Not So Good News

My dad's been having shoulder pain and it swelled up really quickly.  He went to his doctor a month ago, and the doctor wanted to keep an eye on it for a month.  A month later, the swelling hadn't gone down at all.  So he ordered a MRI.  Which my dad took on Thursday.  Turns out it's a soft tissue tumor.  He has to have surgery to remove it and then it will be biopsied to see if its malignant or benign.  And we go from there.

I'm pretty pissed.  ANGRY.  Most of all, for my dad.  How much does this poor man have to go through??  Can't he just get a break, and live a normal healthy life for quite some time?  Thankfully, we've had the best outcomes over really horrible situations in the last 7 years.  But I'm still pissed off about it.  We are all trying to not worry until we find out what it is.  So apparently I'm channeling what would be worry into anger.  Luckily, if you see me, I *think* I'm holding my emotions in pretty well.  Enough not to be the biggest kill-joy of the century.

On a note of silver lining, my dad's gastro-intestinal-whatever doctor said that he is fairly confident that this tumor (whether malignant or benign) is not related to the pancreatic cancer.  Which is hopefully true and means that his lymphatic system hasn't been compromised with cancer cells.  Also, from the looks of the MRI, it seems that this tumor encapsulated itself in scar tissue (just like the one in the pancreas - so weird), so hopefully if it is malignant, it will have less of a chance of spreading.

Compared to what my dad's been through in the last 7 years, it seems like this one is on the less life-threatening side surgery wise.  They aren't rearranging his pancreas, removing his gallbladder, snipping out parts of his small intestines, putting stents in arteries to the heart and in the abdomen.  So at least we have that to hold onto.

We're hoping for the best.  Please keep my dad in your thoughts and (if you pray) in your prayers.

Days 7 & 8: Florence

Journal Entry: Florence

Once we arrived in Florence, we hopped on the 23 bus to our hotel and got a nice tour of Florence without knowing where to get off.  The hotel website’s directions said to get off at a certain stop, but it was no where on the train’s route.  When it brought us back to the train station, after almost an hour, we got back off.  We decided to just walk to our b&b, which ended up only being a 10 – 15 minute walk.  We actually managed to make it there without getting lost.  Thank you Ryan for coming through in the clutch on that one.  However, we got to the alley where the hotel was, and it was in a little secluded square.  It was one of those experiences where you KNOW you are in the correct spot, but you cannot freaking find the correct door.  I almost felt like I was in Alice in Wonderland, continually trying the wrong door. 

When we finally found it (it of course had the name of the hotel on the little nameplate), the b&b owner told us he had made a mistake and double-booked one of the nights.  He had already made arrangements for us to stay at a b&b next door, for the same price.  We didn’t make a big deal out of it because he actually went to the trouble to find us accommodations.  He said it was a * above his, so it was actually a nicer b&b.  I told him we were totally fine with it, but could he please WALK.US.THERE.  I had no interest in trying to find another secret door.  He walked us to the lobby, which was up 3 flights of stairs.  The lady didn’t speak a lick of English.  The entry smelled – no reeked – of smoke.  My very tired brain was trying to process all this, while all 90% of my brain (well, 90% of what I use of my brain, I should say) was repeatedly chanting “need a shower.  Want a shower.  Need a shower.  Want a shower.”  The room was of course right next to the lobby.  The room itself didn’t smell, at least.  There was no TV, no internet, and no air conditioning.  But it was bigger than a matchbox and had private bath.  There was a small gap in the door, though, so the smoke from the entry way (apparently they allow smoking in the lobby, but not the rooms) filtered in.  My personal version of HELL. 

We went for a walk to find dinner and had decided not to bring the camera with us (our collective thought was “there is NO way I am putting anything remotely resembling weight on my shoulders tonight”).  So, Murphy’s Law decided that we would see the most beautiful sunset of our lives – just far enough away from the hotel to be a hassle to go back to get the camera.  We did count our blessings though, deciding that even though we couldn’t capture it, we at least got to experience it.  Glass half full, and all that b.s.  Near a piazza by the Duomo, there was an archway that the sun was setting against, and it was just breathtaking.  It had been raining that day, and the clouds were parting.  And the sun was casting a very dramatic shadow against one of the buildings by the archway.  Oh, and a beautiful carousel spinning.

