No News Is Good News

Stefan's workplace has an annual Gingerbread Decorating 

Contest using the kits they distribute. Until this past year, the

prize was simply bragging rights. However, with 2 Oilers tickets and 

$100 spending money on the line, this year, Stefan enlisted his

mother to help. We knocked it out of the park! (See photos at the bottom of the blog.) And in a move that made him my favourite child until one of his siblings did something equally amazing 😁, he gave the tickets to his parents. 

(Of course, he kept the spending money. 🤑)

I would apologize for the lack of communication, except that I'm not sorry. ☺️ We've simply been too busy living life to take the time to blog. This is a good thing! Ken has been feeling pretty good with no physical symptoms other than fatigue. He still requires a 2+ hour nap every morning, or he starts to slur his words by 11:00am. This is highly entertaining to everyone but him. 😆

We purchased a house in Calgary two years ago, with plans to renovate it while Donovan was living there. (He is currently in year 2 of his Internal Medicine residency.) We had been working with a company in Calgary to add a legal basement suite; however, plans changed when we received Ken's diagnosis, and we decided to try selling it. Unfortunately, it was ugly. 🫤 No, seriously, it was lost in a time warp of both 1969 and 1984. Red and gold flocked velvet wallpaper with shaggy forest green carpet, anyone? How about badly damaged dusty rose countertops? No? Weird. 😁 In November of 2025, we found two carpenters to assist us in renovating it...on a budget. Part of that budget involved sweat equity from Ken and me. So in January, we spent 2.5 weeks living in Donovan's condo (he was working in Red Deer most of the time), putting in 8-10-hour days. Google Maps tells me our truck was at the house 127 hours. Obviously, we stopped to eat...barely; munching on nuts while painting became my thing, and there were 2 Oilers games we watched with whoever was currently working on the project. (I also discovered how much you can do in the 10-minute intermissions!) Ken's Dad came down for a couple of days, as well as Ken's cousin, and several family friends. We are so grateful for their help! The house looks much better now, and we're hoping it sells soon. In case you're interested...😁 Real estate listing

 

See? I wasn't joking about the wallpaper and carpet! Ken

enjoyed learning how to use the airless paint sprayer and 

I spent Sunday afternoon enjoying the absolutely beautiful spring 

weather on Donovan's balcony.

Given the past year, Ken's ability to help is nothing short of amazing. Okay, okay, so he spent many hours picking up supplies and food, and there were numerous dump runs, but he would not have been able to do even that before Christmas. 🛻

Ken has been feeling so well that he looked into getting back to work. The College of Physicians and Surgeons required an IME (Independent Medical Examination), which he passed with flying colours. However, the prospect of returning to an 83-hour workweek is not only physically impossible but no longer attractive. Funny, that; almost like a life-altering diagnosis results in a change in perspective! He's been volunteering at Green Manor, a one-year residential addiction program operated by Hope Mission, assisting with their Sunday afternoon church service. This has been a dream come true, as he's always wanted to work with troubled men. However, even preparing a weekly presentation is exhausting, so any return to work would have to be in baby steps, as in step-step-wobble-plop-step...👶🏼

Unfortunately, these plans will have to wait, as Ken's last CT scan, done on February 27, showed that the cancer is back. 😔 This is not unexpected, given the aggressive nature of his particular type, but still very, very unwelcome. 🥹 (Obviously...😏) Thankfully, they were only able to see two spots, not the 20+ they found during his surgery almost a year ago. Appendix cancer patients who undergo cytoreductive surgery, HIPEC, and chemo, as Ken did, definitely have a better prognosis than those who don't, but it's still no ticket to a long life. The one-year anniversary of Ken's surgery is March 17, so he almost made it a year without a recurrence. Thankfully, the extra testing we paid for right after Ken's diagnosis revealed a possible immunotherapy drug that might fight his cancer, so I presume we will be giving that a try. We see the oncologist on Tuesday, March 10, so we will know more then. 🤔

