Kay Blackburn

I am celebrating.  Well, actually I am quite sore from the surgery yesterday where they took my port out and put in a central line for collecting T cells today.  I was sedated, and they numbed me up, but there was a lot, I mean a lot of yanking around my chest and neck area… and that left me very tender last night and today.  Nonetheless, I am celebrating!

This has been an outstanding visit to California.  Today was collection day where my little T cells get collected and will soon be off to be genetically modified.  Hard to believe that in 3 weeks I will be a Genetically Modified Organism.  It is a strange thought given the fact that GMOs as we know it are bad and when I hear that acronym thoughts of Monsanto and people in white coats doing weird things to our food come to mind.

But I think being a GMO will be a good thing in my case.

Today we are also celebrating Kaitlyn’s 16th birthday!  I am so thankful to be her mother and even more thankful to have met this milestone in her life.  My situation has made me consider the future milestones that I am hopeful to witness in the girls’ future.  But living for today is also a blessing and rather than looking at the glass half empty, I hope to always view it as half full.

Yesterday, was Solar Eclipse Day.  I was scheduled for surgery at noon with appointments in the morning.  Our alternate plan if we weren’t here at Stanford, was to be in Victor, Idaho in the middle of the total eclipse path among friends in basically our favorite place (Teton Valley) on earth.  So being here, we didn’t plan to see it, no glasses purchased, and during our visit with Dr. Miklos, he bounded into the room bearing gifts for all as he passed out Solar Eclipse viewing glasses to everyone … he was like Santa Clause going up and down the halls passing them out with such joy.  I overheard him saying to people, “I like you, and I like you, and I like you…”  So, despite our disappointment with not getting to be in the “path”, we actually did get to see it, thank you Dr. Miklos!!

Our weekend was amazing as well because what do you do in the Bay area when you have a weekend with no plans?  You go to Napa of course and relax … which is exactly what we did.  It was so nice to forget about cancer for the weekend and just be on vacation together.  We ate at some amazing restaurants, got massages, visited our favorite winery, and enjoyed riding in the rented mustang convertible  in the  California sun.  I can’t even begin to tell you how hard cancer is on a marriage, but that is a discussion for another time.  Needless to say, we needed a vacation from cancer and we finally got one (if even for just a couple of days).

Can I just say that I never enjoyed a convertible as much as I did without hair.  I didn’t have to worry about my hair getting all whipped around and flying around in my face.  It was so liberating to be hairless with the top down!

And in the midst of an already outstanding trip to Palo Alto where everything that needed to happen for the trial to move forward happened, we reconnected with my old childhood friend Tina Tang and her boyfriend James Witt.  Two incredibly generous friends that are as good at the core as people get.  We will be staying one of James’s cottages that is 15 minutes from the hospital when we return… blessings, blessings, blessings.

I just can’t help but feel that God continues to go before us and pave this road.  I know to trust Him completely because He is a miracle working God.  So tonight I will go home and hug my girls and give Kaitlyn a extra big hug.  We get to celebrate that God has a plan and He delivered phase 1 on her birthday.

Onward and Upward.

I’ve told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace.  In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.  John 16:33