Back in Virginia (for a bit) and life on the home front

I still plan to write about Victoria Falls and Johannesburg, but it may be a while. I've been home for about 10 days, and I've been working frantically on my pictures, trying to get them finished before I head out again next Monday. I'm up to my photos from Victoria Falls, and if you'd like to check out what I've got so far, click on Flickr album to go there.

The flights home were long. On Saturday (10/28), we drove from Botswana back to Victoria Falls airport, then had a 2 hour flight to Johannesburg. In Johannesburg, our group split up, as I was flying Qatar, my three fellow travelers were flying United to Newark, and Ish, our guide, had a flight back to Cape Town. I had plenty of time at the airport, about 5 hours until my 8:20 PM flight. (We had been asked to schedule our departing flights after 8, in case there were any delays in getting back from Zimbabwe.) I did some shopping, had dinner, and wandered around. My first flight was 8.5 hours, and my seat was not in the extra legroom area as I had paid for. They did move me to an extra legroom seat, but it was a middle seat! Ugh! But, it was worth it to have the space in front of me. The flight was overnight, and I did manage a little sleep.

We arrived at Doha with the dawn, and I had a couple of hours there before my flight to DC. I wandered around and got coffee and a croissant. What a contrast between the Johannesburg airport and the Doha airport! Johannesburg (and all of South Africa) was inexpensive. Even at the Johannesburg airport, it was easy to find beautiful souvenirs at good prices. Doha is a rich, Middle East hub. I couldn't afford to look in the windows of most of the shops.

Oh, the security! I meant to mention it. There were several levels at Johannesburg and at Doha. In Doha, even within the "secure" area, I passed through 2 additional checkpoints. And these weren't casual checkpoints—they were luggage scans and body scans, with no liquids allowed. (Yep, if you bought a water on the way to the gate, you gave it up before you got to the gate.) And the luggage scans were not casual either. They were checking every carryon bag scan for quite a while. I think this was new since the troubles started in Israel—I did not see the same security checkpoints on my way to South Africa. Of course, I'm fine with any and all security. And, of course, I forgot I had a bottle of water in my daypack side pocket. 😳

Oh, I did break down in Doha and buy a neck pillow. I've always been sort of scornful of all the people with those silly pillows hanging on their carryon, but I've joined them. And, I have to say, it really did help me sleep on the flight to DC.

The next flight was even longer, 14 hours! This was 2 hours longer than the flight out, primarily because of headwinds crossing the Atlantic, which were particularly bad that day. Plus, we did the same detour as on the way out, avoiding Israel and Gaza.

My seat was a bulkhead window seat, so I had plenty of room to stretch. The window was sort of behind me, but we were flying over the ocean for a lot of the trip anyway. Qatar Airways does a great job of feeding you. There were 2 full meals and a snack included on this trip. The only bad part was that they didn't have bottles of water to spare. We hadn't been allowed to bring any water on, so I just kept getting up and requesting water at the nearby galley, and I'd get an 6- or 8-ounce cup which I would immediately down.

We arrived at DC on time and I zipped through customs—thank you, Global Entry! If you do much international travel, it's absolutely worth it to get Global Entry. No line, facial recognition, and you're in. My luggage arrived safely, and I caught the shuttle back to the hotel where my car had been. I had decided to spend the night there again, since I had had so little sleep during the previous days. That was a good decision. I got to the room (after confirming that my car would start), ordered Thai food delivered, then slept till morning. I did get up around 7, which was fine—remember, that would have been 1 PM in South Africa—so I was glad that I had slept that late! I drove home, getting there to ecstatic dogs (and reasonably happy husband) at around noon.

So, here's where life gets complicated again. While I was gone, Jake had had a PET scan. He hadn't had one since the time he had a stem cell transplant in 2018, and his oncologist just wanted to see what was going on, if anything. A few days before I got home, she called him with the results—his lymphoma is back. He told me when I got home, and he was worried that I would be mad that he hadn't told me earlier. Of course, I wasn't. He had only found out 5 days before my return, and I thought it was wonderful that he and his brother had decided to let me enjoy the end of my trip without worrying. So, on the plus side, the lymphoma is all in the lymph nodes (unlike 2017–18). As I write this (on 11/9), he is having a needle biopsy to determine if it's the same large diffuse B cell lymphoma that he has had twice previously, or if it's a new lymphoma. There are new lymphoma treatments available since 2018, such as CAR-T and bispecific antibodies, so we have options. We did get a further complication yesterday, when we saw an ophthalmologist with a oncological specialization, as there is reason to believe that some eye trouble Jake has been having is related to the lymphoma. This doctor (in Fishersville) strongly suspects that the lymphoma is also in his central nervous system. He is going to do an operation on Jake's right eye in early December which should make his vision clearer, as well as provide a sample for biopsy.

We have appointments on 11/27 at UVa with a lymphoma specialist and with a transplant doctor (the doctor we saw in 2018 has left UVa), and we'll know a lot more then than we do now about our options. (We should also have the biopsy results from today next week.) It is definitely treatable. The CNS complication just means that we will need to chose an option that can also reach the nervous system. And, most importantly, Jake feels fine and is facing everything calmly. As am I, pretty much.

I'm still going to Egypt next week. Jake and Jeff insisted that I needed to go, and that Jeff will be here for any appointments while I'm gone. I'll be back for the decision making trip to UVa. Beyond that, I'll play it by ear. His initial treatment will probably be chemotherapy, which will be done locally. If that's all that's going on, and if he's stil feeling fine, I may still go to Costa Rica in December. If things change, of course, I'll cancel the trip. I have insurance for just this reason. Southeast Asia in February is still up in the air. The final payment is due December 9th, so I'll probably make up my mind right before then. I have an idea that one will be a no-go, but that's okay. I'll go some other time. I can transfer my deposit to one of my later trips, and Qatar is really good about changing flights—I only had to pay a $35 fee when I changed destinations a few months ago.

Anyway, I had a marvelous adventure in southern Africa! I saw such amazing things—I'll never forget it! I will still write about Victoria Falls and Johannesburg, maybe on my flight to Egypt next Monday. And I'll try to do better at writing in real time next week!