So how are we doing, given the news? We're bummed! We had just found a new life rhythm, and now it might be disrupted. Breakfast in the sunroom every morning while listening to our morning devotional is not where we thought we'd be at this point in our lives, but we've been loving it! We actually spent a couple of days in Montreal last week; Ken had a Parkinson's meeting, so we tacked on a few extra days of sightseeing. It was somewhat surreal, as we haven't travelled beyond Calgary since his diagnosis. Honestly, it almost felt like the good ole' days, when we would travel to Europe at least once a year. However, I can only say "almost" because, like a permanent smudge on your glasses, the knowledge that this could be our last trip coloured every moment. That's not to say we didn't enjoy ourselves; we did, but it was certainly not quite like old times. 😔

We attended a carillon bell and brass quintet concert...at

11:00pm! It was part of the White Night celebration during which

people stay up all night...unless they're old, like us. We also rode on

the Ferris wheel at the port in Old Montreal. It was incredible - and heated,

which we greatly appreciated. I discovered Golden Milk at a lovely cafe

 right across the cobbled street from the Notre Dame Basilica. 

And God? Where is He in all this? Right beside us, holding us both up and close, as needed. Do we have "Jacob moments" when we wrestle with God, wondering how this journey is supposed to be for our good? Oh yes. Do we have periods when anxiety threatens to rob our peace? Yup. Do we have a God who is greater than all this and has proven Himself as faithful time and time again? Absolutely. We can't imagine life without Him. 🙏🏼

Oh, I hear you, "Come on, guys, isn't it time you stopped believing the whole God fairytale thing?" Well, if it were a fairytale, we would concur, but it's not. Ken and I have experienced God in ways that have proven, in no uncertain terms, that He not only exists, but that He loves us. 

"Well, you're obviously beyond help, so good luck." Thanks, I think? But we don't need luck. Oh, and just for your information, Job's friends were most helpful to him when they were silent. Just sayin'! 😇

I had an inkling that Ken's scan wouldn't be clear when the song "Have Your Way," by Katy Nichole, came to my attention the day before we received the results. The first line caught my attention, as in just over 2 months, I will be celebrating the fourth anniversary of my "Alive Day," otherwise known as "The-day-I-almost-died-of-post-surgical-complications." Another phrase also caught my ear; she sings "have your way IN me," not "with me." There's a pretty big difference between the two, as the former denotes an all-encompassing surrender of heart, soul, and mind, whereas one can allow someone else to control their actions without touching their heart. (Memories of defiant toddlers doing the right thing with an obvious bad attitude come to mind...😁) Though not always easy, walking in obedience to God's will for our lives is not only a good idea because, well, He's God and we're not, but because He's still good, even when life isn't. 

Have Your Way by Katy Nichole

I've crawled through the valley of the shadow of death

And somehow I walked out alive

I've run from my Father, I've run back again

Time after time after time

One thing I have found

I rise when I lay it down

Lord, have Your way in my life

In my heart, in my soul, in my mind

Lord, have Your way every time

'Cause I know that Your plans are better than mine

I lift up my hands, and I fall on my knees

Surrendering, I'll sing it

Lord, have Your way in me

Your blessings fall on me like rain on a garden

I sink in an ocean of grace

How kind are Your mercies

How faithful Your heart is

You hold my tomorrow today

Lord, have Your way in my life

In my heart, in my soul, in my mind

Lord, have Your way every time

'Cause I know that Your plans are better than mine

I lift up my hands, and I fall on my knees

Surrendering, I'll sing it

Lord, have Your way in me

Lord, let Your kingdom come

Lord, let Your will be done

Jesus, You're all I want

Jesus, You're more than enough

You're more than enough

Lord, have Your way in my life

In my heart, in my soul, in my mind

Lord, have Your way every time

'Cause I know that Your plans are better than mine

I lift up my hands, and I fall on my knees

Surrendering, I'll sing it

Lord, have Your way in me

Oh, Lord, have Your way in me

Lord, have Your way

Lord, have Your way in me

Yes, we had battery-operated lights inside, which shone through the "stained glass" windows (which were made of melted Jolly Ranchers) and the "patio door" (which was made of melted gummy bears). It may or may not have taken me 9 hours...🤭