All good news to share today. First, the CT scan that I had prior to my trip came back all normal! Whatever pain I am feeling occasionally is probably something minor like adhesions. I will know more when my doctor calls me but at least that is a relief.

Onto the fun stuff…

I have returned from California in one piece. After the rainy Rhody weather a five days in sunny California with one of my favorite people on earth was just what I needed. I remember being so hesitant to book any trips this summer because I did not know if I would be well enough to stray too far from the hospital. I am so glad that I took a chance and booked the tickets.

This vacation consisted of a lot of sun, pool, hot tubbing, over indulgent food, and adult beverages (sorry Mom!). On the first night Adam and his two friends took me to the Shadowbrook Restaurant in Santa Cruz. It was one of the best meals I have had in a very long time AND you had to take a cable car from the parking lot to the restaurant which was pretty incredible. If you had taken me there during treatment, I would be fat in no time (but with the excessive vomiting post-chemo, probably not). Here is the only serious moment captured during that dinner:

During my stay I had the pleasure of meeting many of Adam’s friends that supported me during my illness. Adam’s friend Tina even took me out for a manicure followed by cocktails while my brother was at work. Thanks Tina! It was great finally meeting all of the amazing people in my brother’s life. It’s good to know that he is well taken care of despite being over 3000 miles away from home.

The 4th of July started at Khartoum’s for a fundraiser for Blue Star Moms, an organization of mothers that have sons and daughters serving in the military. They had a fantastic spread of BBQ food and drinks. The proceeds went to make care packages for our military overseas. In the process I ate well, met Tina’s extended family, and learned how to play shuffle board (I need to find this game somewhere because I am determined to become amazing at it). The day consisted of a pub crawl around Campbell and ended with fireworks.

Shasta got festive while I got a little sassy drinking swirls:

And after a couple swirls this happened…

All in all the 4th of July was a very nice day resulting in a very necessary snooze until noon the next day. Poor Adam had to work.

The second to last day we had a pool party which was a blast and on the last night Adam and I went to see a comic at the improv. We were seated right next to the stage and mortified because sure enough the comic called on us and proceeded to ask us horribly inappropriate things. Never again will I sit next to the stage at a comedy show.

In conclusion, thank you Adam for making my summer vacation beyond lovely. I basically left San Jose kicking and screaming.

I do want to share an interesting encounter I had. From Providence to Denver I met a girl named Jess close in age to me. We ended up sitting next to each other and pretty much talking most of the way there. She was meeting her cousins in Denver and driving to Vegas. I figured I would never see her again UNTIL I caught her days later in the Denver airport for the return flight. We were so excited to see each other you would think that we were old war buddies. We again chatted the entire flight home which was really nice because it’s a seriously long flight. Anyone who knows me knows that I love life talks and somewhere around the midwest we started to get serious. I told her about my experience with cancer, she told me that her father died when she was 16 of a serious illness. It turns out that her father also wrote and documented his final years. It was an incredibly emotional and deep conversation for a simple plane ride home. It just goes to show that everyone has a unique and incredible story to tell. I am thrilled that she felt comfortable sharing it because we were able to connect on a whole other level.

I am 4 for 4 on incredible trips to California. I need to make this more of a regular thing.