Keyswench After BLUE MAX ADVENTURES: 2012 - November - December - Cape Coral

We left Ft Myers on November 18^th and docked at Gregg & Joanne’s (Wayne’s brother) house in Cape Coral. It was so great seeing them again. It was hot during the day & cold at night - perfect sleeping weather. Jo has literally hundreds of

Christmas decorations - we helped retrieve them from the attic & put everything up in time for the big Thanksgiving day feast & a wonderful day it was with Gregg’s daughters, Renae & Raquel & all the grandkids. We played several lively games of Mexican dominoes & ate tons of fabulous food.

Aria, Lauren, Dennis, Raquel, Kaleb, Jose, Wayne, Jordan, Renae, Jo, Gregg, Craig & me

In 2010, I developed a large growth on my left ring finger & has been growing larger since then…. It didn’t hurt or bother me so, being the good nurse that I am, I just dealt with it until friends & family strongly urged me to have it seen. I searched for a certified hand specialist in Ft Myers of which there were many to choose from. I chose Sandra Collins & my appointment was December 6^th. We didn’t want to burden Gregg with such an extended visit so we left on the 26^th & headed north to see friends, Tom & Sue, in Englewood. Much to our excitement,

Tom & Susan (it’s easy to remember names as they are mostly the same)brought their boat (GLASS SLIPPER)down from Palmetto on the 29^th to meet us. We anchored near the marina. In addition, our friends, June & Pete from Punta Gorda, drove over to the marina on the 30^th. We had happy hour at the Tiki hut then off to dinner at the Gulfview restaurant with a gorgeous view of the sunset.

Pete, me, Tom, Susan, June, Wayne, Susan & Tom

You must know by now that we think the cruising life is what it’s all about. We couldn’t be more blessed to have so many wonderful friends & family. We played as many games of dominoes as we could until it was time to leave. Heading south we encountered something we don’t often see - dense fog - yikes!

We arrived at Gregg’s on December 4^th. My appointment on the 5^th was with Dr. Collin’s associate, Dr. Leavitt, another board certified hand specialist -he often sees Dr. Collin’s new patients. He was very concerned by finding an enlarged lymph

node in my left elbow which often times represents a malignancy. He called her & I returned to the office the next day to see Dr. Collins. Sandra Collins was 10 years old! I swear (she is 46 actually) - but she was amazing & I instantly had faith in her. Surgery was on the 12^th at Lee Memorial Hospital because she needed a Pathologist standing by to evaluate the tumor during surgery. If the (frozen section) came back malignant, she would amputate that finger down to the 1^st joint. Needless to say I was very pleased to see my finger intact when I woke up. I was pretty terrified but she & the entire pre-surgical staff were amazing & that’s saying a lot coming from me - miss
picky!

Gregg took us in his boat to Woody’s for lunch located in St. James City…we’ve never been. It was nice to be a passenger for a change.

Wayne & Gregg

Angie, Joann, Betsie & me

Wayne @ Woody's

We had a lovely lunch. Stayed at Gregg & Jo’s for several weeks - a little Christmas shopping - doctor visits & just enjoying each other’s company. We took the boat back to Ft Myer’s City docks for a pump out & meet up with Mickey & Kathryn again. They let you keep the boat at the dock for free if you don’t stay overnight…so we left at 8:30pm & anchored out in Cape Coral & returned to Gregg's dock the next day.
Mickey & Kathryn had a pre-Christmas party on the