Hawaii At Last!

I just returned from my visit to see my son in Hawaii. He lives on Oahu up in the mountains, a region called Tantalus. Absolutely gorgeous! The photo above was taken at Paradise Cove where we attended a Luau. It was fun and the food was great!


This is a photo of the North Shore beach...my favorite beach. Hardly anyone was there. But apparently in the winter months the waves get very big and this is a favorite beach for surfers. We saw about 10 sea turtles swimming in the surf and just as we were going to leave, one of the turtles decided to come out of the water. Here is the photo of the turtle.

My son, Geoff, lives high above Honolulu in the rain forest. Below are some photos of the view of Honolulu from the road he travels daily to get to work.


There was so much to see. I took over 250 photos. Here are some of them. The plant life and the trees were incredible.
This was taken on a trail not far from Geoff's house. The roots of these trees are incredible!

Check out the root system of this Chinese Banyan tree!!!!

This is one of the flowers growing in Geoff's little garden in front of his house.Besides the turtle, I really didn't get many photos of animal life. But here are a few.

This is Geoff's little "jungle kitty"
Can't leave out the sunsets and the Hula Girls

I had such a wonderful time. Geoff took me out to eat a lot and was such a great host! I had lots of fish, Chinese food, Thai food, Vietnamese food, Hawaiian food (I tried poi...once) and one of my favorite things was the Ahi burger and garlic fries we had a little place near the North shore.

I look forward to another visit soon.....if the airline prices ever go down!

Chemo Is Over

I had my last (hopefully, forever!) round of chemo on April 16th! WhooooHoooo! My PET scan showed I am clear! So no more prednisone, thank goodness! I hate that stuff! I am still not over it's effects!

I have to thank everyone at the UNM Cancer Center in Las Cruces! They are a wonderful bunch of people....always ready and willing to answer any question at any time.

I will still have to go in every six months for 2 years for a Retuxan treatment. It is a targeting drug. It is supposed to ensure that the cancer does not come back.

I have gained weight and am eating like a normal person again. When I started the chemo treatments I weighed 110 lbs. Now, I weigh about 130 lbs. Some of this might come off after all the drugs clear my system. The prednisone causes a lot of bloating and swelling (mostly around my middle!). I never thought I would be happy to put on weight! Now I need to get on an exercise regime.

I am going to visit my son, Geoff, in Honolulu on June 18th. I will be gone for three weeks! I plan to take some leisurely hikes and lie on the beach a lot! I think the sea water will be really good for me. We have had absolutely no rain since December here in the desert! Our humidity ranges on the average at about 5%. It will be nice to get my skin hydrated again! I am really looking forward to this trip!

I will probably post again while I am in Hawaii and will include some photos! So, until then, Aloha!