checking in after a long time

Hi all,
I am happy to report that my latest scan, December 23rd, was clear, however there's something lighting up on the pet scan in the 7th rib, front and back, but the doctors feel it is related to the VATS (lung) surgery last year. I am off the gemzar since the beginning of November. On the health front things are good.
Over winter break we visited Boston for a few days, then went on to Vermont to visit my friend Sophie and her husband Matt. They live in an amazing co-housing community in north western Vermont. We had such a fun and relaxing and time. My brother Norman and his girlfriend Lauryn came from NYC to join us for a few days which was wonderful. We helped sophie make cheese, we made something like 260 pounds which will be marketed in nine months. The cheese is an aged cheese which tastes like parmesan, really yummy. Sophie and Matt's younger son Casey is just a bit older than Abby and they spent countless hours playing inside soccer, basketball, and sledding in the fresh snow just a few short steps from the house. I honestly can remember such a relaxing vacation. After 5 days in Vermont I went on to NYC with Norman and Lauryn and engaged in all the big city pleasures; museums, food and people watching. My last night there we went to a club which was just a few blocks from Norman's apartment, go figure, to see an old friend Steve's band play. Steve hasn't see this friend in almost 20 years, so it was fun to say hello for him.

On December 16th I had a procedure called a thoroplasty, I think this is how you spell it, probably, not though, to get my voice back to what it was before the vocal cord nerve was damaged during the aforementioned VATS surgery. All along I was thinking that this was a simple undertaking, given that I have so many major surgeries, I was going in with the idea that it was no big deal, and it wasn't really, but apparently, this type of surgery is very delicate and took 3.5 hours, holly cow! I was on some major "twilight" drugs with allowed me to be awake but not really present. The surgery involved pushing the damaged left vocal cord toward the right, and to get the placement just right I was asked to speak during the procedure so they could test the quality of my voice. My voice works really well and for the first time in nearly a year I don't have to strain to talk, yippi

best,
Becca