An Update...Finally!!

Hi All-
First I want to take a moment to thank everyone for their support, kind words, e-mails, phone messages, visits etc. etc. during my recent setbacks and hospitalization! I am feeling much better now and am glad to being back in the "land of the living". The chemo is tough, but it is just something I have to deal with and hope for it to work. I have my next infusion on June 17th. It hopefully will get a little easier each time. The side effects are nausea and mostly fatigue. It takes about two weeks to feel fully human after each treatment, so now that I'm feeling good again it must be time for the next treatment!
We did have a fun filled camping Memorial Day weekend recently at Recompence Shores Campground in Freeport. Aaron and I have never been campers-I have gone on a few road trip camp outs with Cheryl in the T@b, but that's the extent of my experience. So Aaron decided we needed to try this while I was in the hospital, planned it with Kit, and we did it! Of course, we weren't exactly "roughing it!" Kit came to the rescue with his business Destinations RV Rentals. He went to the campground and set up a 37 foot and 32 foot RV on three beautiful sites right on the ocean. Oh yeah....camping with queen sized beds, full kitchen, microwave etc.-the only thing missing were the flat screen TVs! He even made the campfire and stacked the wood for us! Good thing, too! The first to arrive were the 3 "least likely to succeed" campers, Aaron, Andi and I--we struggled just to get the fire to start-we ended up burning junk mail from our car! This campground is gorgeous--a beautiful farm in the middle of the woods right next to the ocean--who could ask for more! And just 20 minutes from home--if we couldn't handle it!
We invited the whole family--Joey and Mark took the third site and brought up their T@b so we were all together in a line. Cheryl and Hank weren't able to come, because they had both been attacked by some kind of "bug" and were home throwing up-we missed them, but none of us needed that! The rest of us were able to go-in our RV it was Aaron and I and Andi and her husband Dave. In the next camper it was Kit and Erin and their sister-in-law, Cara Shaw and for one day Eddie Bolz, who works for Kit. We arrived Friday and left Monday. The weather was beautiful each day-a little windy, but no rain!
On Sunday we were joined by Erin's parents, Dale and Carolyn Shaw and Toughy , the poodle, with Erin's Nana and Gram (Dale and Carolyn's Moms). These two tough ladies came down from Aroostock County by bus to the Shaw's house in Corinth (near Bangor). Then they all drove down to Freeport for the day. Erin's Nana shares the same birthday with Mom, right down to the same year! One was born in Bradford, England, the other in Aroostock County, Maine, and they are now also connected through Kit and Erin's marriage! (By the way, Happy Birthday to both Mom and Nana today as I write this!) We had hoped to get Mom up so they could all have a visit, but Mom wasn't up to it. We had a great BBQ together although due to the wind we had to keep playing musical chairs around the campfire, to get away from the smoke.


There was only one problem...brown moth caterpillars! They exist in May and early June in the area of Casco Bay, and their fine hairs blow in the wind (remember I said how windy it was?) and can cause a rash like poison ivy! All the campers except the visitors from Northern Maine, came home with varying degrees of

rash--the worst were Joanne and Kit who both needed to get medication for theirs, and are scratching still!! But in spite of it-we agreed we had a great time! Here's hoping next week's chemo won't be so rough and the updates will return more frequently!
Take care everyone! Nancy