In just a week, I will fly with Larisa to Porto, Portugal. There we will meet Lily who is flying there from Dallas. Then the three of us will meet Sophie because her Semester at Sea voyage will be in Porto at that time.

Sophie will give us a tour of her ship. Lily is especially excited to see the ship again since she did SAS in the fall of 2022. Sophie will have been in Porto for a couple days when we arrive.

Then the next day, the four of us plus two of Sophie’s SAS friends will have a day long guided tour of wine/vineyards in the area

Sophie will then board the ship and they will set sail for their final leg of this SAS voyage. she’s been traveling since early January.

Larisa, Lily, and I will then go to Madrid where we will spend several days. We will take a tapas cooking class while we are there. Then Lily will fly back to Dallas, and Larisa and I will travel to Bremerhaven, Germany where Sophie’s ship will dock and the SAS trip for this semester will be completed.

Larisa, Sophie, and I will go to Amsterdam where we will have a tulip tour and spend a couple days. Then Sophie will continue traveling with some SAS and Elon friends, and Larisa and I will fly back home.

I am still recuperating from my kidney cancer surgery from January 26. I have been feeling light-headed at times when I stand up. So I saw the doctor yesterday. I didn’t want to chance feeling bad during the trip to Europe.

We are discontinuing my blood pressure med since my BP was low. However, I will still take some of my BP meds on the trip with me – just in case I need them.

I’m waiting at the Vandy lab now for a cortisol test to see how my right adrenal gland is handling producing cortisol for both glands since the left one was removed during my kidney surgery.

I’ve also lost about ten pounds since my kidney surgery. I weigh around 135 now +/- a pound or two. It will be interesting to see what this cortisol test shows. I am hoping my right adrenal gland is stepping up to the plate and handling my body’s needs and that my other symptoms are just a matter of recuperating from surgery. That’s best-case-scenario.