and we are off...

there is something so amazing about flying into the sunrise...

we arrived at about noon and jumped on a bus...kill a little time before check in...first stop...lizzy'z pad...

a quick stop in at the abby...more tomorrow with sunday morning worship...

our feet make their first appearance....those shoes are looking really familiar...

yo ben!

more posting to come...

guarded optimism

well the results from the chest x-ray are in and the hormone treatment is indeed keeping the cancer from growing.  there has not been shrinkage...but there seems to be no growth.  so we are celebrating a gift of more time.  we will return to mayo in 6 weeks.  at that time ginny will have a ct scan.  we will get a better look at everything at that time, including the cancer in the abdomen (the tests today did not look at the abdomen)....so that is where the "guarded" in the title comes from...optimism yes...but guarded as this stuff is wicked and things can change on a dime....

we have been instructed to play as hard as we can while she feels good...i asked about time and the dr. p said that it is impossible to know for sure, but her experience would say the the best case scenario would be 3 years...and 12-18 months would be worst case...so we are definitely living each day intentionally and with great enthusiasm...

in two weeks ginny and i will be traveling to london with friends through the college i teach at...10 days of music, theatre, galleries and museums....yum yum...we will celebrate ginny's birthday there...

we will revive the "travel blog" for the trip (blogging daily)...

ginny really does look and feel great...we are so very grateful for thoughts and prayers...and love...

kirsten

schizzy life...

we are still in a holding pattern...ginny continues to manage her "clots" with a balance of coumadin (aka rat poison) and greens and taking her hormone treatment to manage the "spots"...on february 25th we will go to mayo once again for a chest x-ray to assess the the spots and clots...

we have been busy planning for our future and at the same time planning for an end...'tis a schizzy life...a trip to the lawyer to make sure all is in order...a trip to the "fun home" to make arrangements for a memorial service...in a couple of weeks a trip to meet with financial advisors...

the flip side of this crazy life includes planning for the future...a trip to see our beloved Kris Wee in Florida next week...a 10 day trip to London in March...and if the word on february 25th is positive, my Ginny will lead the way and we will book a trip to France, Germany and Denmark to visit old friends...then summer travel and of course planning for and anticipating ginny's garden...

everyday is full of intention and jam packed with life...with work, with people, with dogs and laundry.

kir & gin

gloves are off...

today ginny and i travelled to mayo for ginny's check-up (blood work, a CT scan and a consultation with dr. peethambarum).  a rough go.

i need to back up a little to help make sense of all this...so hang in there with me :)

in june 2010 we were told that ginny's cancer had spread to her lungs...after a summer of tests it was decided that the lung abnormalities were not likely cancer.  BUT just to be sure ginny started taking megase to keep the sleeping cancer in her abdomen snoozing and to treat the cancer in the lungs that likely isn't cancer.

so over the past 6 months gin has been taking megase and for a time was taking prednisone for the "stuff" in her lungs.  the steroids did not seem to make a difference but gin started feeling better...all good it seemed.

well the megase caused blood clots in her legs...the clots have travelled to her lungs...the same lungs that are once again being diagnosed with metastatic cancer...yep that's right cancer.  so all along the first doc was right.

the blows kept coming....the cancer in the abdomen has "woken up"...

so the plan is to first get the clots under control.  gin will have a shot of heparin once a day for 5 days and will also start taking coumadin...in two weeks the cancer treatment will start again...

this is where it all gets tough....there is one other hormone treatment option (like the megase) and there is one more type of chemo to try...both of these have a success rate of less than 25%...so we will start with the hormone treatment (pills) and if it does not do the trick we will take on chemo...

dr. p was very clear that we are entering the ring with a fierce opponent and it is the BIG fight...the fight for my sweet ginny's life...

love
kir and gin

P.S. gin is feeling good...and looks good...and wants you all to know that she has had her curly hair trimmed three times...*this girl smiles*

peace joy and love...love love love

it has been weeks since we last posted. to be honest we have been enjoying not having much to post.  this blog served a great purpose in the intensity of the spring and summer, updating people about ginny's illness and our coping household. ginny's cancer is still hibernating.  she feels good and i have to say she is looking great and her energy is increasing.  i am smitten with her new soft curly hair...adorable.

we have had a wonderful fall, with the energy and excitement of renovating and now the pleasure in living in a finished space.  christmas is on its way and we are have already hosted 2 christmas parties in the new space. it holds up well.  at one point had over 60 people standing and sitting in our living room/dining room/kitchen.

ginny and i will be spending our first christmas together...i know that that must seem strange...but the call of jayme & dustin (our niece and nephew) has taken me to british columbia the past two years...they still call, but will wait until after christmas to see auntie kirsten...

to celebrate our first christmas spent together, we bought a tree...a big one...and we have hung up our stockings (gotta have stockings).  ginny's brother dan will be with us and her sweet mother too.

and our Minnesota winter has arrived...

we spent much of this morning digging out...first BIG storm of the year left us with much to move...lots of snow...but beautiful...so beautiful (that is the canadian in me i think)... and we took advantage of the bright sun and snow and took a few pics...

 i am a big kid...

peace...joy...and BIG love....
ginny and kir