We went to a relatively close trattoria, which was molto bene.  Ryan had pepperoni, onion & olive pizza (Ryan discovered on this trip that he loves onions on pizza), while I had tagliatelli bolognese.  My bolognese sauce was not as good as Ryan’s the previous day, but it was still good.  The bread was soooo great and my salad was super yummy.  Oh, how grateful I was that Florence likes balsamic vinegar!

After dinner, we took a walk around Florence.  Ryan realized at this part of the trip that the Firenze soccer team meant “Florence soccer team.”  Throughout the rest of our trip, he realized that all the Italian names for the teams were actually the cities they came from.  I’ll give him this…Firenze does not sound close to Florence.  (Side tangent: why can’t we just call it Firenze?  Why do we have to change it to something English sounding?  Honestly, do Italians come here and call “Washington” something different?  How very arrogant of us.  Italian names for cities are so much prettier!  Napoli instead of Naples?!  Torino instead of Torin?!  Venezia instead of Venice?!  Fiume Tevere instead of Tiber River?!)

Ok, back to our walk after dinner.  Florence is like you walked into an old movie set.  Beautiful streets.  It was almost like the renaissance come to life.

On day 2 in Florence, we walked all over.  We went to the Pointe Vecchio by accident, which was fortunate considering it was on our list of things to see that day.  On the Pointe Vecchio, it started POURING for about 10 minutes.  Which made for some good pictures.  We also made it to the Duomo, of which we had intended to go to the top and see all of Florence.  The line was insane and we decided to try back later.  We went to the Academica (where Michelangelo’s David lives), and the line was insane.  Ryan didn’t feel like waiting in line or paying to see a sculpture of a naked man, and I had already seen it, so we skipped it.  We had a simple, great lunch of pizza in a tiny little place.  We then took a few hours to rest in our room, with smoke leaking in.  Cue near nervous breakdown for Nikki.  What a difference my two hotels in Florence were (from 5 years ago and now).  We went back to try to capture a sunset at the same incredible spot as yesterday – to find it too cloudy with no sun leaking in.  Didn’t get such great ones.  The Duomo was extremely near closing, so we had to skip out on going to the top. 

For dinner, I was hell bent on having something other than pasta, panini or pizza.  We went to a ristorante where I had grilled chicken.  It was divine.  I should probably inject that dinner every night of our trip consisted of Ryan and I wandering around for an hour, looking at every menu.  (If you’ve ever gone to dinner with Ryan and I, then you already know how utterly hopeless we are at making decisions.  It’s quite obnoxious actually, and I can only sympathize with those poor souls who go to dinner with us.)  So, Ryan didn’t care where we ate, and insisted that I make the decisions because I was the picky eater.  This, although annoying to me, makes completely logical sense.  So, I go from place to place to place, looking at the menu outside.  And as Ryan puts it, I won’t eat at one place and then will pick the next place with exactly the same menu.  Although, it really doesn’t have the same menu - not to me.  It is hysterical and ridiculous.  My goal next time we travel is to be a super crazy decision maker on food. 

One thing I could decide on easily: gelato.  We had some gelato for dessert.  Just like all the previous nights, with the exception of day 1.  The gelaterias in Florence go out of their way to ornately decorate their gelato.  All gelaterias in Italy make the gelato look gorgeous, and luscious, and adorable with whatever the flavor is laying on top of the gelato.  My guess is that this is for presentation and functionality, so that tourists actually know what the flavor is.  Florence makes their gelato mounds high and flowy – almost like a renaissance wig, come to think of it.  A renaissance wig with strawberries decorated on the top. 

P.S. I wrote this journal entry on the way to Cinque Terre.  Cinque Terre was on my bucket list, so my excitement level of actually going there was off the charts.  My last sentence in my Florence journal entry was “Almost more excited to see if we have a room that is newer than 1900 or 1910.”  You could say I didn’t exactly love the B&B in Florence.

