Greetings from Florida!

I am in Florida at my Mum's condo and we are packing... Actually, she is packing and I'm "encouraging." There really isn't much I can do since she has all those tiny decisions to make about whether each object is going with her to Galveston, into storage or to Goodwill. I guess I'm really here for moral support and/or nagging. She has made a lot of headway and there are boxes EVERYWHERE. She also is pretty realistic about it. Whatever doesn't get packed by her, the movers will do. I have taken over the floor plan. We have a mostly to scale plan of the dollhouse and are trying to figure out what furniture will fit. The answer: not much - the place is TINY.

I've been lounging and decompressing since I've been here. Since school ended, I've been to the CEDFA(Council for Educators in Fine Arts - I think)conference, been to two different trainings, moved out of my house and into the dollhouse, celebrated Chris' graduation, gone to see a lymph specialist, gotten measured for garments... It is nice to just stop and breathe. I actually read a book! Mum has a couple of Carl Hiaasen novels that I haven't read so I just finished Tourist Season last night, or should I say this morning? As a teacher I guilt myself out of reading for pleasure. My thought process goes something like this: If I'm driving I can listen to books chosen for pleasure, but if I can actually put on the eyeglasses and read, I feel I should be grading papers or reading one of the "young adult" novels that I have class sets of. The list of books is HUGE. There are nearly 70 novels that I haven't read and should- and these are books we own! This looming list makes me much more empathetic with my students - if I'm not interested in reading it, why should they be? I try to give them choices, but the challenge is I have to read lots of books first to give them options.

Well, I wore my new glove and my "loaner" sleeve on the plane and followed directions to keep it on for a few hours afterwards. I didn't get any swelling, just a weird tingling/burning sensation in my arm, so I guess it worked. I have asked my Mum to keep me away from the hot tub, because although I love it, I understand that the heat can cause me to swell. There are lots of things I shouldn't do, like getting sunburned, mosquito bitten, scratched or cut. So far I only have swelling (edema) in my chest below the scar and on the back of my hand. I would like to keep it that way. I MUST be really careful because once any body part starts having swelling, the body part will swell (and have pain)for the rest of my life. Lymphedema is not reversible. There are worse things than not being able to enjoy a hot tub. I should be grateful that I am still here to make the choice! I am. Grateful, I mean.

My mammogram came back clean. I had it done on the 2 year anniversary of my cancer diagnosis. Yay me! The technician gave me congratulatory hug! She also offered to track down Dr. Leonard, who was on vacation, and have him read my mammogram. Now Dr. Leonard has been very good to me(he has done my biopsies and all the other major stuff, as well as my recent ultrasound) and is the big expert, but I didn't think it necessary. Nice of her to offer - she wanted me to feel secure!

While I was in Austin for CEDFA, I was able to go see my brother Steve's new house. It is very nice, it has 3 bedrooms, two stories and a nice yard. It is a big space, but Steve is a big guy and has lots of books. It won't be long before he has it filled. He is really enjoying his first house, planning how to decorate and so on. We also went out to dinner - Cuban of course!

Well, gonna go and shower so we can go to the grocery store. Gotta get back on the eating plan. Later.