Feel Good Sailing Story w/ Photos

Now for a story completely not related to cancer. How about that for a change? In fact, like I said, sailing made me forget that I was fighting cancer. I planned to go on this trip before being diagnosed and feel a small victory that I kept a piece of my life normal by going. And I savored it all - weather, food, and company. It helped that the trip happened on my off weekend (no chemo) so that I felt well and wasn't taking any anti-nausea drugs. I knew hydration and sunblock would be important so I brought two 20oz bottles of Fruit2o per day to drink along with tea in the mornings and the Neutrogena.

We left last Friday and I was wearing shorts and t-shirt. The temp was gorgeous. Of course I packed for a blizzard becasue October weather in Maine can go both ways...often in the same day. Upon boarding I got hugs from the people that knew and Wendy knit me a portable "hug" in the form of a shawl. It's a beautiful autumn color. After that talk of Hodgkin's was limited and I just figured the rest of the people onboard didn't know. Dennis later told me everyone knew, and I thought they were extremely cool for letting me have this escape for a few days. At the end of the day Friday we ended up off of Calderwood Island where the crew cooked up some lobster and we enjoyed a picnic. My friend Carissa and I hiked up to the top of the island to get some stellar shots of the boat and the beach. It was an awesome first day! I forgot to mention that I took an afternoon nap everyday out on the water (ahh, luxury) .

Saturday was another gorgeous, warm day with very little wind, though. Stuffed myself silly with the good food, justifying the extra helpings with the fact that one of the side effects of chemo is weight loss. Okay, so it wasn't a side effect for me per se, but somewhere I was eating for someone experiencing weight loss. That night the mess cook with the strong melodic voice sang for us and I gave Dennis a licking in Cribbage while the rain came down. By morning, the sky cleared for another sunny day, but the temp was drastically colder and it was breezy. I brought out the blizzard clothes and felt even hungrier working to stay warm. More justification for pounding the extra calories. Great sail that day!

Monday we docked back in Camden and we said goodbye to our new friends. Now all those in the know wished me well and told me to keep up the good attitude. Yes, I was back to the reality. I went back to work that afternoon and skipped my afternoon nap from then on :(

So, here are some of the photos from that trip. - Candace