For the parents, serious update, serious decisions.

so as you already know melissa has had
some bad news from a year I can't even really call it bad news but we have a diagnosis that finally resolves unanswered questions that we both had leading up to that point it was obvious that Melissa had an underlying hormonal problem and what that was and why that was wasn't known but just in the couple days leading up to going to the hospital through sheer speculation and I thought we actually came to the same conclusion so the the problem was before that the other medication she was on without a diagnosis was successfully suppressing the symptoms of her illness so in a sense that's good news you can come to the correct conclusion for the wrong reasons she was on the right medication but for the wrong reasons so to speak the doctors didn't know what was wrong with her and that gave you ten years of good quality of life more so for more than ten years she benefited from the medicine she was hond unbeknownst to her and unbeknownst everyone what her condition was or what her problem is but now that we know what the problem is it does seem inevitable that she would go back to Detroit to get some more tests done so really these are blood tests looking at specific hormone levels this kind of thing now I don't know how long that would take maybe one month maybe three months there's no reason to think there would be a six month ordeal Melissa might as well make of it an opportunity to obviously see her parents but maybe she'll see her brother's plural or her brother's kids or whatever maybe show up you know if you're gonna be there anyway but it seems necessary that we now tell the jobs she's applying for that she's not really available for those jobs and that you know in the next couple of months she's going to be going back to the states to deal with a health problem or health emergency or whatever you want to call to try to pin down the details the condition and the details of what the best course treatment is but it's genuinely possible that Melissa will just start taking again exactly the same medication she was already on before this whole adventure began which is okay we already know that works and that gave you more than ten years of good enough health it's suppressed all the symptoms you're having so the question then becomes short-term and long-term how much sense does it make for me to remain in Taiwan or for us to continue building a home in Taiwan again we may just be talking about one year or two years or is there some kind of strong case to be made for me leaving behind the possibility of a life in Taiwan and I guess going back to Victoria n-b-c I have to tell you currently I find it very hard to talk myself into going back to Victoria the only reason for me to go back to Victoria is to go back to classes at University of Victoria there which is already hard to talk myself into it's bet it's a bad situation short term and long term it's a lot of money and let's be clear it's Gayle Lords money they would have to it's basically impossible to pay less than $1,000 a month in rent in Victoria you know again the weighted pay lower rent is to split an apartment with three people or something okay good luck um good luck at age 40 or 41 as OB by then you know it's not really possible not real cause for me to have a roommate um anyway especially not as a vegan especially not all these other factors so no it's a lot of money for very little outcome and basically zero employment opportunities and also it would it would more or less force the end of this relationship it would force me and Melissa to break up or or us to have a very long distance very and frequently seeing each other relationship so if I go back to Victoria to go back to you Vic you if it's not terminating this relationship it is gonna put this relationship on hiatus for a long time to come um now it's true conversely that if I stay in Taiwan for one year or two years it seems likely that I end up going back to you Vic eventually anyway maybe that's true as opposed to staying in Taiwan and if somehow I end up earning a decent living here and so on that is kind of a it's a difference so it's nice to imagine but I don't I'm not optimistic about that I'm not optimistic about career or educational prospects in Taiwan what I am optimistic about is uniformly how much I can learn in Taiwan and how much Melissa can learn also in Taiwan I can really increase my level of ability in the Chinese language in Taiwan I could to build a career as a YouTube or YouTube this month has been a growth month last two months it's been more it's been better in favor of the last two months actually um so I could keep on trying to build a career via YouTube and have a very low cost of living our rent is very cheap and everything else is very cheap but yeah sure through English teaching English tutoring yes it is possible I could learn a good living relative the cost of living Tony yes it is possible that could work but the main benefit is the opportunity to learn Chinese and if I wanted the opportunity to learn French for that long-term future and just having a having a home in those ways so yeah tough decisions are coming up but it seems that the jobs we've been talking to in Taiwan we're now gonna have to tell them melissa is not available for the next several months but I am again the assumption being I would stay in Taiwan what most it goes back to Detroit to get these tests done I think that makes sense and that I should try to build on the foothold we've got in Taiwan as best I can it's leaving out some of the details there may be more difficulties ahead in Taiwan [Music] but it's it's very difficult for me to talk myself into the notion that just because Melissa needs some blood tests done in Detroit that that's a reason for me to move back to Victoria that's not a logical syllogism that for me makes sense