On My Way...

It's official - Dr. R cleared me to leave the country today at my 3 week/post surgery appointment today.  (Whew and woo hoo simultaneously!!!) I'm on day 24 of my nomadic travels, but hopefully by August 16th, I'll be traveling in Africa instead of the U.S.  Until then, here's an overview of my hopefully non-tentative schedule:

San Jose, CA. July 24-August 3

  While I have been enjoying staying in a variety of places the past couple of weeks, I'm really looking forward to staying put in one place for more than a few days.  Asante sana (thank you very much, in swahili) to those of you who have given me a bed, hot meal and a roof over my head!!!

Grand Rapids, MI.  August 3-7

  I was originally supposed to be back in GR for training with CRWRC in May but had my biopsy scheduled for the same week so I missed out on the first training session.  Luckily, they're having another the first week of August, so I'll be traveling east for a few days for some final training before really heading east to Africa.  

Petaluma, CA.  August 7-9  

  Before heading north to Whidbey Island, I'm coming back to CA spend a few days with my dad's family.  On the 7th, we'll go out to the coast and spread the ashes of my grandpa who passed away this last January.  One of my last memories of my grandpa was showing him my Africa photos, telling him about my travels this last fall and hearing how proud he was of me, so it's nice to get to remember him before going back to Africa.  

Oak Harbor, WA.  August 9-16

  Instead of driving up to WA like I had originally planned, I've decided to leave my car in Petaluma and fly home.  I'll spend about a week up north, and then leave from Seattle for Uganda. When I return in the fall (mid-late October) I'll stay with my parents for a week or so and then head back to San Jose.  

Uganda, Africa.  August 16-mid/late October

  Here's a picture of me crossing the Nile in Uganda last fall...just a little preview of the adventures that are soon to come! Thanks as always for reading.  Hopefully, soon my "Africa" blog will be being written from Africa instead of San Jose:)

- Kristen

No Cancer!

This morning I got the phone call I've been praying for for the past two months...no cancer!!!

It was the best news I've had in a long time.  Really, there aren't words to describe how I'm feeling today - all the challenges of the past few months are out of the way, and now there is nothing standing in my way in getting to Africa!  

I am still having a little trouble getting my meds regulated, but it's slowly getting close to where I need to be.  For the past couple of days, I haven't been able to feel a couple of my toes which has been strange, so this morning I went back to the lab to have more blood taken to see what's going on with my calcium level.  Dr. R told me today that one of my parathyroids accidentally got taken out during surgery which might be causing some of my current problems. I guess my thyroid had grown so big and out of control, it had engulfed one of the four parathyroids, so when the thyroid came out, so did one parathyroid.  The good news is that you only need one parathyroid to survive, so I still have two on reserve.  The whole thing made me laugh and made me think of bad classic movie titles, "Night of the Living Thyroid"  "The Thyroid that Ate New York"  "Thyroidzilla"  etc.  

So now I'm getting ready for Africa, most likely leaving August 16 and will be based either in Kenya or Uganda.  Tomorrow, I'm going to Cache Creek Casino with some family members and am feeling lucky so watch out penny slot machines!  

-Kristen

Attack of the Killer Thyroid

As of 4:00p.m. Thursday, I was officially free of my monstrous thyroid.  My surgeon was AMAZING.  My thyroid had actually grown around my esophagus and pushed it out of place.  One of my main nerves had also become trapped in between two growths that had grown around it.  The surgeon was surprised at the size of it and what damage it had been doing when he got in to take it out, but 6 1/2 hours later, Dr. R had freed me from the attack of my killer thyroid.   The surgery was only supposed to be 3 hours, but because of the size and complexity of how it had grown, and also because Dr. R. knows I'm a singer and wanted to save my voice, he took the greatest care and the good news is that my voice should be just fine - hooray Dr. R!!!!  

So now, I'm on the journey of a slow recovery.  It's been harder than I anticipated.  I only spent one night in the hospital, because I was determined to get out of there as quickly as possible.  I have the world's tiniest veins, so getting stuck over and over every two hours for blood was getting old really fast.  Unfortunately, I was back in the ER yesterday because my calcium level is too low.  It's complicated, but basically you need a lot of calcium after this surgery to keep from having a heart attack.  I didn't have a heart attack, but a lot of other really scary stuff happened, but after a couple of hours, they released me with more medicine.  So I'm up to 6000 mg a day, which is really hard on my stomach (no details needed for that) so please just be praying that my body can adjust to no thyroid and these large amounts of calcium I have to take.  I had to go back and have more blood drawn today, but if everything goes well, I won't be back at the doctor until Wednesday.  

