I want to thank everyone for indulging me and allowing me to tell my story of getting back to Nz and travelling around with my old friends. I had the most magically time and everyday was a blast.
The last week was no exception. I see now that the slight dose reduction (I dropped to 2500 then 2000 Capecitabine every other day)allowed me to function very well with little or no feet redness or blistering.
Because of the dose reduction, we could go on short walks on the beach. And swimming in the sea felt marvelous. One of my fav things was that we rented a big gorgeous house with large open spaces inside and out and all was surrounded by tall lush green hibiscus bushes with pretty red flowers that created a complete privacy wall .
We could hear the waves crashing and were just one house away from the mile long white sand Onetsngi Beach . Until 18 months ago when we sold our house which was just up the hill , this was our beach, and our fav restaurant and cafe… all a short walk from where we were staying now.
I was in heaven soaking it all in. The weather was finally perfectly Summer with no fear of cyclones /storms which had been terrible and plagued us during feb.
One of my fav last days was when when my BFF’s Sarah and Ruth ( with hubby Greg) came over for a big healthy breakfast with Cindy Dan and rick and I. . We all chopped up fruit and put out nice muesli and had big crusty bread with peanut butter and jams.. and just talked about what our kids were up to and what we had been doing since we had last seen each other.
. We have been close friends Since the mid 90s when we worked together. Over the years when we didn’t always live in the same country,, we traveled back and forth to see each other for 50’s bdays, another time To keep in touch we had a ski holiday in whistler BC…most recently last October, Sarah came from nz to my house in usa for 3 whole weeks in the autumn to see me… and the fall colors. We even went to Washington DC since she had never been.
And once again these special women jumped through hoops ( meaning that it takes a lot of energy to gather on an island) and I really appreciated every moment we spent together still talking excitedly until the last moment when we walked them sadly to the bus to get to the ferry and had to say good bye.
And then it was the last day…. Like ever other time, Cindy and Dan had been the most wonderful travel mates. Cindy went for a final early swim with me and fittingly it was a bit rainy which made leaving the island easier. Cindy and Dan had decided to stay for 3 more weeks of summer fun…. but we had to go now since we had a time sensitive dog sitter at home AND most importantly being on a new med( Capecitabine) I needed to go home to scans and assessments. So we packed up and it was time for us to face the 18 hour flight to NYC.
But first… the ferry… and one last lunch at a fav cafe (Little Bird Vegan Cafe) in the city. Hard to choose which one when you have one last meal in a fabulous city with so many old favorites ..
And can you believe that they’re at the next table.. was the wife of Rick’s old boss from the 90’s?!!.. We greeted Anita happily at the coincidence of running into her hours from leaving.. but soon realized this was the most uncomfortable lunch ever! She told us off for not getting in touch with them.. she said they were very hurt and Continued to go up one side and down the other. It felt horrible being chastised for not having time to see everyone.. and the weeks of bad weather did mean many visits got canceled… but this friend we had simply not remembered to even try to see.
We apologized but it was the most awkward lunch ever as she was seated right next to us. Man that was tough! But we decided to make it right and so asked her for directions to their new house and left to go surprise Gene-Rick’s old boss with a short visit. OMG! So glad we did… he was delightful with no recriminations… of course we nearly missed our flight as Rick and Gene told old stories and caught up. It was such a delight.
The arduous journey back is always an “Ambien Blur “ meaning that I drug myself…as it takes over 24 hrs between waiting for flights and flying… but surprisingly not so bad when you have a valiant husband who moves seats so that I could mostly lie down flat across 3 seats and was very grateful to him.
Since returning home we found out that Rick’s dad just had a small stroke and immediately needed to come stay with us and then had an operation in boston… all is well now. Then at the same time, I went to visit my 89 Year old mum in her Apt and she tipped over backwards on me…although I tried unsuccessfully to catch her. BOOM! We both went down. After a few days we both appear fine.
Real life just highlights how magical those 7 weeks in paradise were. How lucky am I to have successfully made it over snd back with so many memories.
Thank you all for reading along. I loved all your comments and encouragement. I will once again pick out a few more pics and place in the comments below. Thanks so very much! ♥️
And you’re a great writer too! 
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Capecitabine(Xeloda) dose change 
