Holiday Celebration & Off to Florida

First off, the daily half-hour sessions with my personal trainer, Jenster, proved right on target. A little aerobics, a little weights & some stretching every day really helped energize me. I am feeling better than any time since the chemo started back in mid-October.
Our family Xmas celebration over New Year's weekend was fabulous. Jayson surprised me & Tony by flying in for two days. When we woke up Thursday morning, there he was! Mara had picked him up at the airport at midnight. I just burst into tears when I saw him. It meant the entire family, all four generations, was together for the first time ever. Even my mother enjoyed herself and was enjoyable company. Jayson spent two days traveling for a two-day visit. His return trip took him 18 hours to get home. It was very, very special. So we had a great few days, full of laughter, great food and lots of love.
In particular, I had some time with both Jay and Ellie, who ended up staying an extra night because of bad weather after everyone left. (Her husband -- an editor at The Wall Street Journal -- had to work Sunday so he left Saturday night.) Ellie asked me what I wanted to be remembered for, which really gave me pause. She and Mara and Tony and I talked about a memorial service and whether they needed to have one. The consensus was a resounding yes. Tony & I have been talking about what music would be played. It doesn't feel macabre to me to discuss all this. After all, I was always central to planning big family gatherings. I also expect to make notes at some point towards an obit, since there may be details and dates that would be difficult for others to reconstruct.
Monday morning I had my last Columbia County Bounty board meeting, turning over the checkbook and other duties to the various board members. I think the long-term vision for Bounty is very promising, using this as an opportunity to find an Exec. Dir. who would run both Columbia & Dutchess Bounties, to lay the groundwork for an eventual Hudson Valley Bounty.
Then, late Monday afternoon, we hitched a ride with Ellie & the huggables to a LaGuardia hotel, since we had a morning flight Tuesday and were worried about heightened airport security. Of course, we sailed through security in less time than it normally takes, and ended up waiting a long time for our flight, which was delayed an hour waiting for crew to arrive.
But thanks to Jenster and my daily workouts, the travel went fine. I had no problem with the long walk at the Ft. Myers airport from the gate to the car rental, and no problem with my half of supermarket shopping on the way to the house. I finally ran out of steam when I had collected my half, and left the basket for Tony to deal with while I waited in the car.
Weather here in Ft. Myers Beach, and throughout Florida this week, has been record-breaking cold at night, but afternoons have been warm & sunny, perfect for sitting out on the deck. Today is cold & rainy, giving me the incentive to work on my blog.
We are here till the 19th, then home for about a week, then we drive down for the month of February (fingers crossed).
My nagging cough, that I've had now for months, must be related to the cancer. Every time I asked a doctor, they would shrug. But Dr. Sunkin pointed out that if it stopped in Florida, we would know it was environmental. Well, it stops while I am in the sun (everything is better in sun), but then resumes, particularly in the evening, as I get tired. Luckily, I don't cough at night, at least not yet.
We met with Sunkin before coming down. I got my chart and some just-in-case drugs (morphine if needed for pain & an anti-nausea drug). I also found a major cancer care center just 30 minutes from the house, should I need something else. And Sunkin urged us to call him if we have any issues. He thought he could get an Rx filled here, if needed, that Florida's regs are not as tough as New York's. So that was comforting.
Meanwhile, all is good here. Tony got me a Kindle since the book I was reading at home, "The Clinton Tapes" by Taylor Branch, is 700-plus pages, way too heavy for me to carry to the beach. I downloaded it to the Kindle, which is really a marvel. All five kids check in pretty much daily, we are cooking up some good meals, and just soaking up sun. Life is good.