Hello from Hilton Head! We’ve been here since Friday but don’t have internet access at the condo. Today we wandered out and are able to check in the internets from the realty office a mile down the road.

We did a little shopping the past couple of days. I found some new Vera Bradley bags that I love love love! And today we’re going to my favorite little cross stitch shop I discovered a couple years ago. It’s a tiny little hole in the wall but it’s crammed full of all sorts of unique patterns and threads. I could easily break the bank in there!

It’s hot and muggy, almost too hot to go out wandering the shops most days. I’m feeling pretty well, usually, but I still wear out rather quickly, especially in the heat and humidity. It just drags me down. I slept till noon today! That’s what vacation is for, right?!

You probably won’t hear from me again until we get to Topeka on Weds or KC on Thursday. If you’re in the area and you want to come to the Relay for Life with me and Maggie, and if you haven’t already received the details of it, email me and I’ll hook you up later this week!

I’m homesick. I miss my dad and Carol and my dogs and kitties especially. Two weeks is too long to be on vacation. I was ready to come home after one week. Surely this week will just fly by.

See ya’ll soon!

(If this post sounds a bit incoherent, please be advised that I’m working on very little sleep and am in the middle of a three-hour-long flight to Charlotte with a cute but wiggly little girl sitting in her dad’s lap across the aisle from me…I can’t stop looking over and smiling at her!)

When you fly first class, not only do you get to check in through the shorter line at the airport but the guy who checks you in wears a sport coat and a tie, too, while the other service people are just wearing sweaters and such. How fancy!

The thing about these Barrett family reunions is that the Barrett family is so huge, they basically take over whatever town in which we’re having our reunion. The first one I went to was in Jackson Hole, WY. After everyone arrived and had greeted one another, we’d spend some free time shopping and roaming around the town of Jackson. It was not uncommon at all to see family members in every block of the town! The same thing happened in Hilton Head at the last reunion four years ago!

So this morning we packed up the car, dropped the dogs off at dad’s and then he took us to the airport. Since we flew First Class, we got to breeze through check in and security, and then wandered around the terminal for a while, buying gossip magazines and whatnot. All of a sudden, we ran into five members of a local branch of the Barrett family! Their plane was leaving an hour before ours (we like to be wayyyy early to the airport when we fly), so we sat and chatted with them for a while at their gate. While we were visiting, lo and behold, my inlaws, Frank and Carolyn arrived! That’s just the beginning of a week-long Barrett Invasion! Look out, Amelia Island, the Barretts are coming!!!!

P.S. We had a fairly tasty BBQ chicken sandwich for lunch on the plane and they gave us these adorably tiny little salt and pepper shakers that lock together on the side. The S&P containers are probably just under and inch tall. I love tiny things like that so I didn’t use mine and instead stuffed it in my carry on to take home and show to the kitties! LOL

Packed.
Plants watered.
Cat food topped off.
Dogs packed and ready for GrandpaDave’s Farm and Resort
Housesitter has key and instructions.
Itinerary printed and in folder.
Exhausted!

I’m so ready to go! I’m pretty sure my new suitcase weighs more than the airline would prefer it to be but I’ll pay the extra fee if they insist. What matters is I got it down to one suitcase and one carryon (that’s not overpacked and totally squishable!). I’m very proud of myself. Honey did the same thing (his carry on is packed so tight the seams on his backpack are straining!).

I’m going to miss my dogs and cats. *le sigh*

I went back on Xeloda again for one day before my hands started swelling, turning red, hurting and peeling (like blisters). So I stopped and emailed my oncologist to tell her about it. Inside, secretly, I’m doing a happy dance for not having to take any chemo while on vacation! Tee hee hee!

I’m taking my laptop and have ensured we’ll have internet connectivity in our rooms so I will be blogging from time to time from the beach! Keep comnig back!

Tell me, friends, what are your plans for the 4th of July?

There’s this song from the 90’s by a band known as The Soup Dragons. It’s called “I’m Free” and the chorus goes, “I’m free to do what I want any ole time!” I feel like singing that song right now…

This morning we packed up and went to the infusion center to get today’s dose of CAKE. Only to find out that my platelets are too low (they’re 79 and normal range is between 150-400). Platelets are what make your blood clot, or stop bleeding after a while. So they sent me home without chemo, told me to reduce the amount of Xeloda I’m taking and only take it for one more week, and to have fun on my vacation!!! (Doc also said if I start getting pains or discoloration in my feet and hands again before next Friday, to stop the Xeloda immediately.) Maybe I should’ve been disappointed that, again, I was unable to follow through with a complete cycle of chemotherapy. But mostly, I felt a strong sense of freedom! I’m essentially off for three more weeks! I don’t go in for more chemo until July 18!!! HORRAY!!! However, with my platelets being so low, I guess I have to take a break from my sword-juggling practice. My WBC was through the roof at 43,000, which is to be expected after three days of Neupogen shots - they’re supposed to sky-rocket and then, over the course of two or three more days without the shot, level out to a normal level. Since it’s so high, the nurse told me I probably shouldn’t need to wear a mask over my mouth and nose on the airplane! Thank goodness! That was going to be very embarassing and cause for much staring from all the children I pass by!

I got a new shirt in the mail the other day! It’s pink and it’s got this on it:
Yeah, I know it’s naughty with that one word in it but I thought it was cute and just my kind of attitude! I got one for Honey that’s gray and looks like this:
They have a lot more great t-shirts that I’d love to order but they start getting pricey when you’re ordering XXL. I love the Chemolicious one for sure!

So, not only do I get to keep building my strength over the weekend but I don’t have to take any Neupogen shots next week, so no having to carry them on the plane, or figure out what the heck to do with the used syringes whilst traveling. Do you see where this strong feeling of freedom came from?

Today I intend to take a nap and hang out with Honey, since off work today. We may go to an early movie thanks to the Diana Price-Fish Foundation who sent me $50 in gift cards to a nearby movie theater! And I’ve got maybe 4 more scarves to sew, some laundry to do and then I’ll be set to pack for our trip! A break from sickness. I can’t wait!

“Cancer’s just a word, not a sentence.”

I just found some 4th of July Hello Kitty fabric at JoAnn’s tonight! YAY!!!!