Days 5 & 6: Capri & Sorrento

 While we were in Italy I wrote emails to my family and a few journal entries when we didn't have internet access.  I'm posting them on the blog, to give you an idea of how our trip went.  Pictures to follow!

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 Ciao!  Ciao!  We went to Capri yesterday and it was beautiful weather.  We went in the Blue Grotto, which is overpriced but needs to be seen!  It was just as awesome as last time.  I almost got my head chopped off taking pictures, not realizing that we were about to exit.  Luckily, I ducked my head in time!  It's only a three foot opening, so you have lay down in the rowboat on your way out.  We then walked around the town of Anacapri, which we both really like.  Capri Town, down lower, was next.  It's still really cute but a little richer (more shi shi).  Still as pretty as I remembered the island to be!

Today we had a lazy day.  It was drizzling a little bit, so we slept in and then walked around Sorrento.  We bought some Limoncello and are having it shipped home to your house, mom & dad.  I'm not sure how long it will take to get there.  We weren't about to lug that heavy stuff around :)  We went to Mail Boxes Etc today, and it would cost 160 Euro to send home 15 lbs worth of stuff.  Looks like we're carrying around our stuff!  I'm trying to not buy too much this early in the trip, and saving it for the second half.  Hopefully I don't shoot myself in the foot doing that!  (post note: I totally did!)

Tomorrow we travel to Florence for two nights.  Ryan's super bummed we're leaving Sorrento and is pretty sure that this will be his favorite city.  We'll see!  It seems like we've done so much, and it's only been 4 - 5 days. We're definitely packing a lot in!  I think you kind of have to do that when you go to Europe.

My "Itanglish" is getting better and I'm getting more comfortable using Italian words with the locals.  It works well to speak half Italian and half English with them.  But most people are pretty good in English here, so it would be fine on anyone, I think.

Love you guys lots.

Day 4: Positano

While we were in Italy I wrote emails to my family and a few journal entries when we didn't have internet access.  I'm posting them on the blog, to give you an idea of how our trip went.  Pictures to follow!

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Ryan is having a good time here.  He really, really likes Sorrento.  We went to Positano today - the bus ride was atrocious.  I almost threw up in my purse.  The bus dropped us off at the top of the hill (have you seen those pictures of Positano?) and we walked all the way down.  The town is really, really cute and pretty.  Just what you think it would be.  But then you have to walk all the way back up it to get to the bus stop.  It only took us 30 minutes to walk up - wasn't nearly as bad as we thought!  But still, it's not a trip for the fainthearted.  And then the bus on the way back was PACKED!  Ryan had to stand up and hold on, as I sat on the floor.  OMG.  Good thing I had taken Dramamine for the way back.  Definitely one of those - shit, if we don't take this one, it will be just as buys on the next bus!  Did the sign of the cross a few hundred times with a few hail mary's thrown in there.

We took a nap back at the hotel and then went to dinner tonight.  Walked around the town.  I love this town!  So damn cute.  There was an Irish Pub with a bunch of crazy Italians singing loudly to American songs.  Ryan and I just observed them, but they were  a riot!

I took a picture of some lemons about the size of coconuts - insanity!  There are so many lemon trees / groves around here!  Tomorrow we are off to Capri, I'm so happy.  The weather is beautiful down here right now.

Days 1, 2 & 3: Rome & Sorrento

While we were in Italy I wrote emails to my family and a few journal entries when we didn't have internet access.  I'm posting them on the blog, to give you an idea of how our trip went.  Pictures to follow!

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Buon giorno!  I don't think you'd like it very much if I called you right now - it's 1 am there.  We finally got our email up and running.  We couldn't access it at the first hotel.  This one you had to pay for it - which is fine - but our converter didn't have three prongs (only two).  We ended up fitting the adapter on 2 prongs and the third prong is loose.  But it works fine!  So now we're up and running and back in communication mode!  How is everything there?  Tutti bene?