Thank you thank you thank you for your thoughts and prayers.  I'll write another update in a few days:)

-Kristen

Nomad - Day 1

I can't believe it, but I'm finally done packing.  It truly was like a super-sized game of Tetris packing my storage pod, just not as fun as the computer game.  It really has been a strange experience packing for the next four months; the variety of climates (California, Washington and Africa) has been challenging, and for better or for worse, I have packed five suitcases and am feeling ready to be clothed for any occasion in any climate.  I'm also thinking of naming my first book, "Five Suitcases, Four Months, Three _____ (still thinking of this one, and open to suggestions)  Two Continents and One Purpose"  Or... maybe not so much :)  

Today is my first official day as a nomad.  As I drove away from my house this afternoon it was somewhat surreal, leaving behind the cottage that holds all of my tangible memories for a really fuzzy future.  As corny as it was, I played the theme from Indiana Jones on my iPod as I drove away (goodbye local Hooters down the street, I can't say I'll miss you while I'm gone) and hummed along as I drove my overly packed car onto 880 and headed north to Petaluma.  I had an amazing prayer/healing meeting with some friends from church yesterday, and we prayed through letting go of fear, anxiety and worry, so instead of being scared of the unknown, I'm trying to think of it as a great adventure (now does the whole Indiana Jones theme make sense?)  Really, when will I ever have the chance again to be completely free for four months to travel, spend great time with family and friends and go through a surgery/healing process that is going to make a tremendous difference in my health, etc?  Hello great adventure, goodbye fear and timidity.  

Tonight, I am sleeping at my Grandma Virginia's house and am glad to be here away from the air mattress I've been sleeping on the past few nights.  I've decided to keep track of how many beds I'll sleep in during the next four months.  It could be an interesting list, or again, maybe not so much.  That's all for now - thanks for reading.

Kristen

More Photo Practice

The Bahams have been nice enough to let me continue practicing my photography on their beautiful daughter Camille.  Here are a couple pictures from our latest photo shoot:

I'm still continuing to pack and today, I started moving things into the pod which was nice because now my living room isn't so crazy cluttered.  A couple of more boxes and I'm done!

Then tomorrow (Monday) I'll clean up, scrub floors, etc. and Tuesday, one of my two sub-leasers move in and I'll head up to Petaluma to see my family and pick up my parents.  In just a few days, I'll begin the season of living out of a suitcase... hooray???  I have to say I'm excited to get on with things - surgery, recovery, Africa - but not excited about four months living out of bags.  I guess the up side is that the longer I'm away, the sweeter coming home and unpacking will be.  Thanks for reading:)

Kristen

Shoes for a New Season

Today, as I continued the packing process for Africa, it came time to pack away all of my work/church clothes.  This included boxes of some of my favorite high heels.  I used to call them my "heels of authority" because clearly, the higher the heel, the closer to God.  As I carefully packed my old friends, one layer of shoes at a time, I felt a little sad to be away from CotC.  Funny that being simply a participant in the worship services has been okay, but somehow packing my shoes is making me all emotional. Weird, huh?

Besides packing, this week has been busy with many things to prepare for my surgery and trip to Africa.  I had an appointment with my surgeon on Monday which went well.  He was friendlier than last time, and after giving a few samples, one via a needle and another via paper cup, I was done with all of my pre-op activities.  So a week from Thursday, adios thyroid! 

I've also been learning about photography from my friend Tammy in prep for Africa.  Today, I photographed Camille Baham, daughter of my friends Jen and Jeff.  I chose her because she's small, unpredictable in what she does and cute, which was a winning combination because I was pretty pleased with some of the pictures. While I don't consider myself a skilled photographer, with the help from tips from Tammy and a good camera, I got some pretty good shots. Here are a couple of my favorites.

So there are the results of my first photo shoot - thank you Camille and Jen!  Tomorrow, more packing, more photos and more pre-surgery/Africa fun!  Thanks for reading.

-Kristen

A Lesson in Everything

This last week, I haven't felt very healthy.  Early in the week, my throat started to hurt really bad, like when you have a pill stuck sideways in your throat.   Soon after, it started to feel like a knife from my throat to my sternum when I would swallow, then the left side of my neck and throat were sore to the touch, and finally, it began to hurt to breathe and to speak. Between that and thinking about how I am supposed to be on a plane tomorrow for Uganda, it's been a rough couple of days.  But as always, God is revealing an amazing lesson in the midst of my struggle. 

On Wednesday, I had coffee with my friend Tammy, and during our time, I told her how I was feeling.  The conversation eventually shifted to talking about Africa and how I would begin conversations with people, what kinds of things are okay to ask, etc.  As we spoke, Tammy suggested a good way to ask people to talk about how they feel having HIV/AIDS would be to share a little bit of my recent health struggle, something like, "Before I came to Africa, I had surgery to remove some growths in my throat.  The doctors were concerned I had cancer.  I was very scared."  Plain and simple:  When I was told I was sick, I was scared.  How did you feel when you were told you have HIV?  

I am now somehow a little glad to have my beastly thyroid growths.  My experience at Gift of Love, working with men dying from AIDS gives me a way to relate to others on how it feels to lose someone you love, but until coffee on Wednesday, I didn't realize that I now have a way to start a conversation about what it feels like to be told you are sick.  Clearly, what I have is not comparable in the least bit to being diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, but being scared and not feeling healthy can maybe help build a bridge to really connecting with people and learning their story.  

Even though I thought tomorrow I would be healthy, on a plane to Uganda, leaving for the greatest adventure of my life, I am somehow grateful to be at home on my couch with literally, a pain in my neck, just taking every day for what it is and trying to see the lesson in everything presented to me. 

-Kristen