Hi, thanks for the attempt but approx. 2 more days have passed and still no confirmation.   According to this site: https://bitcoinfees.earn.com/
my fee (which falls into the 31-40 Satoshi/byte range) is expected to be confirmed within 24 hours of broadcasting, so I am perplexed as to what the problem is?  This fee amounts to approximately 5% of my spend, so it seems reasonable to me.  Is Bitcoin a dying crypto at this point (as some pundits are claiming)?  Just wondering where this is all going and open minded to everyone's input.   

Would it be worth asking someone else to give this one a go?  Thanks again to all for your help and tips.