We're definitely roughing it this trip!  Ryan and I have officially gotten lost in a foreign county about three times.  In three days.  And these backpacks are both awful and wonderful - they are thirty pounds of utter hell, but they are awesome with all the stairs and trains.  Rome was nice - although it's so loud and not too clean.  With the plane rides and all, we were up for about 31 hours straight before going to bed.  To say I was exhausted was an understatement.  We made ourselves stay up and go out to dinner/walk around when we got there, since it was light evening.  Oh, it took us about 4 hours (no lie) to get from the airport to our hotel.  I felt like the village idiot.  The Rome Termini (main train station) is the main hub and is completely confusing when you are running off 24 hours of no sleep.  After we showered at the hotel, we set out to find the ristorante suggested by my co-worker.  What luck!  It was a couple streets away from where we were staying.  She recommended the lasagna, so Ryan and I split it.  It was totally amazing.  Not really a lot of cheese or sauce at all - it was mostly pasta and meat (thinking a mix of beef and veal).  Super yummy!  Then we wandered around and saw the Spanish Steps at night, Trevi Fountain (AWESOME at night!) and Pantheon.  It was nice.  By the time we got back to the b&b it was 12:30 and we collapsed into bed.  Our hotel room was about the size of the front bedroom at mom & dad's (room & bathroom) - but despite its size (which I was expecting in Rome), it was nice!  Our breakfast was actually pretty good.  Ryan loved the coffee. 

Everyone is pretty nice here and they speak English really well!  We've had some super helpful people.  Like on the train yesterday, we had to get off to connect to Sorrento.  As we were getting off, some guy yelled to us - "Take the numba 2 to get to Sorr-ey-nto!  Riiight - just reee-memb-er, numba 2!"  We must scream tourists.  I still blame the Japanese husband with the camera...not me and my American clothes at all. 

Ryan wants to stay in Sorrento the entire trip.  Our hotel is sooooo nice - our room is easily 4 or 5 times the size of our room in Rome.  We just had breakfast downstairs - it reminded me a lot of the breakfast buffet that we had at the Kawaii Marriott when we were 16.  This hotel has an amazing garden with a trellis and wisteria, lemon trees - it's totally beautiful.  I am super happy with my pick!  It's so central to downtown too - we went to a pizzeria last night, and I a huge medium size pizza for 4 euro.  Then gelato, which was so yummy.  With carrying our backpacks from place to place, we have been getting such a workout.  Sweating so much.  Hopefully it will offset the gelato.  Today we may go down to Positano, with Capri tomorrow.  I'm super happy we decided to stay down in the Amalfi coast for 5 days!  Although the prospect of going place to place next week seems daunting with our backpacks.  Don't be surprised if a box of our dirty clothes show up on your doorstep - I'm seriously considering sending some stuff home on Wednesday.  I'll give you a heads up :)

Oh - our flights were so smooth!  EXCEPT - as we were taking off in the plane to SFO (the 9 hour one), we heard a crash during take-off - it sounded like someone broke a vase.  We're looking around like what the hell was that?!  Then about a minute later, behind us about 5 rows, we hear commotion and some people screaming Emergency!  Emergency!  as we're taking off.  It didn't dawn on me really that it could be the plane - I thought it was a passenger.  Which it was - a passenger.  He (?) had passed out during take off.  The stewards all were rushing as the plane is going up and then they were rushing for the defibrillator.  Which made us worry that someone was having a heart attack.  Then I got really sad for the person.  But, it ends up - not a heart attack, just a horrible time to pass out.  He ended up being fine the entire trip.  They still had paramedics come on the plane the minute we landed in Heathrow.  Besides that, it was an extremely nice flight!  Not too much turbulence at all - not even over Iceland/Greenland area.  I was calm during both flights - maybe I got over my brief fear of flying???

I miss you all so much and wish you were here!  We are having a great time :)  Taking lots of pictures!  Christy, your email about the rat in the bed was hilarious!!!!  (See her Templeton blog post) That is probably the real reason why we have indoor cats!!  OMG, Mike was petting it because he thought it was Merlin.  I seriously hope you soaked his hands in hydrogen peroxide later!  We were in stitches over here!

Tell me what else you all have been doing this week???  How is everything going?  I'll be on the internet often over the next few days, so I'll be in touch!  Love you lots!!!!!!