Kay Blackburn

The month of love is upon us and it’s everywhere.  While this is the time of year where we are typically reminded of it every time you go into a store or see an ad, I wished we had reminders throughout the year that gave us more intention around the subject.  I have gained so much perspective over the last year on what love and kindness is both as a giver and a receiver.

This past week has been a little challenging for us.  Back in August, I had taken Kaitlyn (our 16 year old) to the doctor for a physical and they found protein in her urine.  She was not having any symptoms and her labs looked great, but the pediatrician suggested we get in to see a kidney specialist to check it out.

Over the course of the next few months, we did a couple of different urine tests, an ultrasound, and finally a biopsy last Friday.  On Monday, I was in shock when I spoke with her doctor in Phoenix.

“Yes, um, I’d like you to come in to go over the results.  It’s very complicated.”

Oh no, you’re kidding, right?

Kaitlyn has a very rare kidney disease that has only been diagnosed in the last two years called Membranous-like glomerulopathy with masked IgG-κ deposits (MGMID).  There have only been about 14 cases reported in the last two years and there isn’t enough data to really know what works and what doesn’t.

So at this point, I am asking myself, what are the odds of me getting a extremely rare form on Non-Hodgkins lymphoma, and her now having a very rare disease too?  Is this really happening? Why?????

In the past I think I would have crumbled to the floor and cried, but given all that we have been through, I just had a sense of peace about this that everything was going to be ok.  I was worried about telling Kaitlyn about it, but my faith increased a thousand-fold when I spoke to her.  She got a little teary-eyed and I hugged her, but when I pulled away she said to me,

“I know why this is happening.”

I was sort of stunned that she stood there so calmly with a steady voice and a certainty about what she was going to say.  I hung on her words, anxious to hear what she would say next, to hear what insightful revelation would come from her mouth and it just floored me when she said this,

“Satan is really afraid of our family.”

I just stood there for a moment in awe of the profound statement she just made.  I hadn’t even recognized this, and instead of a 16 year-old girl feeling sorry for herself about being diagnosed with a rare disease, she was seeing the situation from God’s perspective. Satan most assuredly is bringing a full on attack of our family, trying to strike fear in us.

This IS the year of revelation… WOW. The enemy wants us to be fearful, but we will not, instead we lean in to God even more and believe that He will carry us through.

This reminds me of the verse James 1:2-4 where it talks about being thankful for trials and testing of your faith.  “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perserverance.  Let perserverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

Talk about mature, I’ll say…

I am constantly learning from that girl!

Our doctor’s visit on Tuesday actually went great, he is going to start her on a low dose blood pressure medicine and we can check labs in 3 months to monitor her.  This is an autoimmune condition and her body is producing antibodies that are causing problems in her kidneys.  The good news is that there is no presence of kidney damage and it is a slow progressing disease.  Out of the patients that had it, half went into spontaneous remission, so that’s what we are praying for… for both of us!!

As for me, I am 17 days into my 31 day Cancer Cure detox (Ty Bollinger’s) and I am feeling well.  I will admit that I haven’t been perfect, but that’s okay.  I feel like perfect is overrated and I will celebrate the fact that I am still on it.  I didn’t eat for 9 days (just juice, onion, broth, teas, and all the supplements on the protocol) and was losing almost a pound a day. I will say that this is a super “fast” way to drops some extra fat. I have also realized just how much excess I typically eat that my body doesn’t need. I am much leaner and feel much better, probably because my tumor is shrinking! 😉 The best thing is that each week I feel more like myself and less like “Kay on chemo” which is a huge reason to celebrate.

The family’s fast also ended and we celebrated with special treats.  I took Kaitlyn to a gelato place the other night in celebration of her Daniel fast being over.

As I stood in line and looked at the gorgeous display of sweet creamy delight I mentioned to Kaitlyn how I wished in the past I hadn’t been so restrictive.  Almost every time we would go out for dessert, I wouldn’t get any because it was “fattening”.  I stood in front of the glass admiring all those flavors that I couldn’t taste for fear of feeding my tumor and felt regret for always being so hard on myself.

I am learning to do better, to be kinder to myself, and realize that life is really too short to sweat the small stuff.

I didn’t actually buy these, but had to take a picture to remind myself that I will when I am off my detox!! I know they aren’t healthy… but they are organic LOL!!

So, while you are in the midst of the Valentine’s frenzy, here is your reminder to be kind to yourself, give praise for the things you do right, and enjoy life’s simple pleasures (in moderation…of course).

Onward and Upward!

Love,

Kay