Up, up, and away

Well, here I go again, my last trip of the year. I booked this trip to Costa Rica quite a while ago, long before Egypt was on the radar. Actually, I booked a trip to Romania for the Christmas markets, then went, wait a minute, it's cold in Romania in December and I do not particularly like shopping! Hence Costa Rica, where it looks like it will rain for a good part of my visit. Oh well, at least it will be warm rain. (Note added later: the lady who met me at the airport told me that they never pay attention to the weather forecast here. And she was right. There have just been a few sprinkles in the last 24 hours—the rest of the time it's been hot and sunny!)

It should be interesting to return to Costa Rica. I was last there in 1987, with a friend. We took busses around and camped at Monteverde. I remember that it cost $16 for us to fly from Manuel Antonio back to San Jose at the end of the trip. This time, I'm taking the lazy way and doing a tour, but I'll do some things on my own. I'm flying in a day early, and will do some running around tomorrow, probably to the central market. I've also got a day trip planned with Viator to go into southern Nicaragua for a day, which should be fun. Well, fun until I have to get up for the 3 AM hotel pickup. But I really am taking the easy route this time, when I'm sure I could have done this one on my own.

After this, I've got the SE Asia trip planned in February, then nothing else until September. But even SE Asia will depend on Jake's health. We really do not know what is going on. I think the last thing I wrote was when we got the word that his biopsy was negative for lymphoma. We had referrals at UVA right after I got back from Egypt (scheduled from before the biopsy results) and our oncologist told us to keep the appointments. The day after I got home, Jake and I went out to lunch and he was fine. We had a great time. He was moving well and interested in hearing about my trip. The next day we were at UVA all day (from 8 AM to 5 PM, with getting up and on the road before 5 AM). Just the day itself was draining. The neuro oncologist was still saying cancer (pending biopsy from Jake's eye surgery—more on that in a bit), even though he said the small lesions coming and going were not common (no, but he "had seen that.") The lymphoma specialist was more like our oncologist, Dr. Sheela—what else could be causing the PET scan to show reactive (high metabolizing) lymph nodes—and didn't just assume recurrent cancer. She scheduled a second PET scan (which was done yesterday) to find a lymph node that was still hot that could be excised for biopsy. The third doctor was the transplant doctor, who was my least favorite. He was on the list, because if Jake does have lymphoma, he would probably have a further treatment (maybe CAR-T) after chemo. He declared that it was lymphoma because of the high values on the PET scan: "it has to be." (I have since found out that is NOT true. A friend has a good friend who is an MD with a specialization in radiography, and he says that many things other than cancer can cause positive PET results, and that the reading can be anywhere from low to very high.) After that long day at UVa, we were all tired, but Jake has just been exhausted. I don't know if it's physical, mental, or a combination. Heck, after that day, it took me two days to bounce back.

Anyway, we are waiting for the PET results, and the subsequent biopsy. The second issue is that Jake started having vision problems a few months ago, and we got referred to Vistar. Vistar referred us to an ophthalmologist with a oncology specialty. They both saw cells or something floating in his eyes and suspected cancer in the central nervous system. Jake also had a lot of floaters in his eyes. So, last Monday the second ophthalmologist operated, removing the vitreous humor from his right eye, refilling it with something, and sewing the eye back up. They hope to get biopsy results from the vitreous humor that they removed. So, Jake could have 2 cancers (CNS and lymph nodes), one cancer, or no cancer. We just have to wait for results. In the mean time, I paid the final payment for my SE Asia trip. I'll go if I can. Jeff, my brother-in-law, has been great about being there for Jake and me, and he says he'll handle things while I'm gone, if things are in a good place in February.

So, I'm finishing this up from my hotel room in Costa Rica. It's an okay hotel, and I'm on the 8th floor with a lovely view.

The flight from Charlotte was uneventful and my bag made it. I had paid for airport transfers, so I was met as I exited the airport by a Gate 1 representative. There was a second person who also came in early, and we rode in a van to the hotel through some hellacious traffic. The woman who met us told us about an excellent restaurant about a block from the hotel, so I took myself out to dinner last night. That's two fancy dinners in a row, since Thursday night I had a lovely dinner in Charlotte with my friend Paula at McNinch House. (Click on that and take a look at the menu! It was just wonderful. I had lobster bisque, crab cake, filet for my main course, and the crème brûlée for dessert.) Anyway, the restaurant last night was Grano de Oro. It wasn't quite as expensive as McNinch House, but it was not cheap. It was a nice experience. Luckily, the menu had English and Spanish! I started with the Pargo Trio de Tapenade, which was sautéed red snapper. I ate it so quickly that I forgot to take a picture. Then I had the Ravioli du Boeuf Bourguignon, with a nice glass of wine. It was yummy, and the perfect amount of food.

But I still saved a little room for dessert. The dessert was their holiday special, Terrina de Chocolate (chocolate terrine, raspberry preserves and hazelnut ice cream). Then I waddled back to my hotel and went to bed early.