Christmas/New Years in Boca

Another Christmas/New Year holiday in Boca, or so it would seem.

Rather than give you a detailed account of our brilliant time together, I'll let the pictures do the talking for once and I will reflect on how this year has been and how much being with my family and enjoying this holiday means to me!

My "cough" actually surfaced last year before our 2007/8 reunion and Boca trip and actually my mom was the only one who noticed it! As all Moms and especially mine as she's the best...she continues to be acutely sensitive to all my ups and downs and hopefully only ups now!

That 'cough' led to MY YEAR and this blog and the cancer that I had to deal with and all the help and support and love that I experienced from you all was so overwhelming! We are now here in Boca all together in magnificent weather eating, laughing and truly enjoying being a family together. There are a few of us missing, like my two nephews Oren and Ilan, but as I was just in London it doesn't feel like we've been apart for long. My niece Lily, or Gish as I call her, was here for a few days and has now scooted off to see friends in North Carolina. Always great to be with her and niece Hannah who is still with us getting her driving skills honed by her nervous parents, bystanders and onlookers!

My guys are happy to be away from the Baltimore cold and tennis, gym and Jambas are on the menu! We are experiencing the most amazing weather and it seems like the universe is truly in tune with how we all feel and there are no clouds in this sky!

Our cousins from Canada add their blend of humour to the party as do the cousins who live here...cousin Martin,who you all met in the Vegas blog and his girls!

During the hardest part of my treatment I booked the tickets for us to come to Boca in December and to be really honest we planned it but it seemed so far away and impossible. But I made it here. Back 3 months ago as a thin beast and then 2 months ago to fish with more meat on my bones and now looking like a chunk!... I mean Hunk!

Carpe Diem.

Boca

Sorry all. I have not disappeared off the face of the earth. I'm in Boca with the whole gang. And I mean the whole gang. We are having a ball. I will update the blog soon!!!

Carpe Diem.

Merry Christmas

This is to all my friends celebrating Christmas. I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a healthy, happy new year. Especially the healthy part! To all my fellow pilots at UPS, I hope you had an easy "peak".

Monday with Mary

Well actually, not Mary, but Jana. Jana did my monthly oil, lube and filter (port flush and blood work) at the Sinai infusion center. Diana did come with me but she was really uncomfortable being back there again. I , on the other hand, have mixed emotions about being back there as you can well imagine. I did see Mary and was able to give her the chocolates I brought for her from London. I will get the blood work results tomorrow but I am sure everything will be fine.

Before the hospital visit I went to see my new Pulmonologist, Dr. Rubenfeld. We were referred to him by Dr. Erlich. The meeting went well and Diana and I were really comfortable with him. It seems that most of the breathing issues right now can be attributed to the radiation therapy. The radiation did what it was supposed to. It got rid of the tumour. But in the process it gave me radiation pneumonitis, a somewhat common but unfortunate side effect. A far better option than cancer! I will be seeing Dr. Rubenfeld again in late January. That will give him time to see the latest PET/CT scan and all the past x/rays etc.

Carpe Diem.

Weekend update

Ahh, jet lag. Nothing like it. You would have figured that after 28 years I would have the jet lag crap under control. No such luck. But there is a bright side to waking up early, and I do mean early. Man U had a game in Japan this past Thursday at 5:30 am that I was wide awake for. We won 5-3. Then on Sunday morning there was another 5:30 am game that I was also up for. Yes, we won again 1-0. What an obsession!

Saturday morning we picked Robyn up from college. What a relieved young lady. Exams are over and now she can enjoy her winter break. Saturday evening Diana and I went for dinner with our neighbors, Larry and Danica. We went to a really nice French restaurant and it was like being back in Paris!

Carpe Diem.

Happy Hanukkah

To all our family and Jewish friends celebrating Hanukkah, we wish you a very happy Hanukkah. Chag Sameach.

Carpe Diem.

