Don took this picture this morning when we met my friend, Jo Emerson, at the Orleans Hotel. She is a great Overseas Brats friend. Her dad was in the military and stationed at Sasebo in Japan. Sasebo was our closest rival in that our schools competed with each other in sports. There are 3 main islands in Japan and we competed with schools on all the islands, but Sasebo was on the same Island as Itazuke so we were close enough for not only the teams, but sometimes some of the rest of us could go to the games as spectators. There was not only rivalry, but also great camaraderie because we all spoke ENGLISH! We were in Japan in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s (We went twice; I did 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 7th and 8th grades there plus the summers before and after for a total of 6 years.). We did well to afford postage, which wasn’t much, but it took forever for letters to get back and forth from the states. There was no such thing as email and we never made long distance phone calls. ANYBODY who spoke English was a friend! Jo was not at Sasebo at the same time that we were in Japan, but she was there two different times like we were. Many people did 2 tours because we liked it so much our parents volunteered to return. Jo and I met at an Overseas Brats function and it feels like we grew up together. It’s amazing how common experiences bond us. Besides our Overseas Brats connection, she is also a breast cancer survivor of nearly 15 years! She has held my hand all the way through my breast cancer experience and encouraged me all the way. I thank God for her, for our connections and for this opportunity to see her. She is here this week for her Sasebo reunion! You may remember seeing Jo on the blog back when we were in Hawaii; she and her husband, Sam, came over and spent a memorable week with us. Jo is from Minneapolis; I visited her in the fall a couple of years ago just before I discovered my cancer.
Thanks to Nyquil and Daquil I’m doing better and better. I think rest helps, too. Today is much better than yesterday. If I feel as much better tomorrow as I do today then I’m calling it good and think a 3 day virus is past. Always the positive thinker! It’s more likely that this will inch down to my lungs and I’ll cough for 6 weeks, judging from the way my body usually handles these head viruses. However, I’m hoping the chemo ‘curled’ my normal reaction and I’ll be done with this in another day or so. I really don’t want it to go to my lungs because we know the radiation did damage there and I don’t want to test it! (That damage is a thing they know happens; it’s just a trade you make to be aggressive with the cancer.)
I’m diligent with my exercises. I’m raising cane all over Las Vegas and have the pulley and jiggler set up in our room. The pool here is on the roof of the 5th floor and it’s great for swimming laps. I’m going to be so spoiled when I go home and don’t have a pool for swimming. It’s easier to do my exercises when I don’t have so many chores to do like I do at home. I have a precious lade who cleans at home, so I should really get a better grip on no having so much to do. That’s a challenge for me. I sure thank God for the cleaning lady who does what really has to be done. I need to honor that and show my gratitude by not getting bogged down with so much to do. That’s my challenge and I promise to work on it.
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