. . . the journey . .

We saw Dr Matthews today for the results of Orin's CT scan expecting that the results wouldnt be so good. He just hasn't had a good month. Well there were two more new lesions in the lung ( when colorectal cancer metastasises to the lung it looks more like a shot gun pattern ...lung cancer is often just one large lesion) however the others had not changed in size ( there have been as many as 16... some of the tiny ones had become undetectable on the scan with the last round of chemo while the larger ones have remained the same size) WE SAW THIS AS QUITE A VICTORY AND A DEFINATE SIGN THAT GOD IS NOT YET READY TO BRING HIM HOME. He will restart Chemo next week. But very differently. Dr Matthews will work carefully with him to preserve quality of life. Pray this can be successful. Thank you to all who continue to lift us up to the Father on a daily basis and surround us with your presence and love. Sunday we celebrated Anna's second birthday. Last year his greatest

I have always loved Fall. It comes with cool breezes and the soothing sounds of rustling leaves.. the knowledge of awakening to that first snow covered morning reminding of Gods perfect quiet peace and rest. We are here again and I think of how many blessing We have today. It has been just two years since Orin and I left for the hospital at 6 am for his colonoscopy. Since he has been having problems, I was already concerned and I remember thinking as we drove out of the drive way " I wonder if our lives will ever be the same again". Well as you know they havent been. But my oh my what blessings we have seen. Yes we have had problems and tears. Orin has pain every day. The cancer isnt gone. We will know in a couple weeks just where it stands ( he is having a CT on the 11th our apt is the 16th so I will post after that) but we have discovered what is important in our time together. Orin has had the opportunity to serve God by building two needed items for the church. Go

Its funny how you can put off attending a family reunion as not so important when all is well.... and how special they become when faced with a serious illness. So it was that we planned amd attended the Gronau family reunion in Newton this last weekend and what a joy it was to see people we hadnt seen for years. If any of you are reading this, Yea! we sure were glad to see you!! We spent Sunday with my mom and sister. Mike and Emily had also come out for the reunion so that made eleven under ten.. was a lively day but lots of fun! We both came home tired but I think Kesha ( our dog) was the worst...the little girls pushed her around in a doll buggy ALL DAY... she didnt seem to mind but she slept ALL the way home and most of today! Orin has napped quite a bit today too but really did pretty well for all the activity. We again praise the Lord for giving Orin the Good health to be able to travel to Newton for the reunion

It has been a bit longer that I would have liked since i last posted but there are times when it seems that words just dont seem to be there. This last month has been like that. We have been faced with the making the decision regarding whether to change Oncologists. Weighing all factors, including treatment philosophies, staff etc we did decide that a change was in order. Currently we have seen the new Dr and are working on treating the infection in Orin's belly before resuming chemo again and ask your prayers for success in identifying the organism as well as the right treatment. Thank you all for your support. Kathy

I bet you all thought I fell off the edge of the world or something! no... just trying to recover from a greaat weekend with out kids at Grand Lake. We left last Friday about noon and arrived home Sunday evening. Our whole family.. kids,and grandkids and dogs played, ate and spent a lot of time getting "wet" at Grand Lake.. ( Thank you so very much, David and Susan for your gracious hospitality).. On the way home Sunday six year old Blake rode with us....at one point I said "Blake, how many times do you think we went swimming this weekend?" his response: an emphatic "A LOT!!" It was a very special family time. however..we did come home quite tired and have spent a good bit of time this week resting!! not as young as we used to be!! Orin is beginning to feel some better. He is in the third week now since treatment and so every day gets better. He mostly is tired a lot.. still some stomach upset problems. He did better than we hoped over the weekend.

Orin had chemo this week. The last one for a few weeks at least as he will take a break after this one. He has had the usual side effects so we have been mostly home. We did hear from from Dr Williamson Friday. He had looked at the ct scan and reports and said that the abscess was not clearly visable on the scan (which means that two weeks of antibiotics has been helping.) He will have the surgeon look at the scans this next week and give us his opinion as to whether anything can be done. On the lighter side we kept Blake (6) Anna (22mo) Olivia (19mo) and Lily (3mo) last night and I have now canceled my request for "TWINS the next time". We did however enjoy them immensely, they are the joy of our life! til later, kg