Homeward bound

After a leisurely sleep in, Rus and I had breakfast together and then she dropped me at Paddington train station to catch the Heathrow express. My mom left earlier this morning and I do mean earlier. 6 am. I didn't have much time to explore the new Heathrow terminal 5 but what I saw was pretty impressive. The flight home was fine. Just a wee bit long. The problem was I had to sit in the back with all the riff raff. Wait a minute. I am riff raff. Never mind!

It was an amazing week with Rus and the Bass Boys. Thanks for such a cool week and thanks blogmeister. Lets do it more often. How about March 21st???

Carpe Diem.

Last day in London

Day 6
At least they let me sleep in on my last day in London! I have really been busy and apart from coughing every now and then and the breathlessness going up stairs, I have been feeling great!
Mom and I had breakfast together and then Rus picked us up to be finished off at the clinic. Microdermabrasion,face masks, appointment with the dermatologist, zapping of my ear, met the ophthalmologist, chatted to the nurses and had lunch before leaving them all till the next time!

Dinner was going to be another meat pie and chips! One of Rus’ good friends came to say Hi and as soon as they’d gone we sat down to The Feast! Ilan came over later and we just enjoyed each others company till bed time!

This has been an amazing week …especially for my sister who has been waiting for so long for me to be on her patch! Bringing my Mom was an added bonus! Now we have Florida to look forward to when all of us can be together!

Carpe Diem.

Paris

Day 5

Bonjour mes amies!

We caught the 8.40 train to Paris and this was my first time on the Eurostar. It is a great ride! Really comfortable and so fast! We managed to have a quick croissant and latte before we left and two and half hours later we arrived at Gare Du Nord in the bitter Parisien cold!

We sped to the restaurant that Rus had booked and met a very good friend from Zimbabwe there. Gail lives in Paris and it was a superb lunch together catching up with the news of all our common friends from Zimbabwe who are now all over the world. The restaurant is called L’Avenue and it was filled with beautiful French women! The waitresses weren’t bad either and according to Gail only chosen for their looks!!

We had a car arranged after lunch to take us on a short sight seeing journey around Paris because it would have been difficult for my Mom to walk in the cold weather. Unfortunately the man who should have ferried us was out of Paris so we had his brother in law who not only spoke nothing but French but didn’t know the city as well as he should have and so although we saw most of the sights I didn’t get to see the Eiffel Tower…Imagine that!! Have to laugh now but we certainly weren’t when it looked like we may miss the train home because he had no idea where he was!!

All part of the experience and we had a great day arriving back in London at 10.00pm!

Carpe Diem

More Londinium

Day 4




I must say, I am really getting used to this hectic lifestyle. No rest for the wicked! Breakfast with one of Rus's closest friends Debs, who actually needed us to rescue her from her apartment as she had locked herself in! Yes, believe it or not, in. That was my introduction to Debs! We had a lovely brekkie at one of Londons' best restaurants (The Wolseley) and then walked down to see Buckingham Palace. We trod on the red Queen owned road and then walked back past the Grenadier Guards. It is so great being in England because all of this history is what I had grown up with and it felt strangely comfortable. The weather was so much better we were able to walk quite a way and I was pleased as I'm not as fit as I'm used to and my breathing is really compromised. Hopefully the visit with the pulmonologist will clear this up. It was really good to meet Debs and I was able to thank her for being my big sisters support here!

We were all invited to my cousin Mon for late Sunday lunch and en route we met my Mom and Gerry at Oren's office! Lunch at Mon’s was great and her apartment is really grand. We had an excellent meal and then we sat, stuffed with food listening to her play the piano masterfully! Really mellow Sunday afternoon and by the time we left it was dark! I drove Oren’s Porsche home so …no jokes please…and I amazed myself negotiating the small London roads in terrible traffic.

An early bedtime was planned. We needed to be up early for the day in Paris!

Carpe Diem.