I thought I’d take a break from all the medical updates to do something a little fun! Fun facts!

1. I was born in Alabama

2. I have a bad habit of leaving string cheese wrappers around the house.

3. My left ring finger is double jointed so I can make the top lay flat.

4. I had curly hair when I was young and they called me yahoo hair.

5. I have a lot of allergies and am lactose intolerant.

6. I don’t drink alcohol, because it gives me migraines.

7. My sister died when I was 7, during scoliosis surgery.

8. My dog and I are too similar: sensitive skin, she snores too, heart problems, stubborn.

9. I was baptized episcopal and credited with bringing my family back to the Catholic church.

10. I’ve always had freckles and a dimple.

11. My favorite saints are St. John of God, JPII, St. Therese of Lisieux and St. Francis de Sales.

12. I had to take a test on the entire Catechism and miss less than 7 questions to graduate with a Catechetics/Theology degree from college.

13. My middle name is Gail, after my aunt.

14. My favorite candy is Twix.

15. My favorite drink is Diet Dr. Pepper

16. I do the cooking for mom and I. She tries, but Bless her heart.

17. I just started using essential oils and they work!

18. I recently got sick multiple times a day for 8 weeks before doctors figured out what was wrong.

19. My favorite color is teal/mint green.

20. I love all things polka dot.

21. I’ve seen various counselors for the past 6 years to battle depression/anxiety.

22. I have a slight problem with amazon, thanks to amazon prime and two day shipping.

23. We root for Auburn while the rest of the family roots for Alabama. War Eagle.

24. I have a scar on my left thumb from where I sliced it on a pizza cutter in a grocery store when I was 5.

25. My mom and I have grown to best friends in my adulthood and I am grateful she was a mom during my adolescence.

26. My confirmation saint was Saint Juliana Falconeri, a less known saint who I picked after reading her story in the Arlington Herald.

27. I got a Dalmatian for my 10th birthday, thanks to my Uncle Tom.

28. I once challenged my college roommate to see how high the trash pile would get before she took it out. She never did so I lost that challenge.

29. Stopping at 29 in honor of my age. I can’t believe I’m almost 30. But I look 18.

Hope you enjoyed! Share one fun fact in the comments!

As you may have noticed my last post was very matter of fact. yep. I have kidney cancer. yep. we are hanging in there. yep. reality is settling in.

First, good news. We were able to get in to see the urologist aka “this type of cancer expert” on December 8, 2017. The feast of the Immaculate Conception. Mary’s conception full of grace and without sin. God planning ahead and preserving our Blessed Mother to carry His Son. Pretty much my favorite feast day, because 1. I’m a fan of the blessed mother and 2. It just shows God’s faithfulness.

I’ve found myself anxious to get to the appointment to talk about the treatment options to get Marty, T.L.S. out. Yep, I named my tumor. He was first named Martin by me after my cardiologist who played like Dr. House and his test recommendation found this little sucker. My mother on the other hand calls it The.Little.Shit. so a friend of ours combined it into Marty, T.L.S. Yep, he’s gotta go. It was nice of him to grow off the side of my kidney, instead of inside, but still he is not welcome.

Anyways, I was thinking the past few days about how I don’t want my thanksgiving to be filled with heart disease and cancer so what is my thanksgiving made of this year? What’s yours? do share!

T: Totally belonging to Christ. There is no way I would still be standing here without Faith that I belong to God and His plan is far greater than my understanding.

H: Hopkins. They have done more in the 14 months that we have been going there to understand my heart disease and now my kidneys than what was expected. I have a cardiologist who made a visit at 7:00pm after a full day of appointments just to check in after the cancer diagnosis was confirmed. They go above and beyond.

A: All of you. You are our prayer warriors, supporters, loved ones, friends, all of you that makes our “family”.