Perhaps you were able to tell by the last entry that we were somewhat disappointed by what seemed like lack of interest in Orin's situation, blaming that on the fact that we were the last appointment on Friday afternoon when everyone was really just wanting to start the weekend! Yet God used that very situation to keep us on the doctor's mind and when we arrived home on Sunday night there was a message on our answering from Dr Williamson asking us to call him. I spoke with him Monday and found that somewhere between Friday and Saturday afternoon he had reconsidered Orin's case and had become convinced that we needed to get a current ct scan and consult with the surgeon..regarding more agressive treatment of the abscess. Orin had a new CT Scan done today and it will be sent to Dr Williamson who said he would personally talk with the surgeon.. so we wont have to make a trip unless the surgeon feels that something can be done. My prayers personally had been that the doctor

having a great time with Orin's sister June.. shopping for this and that....we saw a YELLOW VW bug convertible..!!!!!!!!hummmmmm???? on our way to the birthday party. dont know that we will be home in time for church tonight but thinking of you ... go ahead and count us... love you all, kathy

Well I sure wish I could report wonderful news.... Orin said he was disappointed that they didnt have a magic pill to give him!! The Doctor was not able to give us much hope regarding the abscess problem.. He did say several times that sometimes the problems that resulted from the treatment became the problem! He felt as tho this were the case. Surgical repair could be risky in several ways...apparently there could be a problem with healing..especially if there are stray cancer cells still present.. and of course it is a big big surgery. He refered us to the surgeon who does only cancer surgery. Someone he works with frequently. I do not know if Orin will choose to do this however... he isnt too willing to consider more surgery. He was on the other hand very encouraging about the lung lesions and judged them to be significantly improved between the last two scans. He said that eventually the cancer would become resistant to the drugs that they are currently using but that there ar

I have this ritual for waking up in the morning that calls for a cup of coffee and 15 minutes of sitting! (somehow my body always gets up and leaves my brain still in bed) I have found that my recliner is not a bad place for this activity.( the plan is simple, you drink the coffee and then sit quietly,, in about 15 minutes you discover that your brain is awake, has now joined your body and the day can officially begin.) ..anyway the recliner is a good place.. its comfy, but this morning I decided to take advantage of the minutely short period of morning "cool" and I went out to the lounge chair on the deck.. As I sat there quietly waiting for my brain to join me, the words to a hymn came flooding in... they say "When morning guilds the sky, my heart awakening cries, May Jesus Christ be Praised" and I knew again what a blessing it is to know Jesus, to have His presence join my morning ritual, and the start of my day..which can be a bit precarious when you are runn

I have spent several hours this evening going through the records that we have collected from Orin's treatment trying to be sure that we have what we need for this consult Friday with Dr Williamson.. As many of you know, I kind of like to write things down.... and what a blessing I had tonight... as I went through my calendar to get the dates right on this scan and that...OVER and OVER I read.. we got a card today from Charlotte, or Lea, or June etc... or today Donovan brought orin a strawberry shake, or Tom and Nichelle were here to visit, or Ann called or Rod called or Pastor was by to see orin and on and on and on with so many enteries... each reminding me of the love and care we have gotten from nearly everyone we know.. thank you thank you. Your love sustains us.

Our Oncologist in Pittsburg has refered us to KU to a specialist. We are hoping that he will be able to help us with some resolution to this problem with the abdominal abscess that gives Orin so much grief. Although this has been there since the surgeries last May it has escalated as a problem in the last weeks. This specialist is a gastroenterologist oncologist and hopefully will be able to help. We will see Dr Williamson on Friday afternoon, and are spending the weekend in Kansas City. I will try to post to this site from kc if I have the opportunity. We ask that you pray specifically for the Dr to have the wisdom and experience needed to be helpful.

Boy do you learn a lot when you start something new!! Things like "the language" of cancer treatment..... and Waiting. We have spend a year and a half now figuring this out and can now tell you for sure, without a doubt, that a "ROUND" of treatment (at least for Orin) looks like this. DAY ONE 24 hours of continuous and intermittant treatment.. one drugin a continuous infusion pump" for 24 hrs.The others he gets IV over about 2 hours. This by the way comes with coffee, juice, a sandwich, muffin, chips and three pretty nurses! DAY TWO Refill the pump and 2 more hours of IV's DAY THREE they disconnect the pump.... those 3 days are connected to the next session which is two weeks later DAY 15 - Just like day one DAY 16 - Just like day two Day 17 - Just like day three All that together is a ROUND AFTER TWO ROUNDS they do a PET SCAN to see if there is improvement. When the results are in

This is my first attempt at having a "blog site". I am probably much more interested and excited to see how it turns out than anyone who will be reading it. I recently learned an important truth about the scripture in Phillippians 4:13 which says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. It is not so much about our deciding what to do and then expecting God to provide the power as it is about us being willing to do that which God desires for us, knowing that His strength and power will give us whatever skills, courage, stamina and insight needed to do it. So as I find myself drawn to this method of sharing what God has given, I also trust that he will provide. Lovingly, In His Strength, Kathy