Home From Vancouver. Sadly.

Yesterday was our last day in Vancouver. It was a beautiful, sunny day. Here is a rare photo of Hannah with her hair down. It's always shocking to see how long it is! We visited Hannah's apartment, went for coffee and then stopped in at Eugene Choo, the little fashion forward shop where Hannah and Leah work. And then, after a quick stop at a big fish store, it was to the airport from which we eventually made our way home. Thanks, Don, for picking us up at the airport.

I have a major disappointment this morning. Yesterday I took a lot of photos and only this one of Hannah transferred. The rest have been LOST!! That's never happened before!! And I had some good ones, too. I'm VERY DISAPPOINTED. I don't know how that happened!! (My bad. I think I just figured out what I did. I must have accidentally clicked on "import selected photo" instead of "import all" and, in additional, I had selected "remove all photos from camera after importing". A mistake I won't make again. I'm so mad at myself!!).

So, a little reflective analysis of the trip ... spending time with Hannah is medicinal! It was wonderful! It was also great to meet bunches of her friends. We had such a good time with them all.

On the health front, the trip was somewhat disappointing, though I'm forever going to let the good stuff override the disappointing stuff. I had expected to be feeling better than I was while in Vancouver. I hadn't counted on the edema and the way it makes me feel. It really limited my mobility. Walking with me is like walking with a one-year-old. That's how fast I move. Bless Kevin for his patience! And walking uphill ... well, a 1-year-old could easily escape me and be gone forever! Man, oh, man, it's frustrating ... this moving at a snail's pace.

While my edema was considerably better some of the time we were away, by yesterday it was just as bad as when we left. My feet and ankles were very puffy when I woke up yesterday morning and the only thing I can attribute it to is that Saturday was the only day I didn't wear compression socks. I wore a skirt and tights because my feet were their least puffy that day. Maybe that was it? I don't know. But after 7 days of lasix and lots of putting my feet up, they are still basically where they were two weeks ago. That's disappointing. It wouldn't be so hard mentally if I understood the cause, but nobody seems to know and the lasix isn't really making a difference. I thought it might even slowly go away on it's own but there's no sign of that yet.

While in Vancouver, probably because of all the activity during the day, I had less endurance than I've had at home. That was a little disappointing. I had to wisely forgo most of the evening activities in Vancouver. I slept a lot and usually napped in the afternoon, too.

I also get a lot of inexplicable pains. I didn't use to get things like that. If I felt a pain, I would look and usually I'd find a bruise there to explain it. Now, I'll get a pain and look and there will be nothing to show for it and no logical explanation for it either. I'm not used to that. Yesterday morning I woke up with a painful area on my left side under where my bra strap goes and radiating down my ribs a bit. It felt like a bruise but there was no surface bruising to explain it. The pain got worse as the day progressed and last night I couldn't sleep on that side. It's very sore today. What in the hell is it???!!

Oh well ... tomorrow I get a mole removed ... the one that could otherwise complicate radiation. A week later ... radiation. Hopefully we'll be able to figure out this edema or maybe it will disappear on its own. If so, I wish it would hurry up!

I'm so sad to have lost my photos! There were some goodies ... Hannah's apartment ... Cody the morning after Halloween ... autumn leaves ... monkey puzzle trees ... Eugene Choo ... Kevin and I silhouetted in an array of autumn leaves! RATS!!