to do sounded like a great starting point to both of us!

Over the last year, we have started to take vacations again. Getting travel insurance was a challenge, but we man­aged to find a policy suitable for someone with multiple myeloma. Even with the insurance, I find myself rather nervously checking holiday can­cel­la­tion policies as I’ve certainly lost confidence in my own health.

But with our new 'what are we waiting for' mantra, we decided to be more ambitious and return to the type of vacation we had in the past, since it is definitely something we love to do together.

So our next trip will be a walking safari in northern Kenya.

I can’t really begin to describe the excitement and joy these types of trips have brought us in the past. Being far into the wilderness, immersed in nature, and challenged by the en­viron­ment is just as good as it gets as far as Graham and I are concerned. We both studied zoology at university, and the natural world is infinitely interesting to us.

We’ve not really dared to dream of a trip such as this since my myeloma diag­nosis. Looking back to my trans­plant days in Singapore, I think of how just recovering enough to have a coffee and a lamington was my aim at the time. Our recent, modest trips and vacations have been great, and we’ve appreciated them so much more, as they have seemed to signify progress in the journey back to health and a more normal life.

I’m so much stronger now, we have the time, we still have the passion for wildlife, so 'what on earth are we waiting for?'

The trip is all booked, and I can feel the excitement bubbling up inside me. I’m scared as well. My body is not as reliable as it was, and I’m hoping so much that it will behave!

Wish me luck!

Editor's Note – Beacon readers who know how English is spoken on the eastern side of the Atlantic are probably wondering if Marjorie really used the word "vacation" in her initial draft of this article. Not sur­pris­ingly, she did not; she used "holiday," as most people in Scotland would. We have used "vacation" instead of "holiday," however, because the meaning of "vacation" is under­stood by most of our readers, even those unlikely to use the word in day-to-day conversation.