Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!

Family isn’t always blood.  It’s the people in your life who want you in theirs; the ones who accept you for who you are.  The ones who would do anything to see you smile and who love you no matter what. – Unknown

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are still enjoying what’s left of the weekend.  We had a great Thanksgiving here in Florida.  Our good friends, Debbie and Bill, invited us over for a Thanksgiving feast on Wednesday.  Debbie is a fabulous cook and went all out – a beautiful turkey “steamed in bourbon,” homemade stuffing made from toasted cranberry walnut bread with all kinds of great things added to it, garlic mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, steamed veggies, homemade pumpkin cheese bread, homemade cranberry and orange relish, homemade pumpkin pie (I’m not a pumpkin pie fan, but it was the best pumpkin pie I’ve ever had – so delicious), and a homemade apple chutney dish.  Oh my!  It was all SOOOO delicious.  On Thursday (Thanksgiving Day), Debbie, Bill, and I went to Animal Kingdom (a Disney theme park in Orlando) and had a wonderful day.  Kenny opted not to go because his foot was really bothering him, and he was afraid of all the walking – and we did a LOT of walking.  We offered to push him around in a wheelchair, but he decided he’d rather stay home and work on the boat.  I had never been to Animal Kingdom before, and it’s a beautiful park.  We really enjoyed the safari – made me feel like I was back in Africa where we went on a couple of different safaris many years ago.  There were lots of other great rides and exhibitions, too – thoroughly enjoyed the day.  We left the park around 1500 (we had gotten there at 0800 when they opened) and went back to Debbie and Bill’s for delicious leftovers.  Kenny and the doggies joined us for that.  All in all, it was a wonderful Thanksgiving. 

On Friday I did about an hour of Black Friday shopping.  That’s about all I could handle of the crowds. 

Yesterday we went up to Kars Park on Merritt Island and watched the NASA rocket launch of the Mars Science Lab and Curiosity rover.  It was a beautiful day and a beautiful launch.  I think the rover is supposed to reach Mars next August (it has to travel something like 350 million miles to get there)!  After the launch we went to the boat.  Ken worked on the boat for a few hours.  I got my Christmas decorations out of storage and organized the storage unit a little bit.  Ooooooeeeee!  It was a mess in there.  The inversion table is now readily accessible – right inside the door – and we will get it out when we move up to Merritt Island next weekend.

Radiation went smoothly again this past week.  13 sessions down and 17 to go.  Almost at the halfway mark!  I guess I don’t really have too much to report on that front.  Just hoping it continues to go smoothly.  No real side effects so far, which is wonderful. 

Oh, I got my port removed on Monday!  Another milestone!  It was a relatively uneventful procedure.  I took a pain pill and an anti-anxiety pill before I went, and then Dr. Imami numbed the area with lidocaine.  So I really didn’t feel too much except some tugging and pulling.  The only real pain I felt was when he had trouble getting one of the internal stitches out.  Apparently the port has 4 holes in it for attaching stitches to keep it in place.  Well, after 8 months, some tissue had grown over one of the holes and buried the stitches, so he had to really work at that one, which nearly sent me through the roof at one point.  But it was short-lived.  And then the port and its 8-inch tube (that went up into the jugular vein) were pulled out.  Piece of cake!  And so happy to have that foreign object out of my body!

The day after the port removal I had to start doing Fragmin injections – once a day for 7 days – along with restarting the Coumadin.  The Fragmin injections are just as dreadful as the Lovenox injections were, but at least it’s only once a day and only for a week.  Six shots down and one to go!  I think I can make it!

I guess that’s about all the news for now.  Kenny just went up to the boat for awhile, and I’m doing laundry, cleaning up the RV, etc.  Might even start my Christmas cards today.  Not too sure on that one, though.

You know you’re a cancer patient when…..you don't even care anymore at daily radiation appointments when yet another male tech is staring at your breast (or lack thereof), lining up the light beams to zap you.

A duck at Wickham Park (where we're camping)

Debbie and Bill -- carving the delicious turkey

Debbie's beautiful Thanksgiving table

Debbie and me in front of the Tree of Life (Animal Kingdom)

A giraffe (just kidding!) at Animal Kingdom

Pluto, Mickey, and Goofy fishing at Animal Kingdom

Debbie and Bill at Animal Kingdom

Launch of the Mars Science Lab and Curiosity rover

Getting my Fragmin injection ready (have to get 12,500 IU from an 18,000 IU syringe into another syringe).  When is my hair ever going to come back??