My husband is 31 years young and I am 30 years young. When my husband was young he had heart surgery to replace a valve. He takes medication daily to thin his blood so the blood will run smoothly through his new valve. Nevertheless, my husband is in great health and his job demands great physical strength and energy from his body, Alhamdulillah. He is a home builder. Myself, I am currently near the end of my fourth month of pregnancy. I have had asthma since birth. The only time I have problems with my asthma is when I go overseas to Pakistan where there is a lot of dust and smoke. Occasionally, I have problems here in Michigan, USA. I had major lung surgery in 1994. Over three quarters of my right lung was removed due to an 80% benign carsonoid (tumor like thing). Nevertheless, I am very health and my own job at home demands great physical and mental ability, Alhamdulillah.
I tried to prepare my lungs and physical body for Hajj by taking black seeds for two weeks along with some other pills that strengthen the lungs. I bought some new walking shoes just for Hajj. I tried walking around the house with my daughter in the child carrier, on the front of my body, to prepare for the huge walking experience that I am about to experience on Hajj.
My husband and I have two children, Alhamdulillah. Abdullah is three years young and Hafsah is 10 1/2 months young. All of us together have to fly to Pakistan first. There we will attempt to leave Abdullah (our three year son) with my husband's family, Insha-Allah. We are leaving a couple of days early from Michigan, USA so that we can get Abdullah settled in at the home in Pakistan. We need to see if he is going to be able to stay without us in Pakistan, Insha-Allah. Abdullah has a Hajj visa just in case things don't work out. We are prepared to take him with us, just in case things don't work out in Pakistan. My daughter (Hafsah) is going with us for Hajj, Insha-Allah.
We packed up the truck and left home our home in Jackson, Michigan around noon. Our flight from Detroit to London, on British Airways, leaves around 6:00 pm, Insha-Allah. We have a lot of running around to do in Ann Arbor before we head to the airport (like pick up the plane tickets). It takes about 50 minutes to get to Ann Arbor.
We are now on the airplane. Our flight actually left around 6:15 pm. We had no problems at check-in or boarding, Alhamdulillah. So many Muslims, mostly Arabs, are on this flight to London with us. The airline fed us Muslim meals and now we will sleep a bit. Our flight to London is about 8 hours.