Key West and the Attack of the Black Floaters

I was at Hartsfield Airport last week on my way to a much needed vacation. During my hour layover I stopped for a snack at TCBY. As I'm ordering my frozen yogurt I notice a moth out of the corner of my right eye. How hygienic can this shop be with a moth flying around? Do I really want to buy yogurt from a store that has failed the health inspection? And, why was the moth moving with my eye? Then I realized that the moth was actually in my eye! It was a floater --- one of those amoeba-like things that float in your eye. Usually mine are grey or transparent but this one was black. Over the next twenty four hours this "moth" grew into a sinister "snake" and camped out in my eye along with smaller black floaters and bits of black sand. According to my doctor, this was all a result of my vascular system going through some changes after chemotherapy. Okay, but it doesn't help when I can't tell the real black ants apart from the fake, floater black "ants" in the cheap plastic cup I'm using while brushing my teeth and swallow some in the process of rinsing my mouth out! Yuck!

Other than sharing my vacation with a bunch of evil-looking subterranean amoeba, Key West was great! (If you ever head that way and need restaurant recommendations give me a shout or check out Jon's blog). It was great getting away from the sick bay of the couch, HGTV and my bed. It was sunny and warm. I was out wearing shorts and t-shirts everyday. And, I started getting my energy and appetite back. It was a nice break from cancer --- though as much as I thought I was getting away from it cancer was never far from the back of my mind. Friday Myron, Jon and I sailed to Woman Island on the Blu Q. It was a great day --- it was warm and the sailing was smooth. When we arrived at Woman Island (next to Man Island, natch) the boat anchored off the beach, we jumped into the water (okay, maybe that's stretching it --- the water was freezing and it took me a couple of times to make it all the way in!) and swam ashore. We wandered the island looking for sea biscuits, discovering a sand shark (it was five feet long - I swear!) and admiring the aquatic life (like Steve Zassou). I was swimming back to the boat alongside Dennis, who was also staying at our hotel, whose head was a tomato! "If you want some sun block I have some SPF 50 on the boat --- you're welcome to it" I told him. He said he was fine then gave me a concerned look and asked "And how are you?". "Oh, I'm fine. I have to have a bunch of scans when I get back and we'll see how much the tumor shrunk but testicular cancer is really curable." It was at about the same time he asked "What are you talking about?!" that I realized he had asked me about the sun on my head and not the cancer! I felt like an idiot though I was only being one of Pavlov's dogs.