<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"OK, now that I got the Zammett belly rant off my chest, I can tell you about the trip to San Diego. As you know I was there for Cure Magazine&amp;#39;s National Patient and Survivor Forum, where I hosted a session on young adults with cancer. My sister Meghan came with me and was the perfect travel companion&amp;#8212;we didn&amp;#39;t fight once and she walked pretty fast the whole time (well done, Meg!). I had been really nervous about my session&amp;#8212;mostly worried that no one would show up&amp;#8212;but it turned out great. Some highlights of the weekend:\n\nGetting to meet Jennifer, a fellow CML patient, and her mom Sue, who I&amp;#39;ve been talking/e-mailing with for over a year now. They came in from Vegas to be there! Jennifer also goes out to Portland for bone marrow biopsies so I was relieved when she told me the testing machine had been broken, which might explain why I haven&amp;#39;t gotten the results from my biopsy back yet (getting nervous!).\n\n\nTalking with a woman in my breakout session who had been diagnosed with a blood cancer less than a week earlier&amp;#8212;the same form of the disease that her father died from. It amazed me that she had the strength to show up at a conference with a bunch of cancer patients (not a club you want to join the second you&amp;#39;re diagnosed). She expressed all those raw feelings you have in the beginning and it was so amazing to watch everyone else in the group give her strength&amp;#8212;goes to show how important it is to find a support system. By the end of the conference she was a different woman&amp;#8212;she felt empowered (information will do that!) and ready to face whatever comes her way&amp;#8212;and I know she will be OK.\n\n\nMaking new friends in the cancer world. I met so many amazing, inspiring people out there&amp;#8212;from fancy doctors and medical experts (even a walking guru!) to patients and survivors of all ages. Everyone was so lovely and so open and I feel like a better person for having gotten to know each of them.\n\nI don&amp;#39;t have any photos of the conference to share with you. I probably should have snapped a few but at the time it seemed weird to pop out my camera during all that soul-bearing and have everyone say cheese for the blog. I do have a photo of me after the forum, though\u2026. Before we headed to the airport, Meghan and I stopped by to see my cousin Jill and her husband Lonnie and their five kids.\nPinterestFacebookHanging with my cuz (and my sis)\nPinterestFacebookA full house!\nJill made us an incredible lunch (she&amp;#39;s a Rachel Ray devotee) and we caught up and watched the kids ride bikes and paint us pictures. Every time I see Jill and her now huge family, I wish they lived closer. They are so warm and have such great energy&amp;#8212;the type of people that make you feel good about yourself just by being in their presence. And the kids are the best and, as you can see above, beyond cute. When Meghan and I pulled into the driveway they all ran to the car and lined up to give us hugs. My heart melts just thinking about it. I guess I&amp;#39;ve got to find an excuse to visit Cali more often! Oh, speaking of Cali\u2026funny, embarrassing tidbit: From the moment I landed to the moment we left, I had the theme song from Laguna Beach playing in my head. Think I watch too much TV?\n&amp;#8212;Erin"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/story/san-diego-trip-recap>