N: Nonnie’s memory. My grandmother fought lung cancer courageously and heroically. She lived on magnum ice cream bars when she was so sick. She always answered my Monday night phone calls with words of faith and courage, even when she felt so sick. I found myself asking what would Nonnie do, how would she fight? Like hell!

K: Kristin. My life. my story. Knowing God chose to tell the story of salvation with me in it. (AND YOU TOO).

S: Sherry. You know that lady I am lucky enough to call my mom. She some how manages to meet work deadlines, volunteer at church, snore in a recliner next to me laying in a hospital bed for days on end, pray for me, love me, laugh with me, take on doctors and watch her daughter suffer and yet still have faith. Her faith could move mountains.

G: Those crazy Grassons (and of course the johnson’s) . The goofballs I’m lucky enough to call my family. A phone call away to activate my prayer warriors (including the poor clares..My Deacon uncle does adoration for them). We know if we ask, that’d be here in a jiffy.

I: Ice cream of the coconut milk variety. Yep, thats right. Being lactose free and being able to enjoy after a long hospital stay.

V: Victory of the heart. Having this blog to share prayer requests and my thoughts/heart and having the story of the past two and a half years and being able to look back on God’s faithfulness.

I: Individuals who choose to bear Christ to others. There are days I don’t feel God’s presence, but I am always reminded by these individuals by their faith that He is here.

N: Nurses. Every nurse I have ever had. I would have never made it through all these hospital stays without the nurses who treated me like they were caring for their own family member.

G: God’s faithfulness. Even despite my doubts, joys, trials, he remains the same loving God.

We all carry much into thanksgiving. A year full of joys, sorrows, loss, the addition of a little one to the family, health, illness, friends, family, hurt, laughter, joy. We all have something. I pray whatever you carry into this Thanksgiving, that the Lord nestles you into the sacredness of His heart and feels your heart with peace.

Hello all,

I write with a bit of an update and some unexpected news.

What’s been happening the past 8 weeks:

It’s been a while since I wrote an update for the good ol’ blog. I mentioned in my last post that I had been vomiting for unknown reasons. Unfortunately, this has continued for the past 8 weeks. We tried medication changes and food changes first, which provided no relief. So we went on to imaging including an EKG, CT Scan, Abdominal ultrasound, MRI and Pet Scan.

As a last ditch effort, my cardiologist suggested a CT scan to look into the blood flow to the stomach. This test may have saved my life.

What did they find?

Kidney cancer. Much to our surprise the CT scan showed a tumor on my left kidney. We had further scans up at Hopkins this past week and it was confirmed that the tumor is in fact cancerous.

Whats the prognosis?

The urologist started the conversation with us that “this will not kill you” so as you can imagine, we are breathing a little easier.   The cancer has been contained to my kidney and possibly one spot in my chest. The doctors believe that they will remove the tumor or if necessary, the entire kidney. They will monitor the spot on my chest for now. Oncology believes that radiation and chemo are not needed at this time.

What’s next?

My case was presented to the tumor board at Hopkins on Monday. This board is made up of group of doctors across multiple specialities who collectively come up with a treatment plan, which we will follow in the next few months.

How are we doing? 

As you can imagine we are in shock and perhaps even numb to the news. Had my cardiologist not pushed for the CT scan, we would have never found the tumor and the outcome could be quite different. We are taking it day by day.

We are so grateful to be at Hopkins. The doctors have been great answering any of our questions and help us through this first week. The attending was able to put my case before a colleague who is studying this specific type of cancer so we are benefiting from the ground breaking research and practices at Hopkins.

How can you help us?

Please pray for my doctors, myself, my mom and for my heart. We need my heart to remain at its baseline so that we can move forward with the surgery.

Please also pray that they will not have to remove the whole kidney. This would cause my other kidney to work harder which would be a challenge in managing my heart failure and fluid retention.

Please allow us to guide the conversation. Some days we will want someone to listen, while other days we will want to talk about anything but the cancer.

Thank you for all your love and support, we really eternally grateful.

Love, Kristin