the new hat i knit for Ben and our new beautiful tea set. Ben's hat even has a second wool layer around the ears.
Pella is glad we are home.

here is a gross picture of my scar. it crosses my elbow and then goes up the length of my upper arm. this is called an AV fistula and they tie a vein and artery together to make a large blood flow for the needles for dialysis. it is good to be home in wintery Fairbanks and i am now relaxing on the couch.
my mom and dad in the Library at the Transplant house, Sunday night before surgery. it was good to see them again at Mayo, one of these days we won't meet at a hospital.

Lanesboro

we took a drive to historic Lanesboro today. cute town lots of modern art galleries and shops. they also have a 60 mile Root River bike trail that is groomed for skate skiing in the winter. it was fun to get away from Mayo Clinic for the day.
Ben's parents were in town today and we all went to Lanesboro. i even got them to do a jumping picture, nice. it was a beautiful day, we are soaking them up before we head back to Fairbanks in the teens and enough snow to cross country ski on.

we are missing Lisa and Dan's goodbye party tonight. they are moving back to New Zealand and we will miss them!

Mayo update

this is what we do here at Transplant House in between treatments. I knit, Ben reads and we drink hot tea, are we 80? we had more bad news yesterday, after 11 hours of treatment..plasma exchange, IVIG...nothing worked to bring the antibodies down. i am having a permanent access put in my arm on Monday and we fly back to Fairbanks later in the week. it was a disappointing day, but today is better.
TrevAH came to visit and we had fun hanging out at Mayo Clinic. if there is anyone to have fun at a hospital with it's TrevAH.
here i am in one of the waiting rooms today, i have been a knitting fool. i knitted straight thru 11 hours of iv treatments yesterday and all day today. i finished this scarf for a friends birthday and almost Ben's hat.

5 year Anniversary at Mayo Clinic

ben and i yesterday at Mayo Clinic. we had some disappointing news since we have been here, that the chemo did not work as we had hoped. we decided to try plasma exchange for 5 days and this treatment started immediately the day i arrived. the treatment is outpatient, but you still get a bed and they cycle all of your blood out, spin it and remove the plasma. blood plasma contains antibodies and then they replace plasma with fake plasma called albumin. so we started out our anniversary doing that and then some rest and ended with a great dinner.
we went out to Jasper's and had an imported cheese plate, crepes with wild mushrooms and walleye(i have to enjoy some things i normally can't- it is our anniversary). this morning we are walking back to Mayo for another plasma exchange. not ideal, i am little freaked out, but we are making the best of it....we don't find anything out on the next steps until Tuesday. luckily i already fit in a little retail therapy :-)

last minute knitting

Norma and Brown knitting socks. i had a knitting party this weekend so i could get some help on my two new projects. thanks to Brown and crew, i am learning a ton.
Sarah working a kid hat and Kat helping Kristen unravel and restart her blanket. Lisa also stopped by for moral support :-) At least I was able to see everyone before leaving on Wednesday.

the "Germans" had a going away party, again. they called and cooked for everyone, we had a few last laughs tonight until we see them again someday. last time they left town in their green 1952 vw bug, they past an abandoned vw bus in someone's yard. they bought the bus, brought it back to Fairbanks, and rebuilt the engine. tomorrow, they are driving down the alcan. these are seriously crazy fun guys, Dirk, Torsten and Steffan we will miss you...Ben has also been able to get some great photos for his ongoing Haul Road project.

the equinox marathon was this weekend. ben and i had great time, i was the team manger and Ben was the driver for the Kristen , Ted and Dan relay team. We also help support Lisa on her marathon. near the top of ester dome at the 3rd relay spot it was a cold, windy race.

Lisa finishing and our great cheer section near the finish. Dan, Matias (finished 2nd in 2:56), Ben, DanP, Ted, Kristen, Lena and Mike.
after the race with my good girlfriends Lisa, Kristen and Lena. they all ran great and as usual it was my 3rd year supporting. the first year i ran and i hope to run again next year after a transplant!! some serious lounge time after with Trevor and the Germans.

Ted at the grill during Kristen's hot tub dinner party this weekend.

Kim, Chris and Albert sporting their new glasses. nice.
i finally finished my first hat! i am wearing it in this picture on our tea and music night tonight with Kristen. Hem, Fleet Foxes and old, old Bo Deans. Brown helped me fix the hat and I learned how to do a cable, plenty of new things to try at Mayo next week. i have to start my brother Dave's hat, from last years Christmas. i am running a little behind.
Ben and Dan on the 45 degree roof, Ben is sure getting pretty handy. i can't wait until we build our own place someday!

great dinner at chez Brown and Cobb. Brown took at look at my lastest knitting project and had to keep it overnight to correct it! she can fix anything in a matter of minutes and is the most expert knitter i know, so my work "being admitted" for an overnight is never a good sign. i am grateful for her help.

Dennis picked us up from a secret dirt road spot that lead right to the Tanana River. we took the boat up river to his family and friend sand bar picnic spot, it was a beautiful day to be on the river,

the gravel bar spot for the picnic with their family and friends.

Ben's rarified light picture is now showing at an exhibit at the Bear Gallery and there was a write up about it in the News Miner and three other local Fairbanks photographers in the show that is state wide and tours to different galleries.

progress

dan and sky putting rafters up on the roof of the cabin. the cabin is looking good!
ben and i went over to help with the rafters last night. this is ben being manly.

these gals crack me up, this is supposed to be a picture of us dancing. a cool night on the pump house deck.
a little light reading on Ed's deck watching all of the leaves fall. winter is close.

back in Fairbanks

it was a little bit of a tough transition back from Mayo with some complications, but I am doing good now. it was so great to be back on Ed's deck with the crew (and some visiting Swiss staying at Ed's) eating some moose, halibut and salmon. thanks for all the support guys!
the Fairbanks gals and Heather (in black) who is an artist (you may have seen her on Bravo) visiting Ed.
we also had a great dinner with Audrey and Morgan. here is Pella in Morgan's lap because she is really afraid of their cats. looking forward to enjoying the next couple of weeks in AK because I head back to Mayo Clinic on Sept. 24th.

my mom and i made it out tonight to the local Greek Fest only one block from the Transplant House. i love gyros! they also had a torch lighting and national anthem, who needs Beijing. i was really glad to get out tonight because it was a really tough day. i feel pretty good though and i am flying home to Fairbanks tomorrow. you have to have a caregiver and of course my mom stayed for two weeks here with me after Ben left, thanks mom!

my dad and his new mustang drove my grandma to Mayo Clinic today. This is inside the hospital in the Gonda building where I had my last chemotherapy treatment for now. I have one more big day on Thursday and if all goes well I should be flying home on Sat. my dad wanted to take me for a ride with the top down, but I was not feeling too well today. we went about six blocks back to the Transplant House. it was great to see them both!

good and bad days

yesterday my mom had to push me to all of my appointments in a wheel chair with a bag in one hand and a sprite in the other. today i am a knittin' fool. i guess that is how it is going to be here some good days and some bad days. this is the nice front porch at the Gift of Life Transplant House with rockers and i am way into rocking. blogging is not too exciting here, but i'll tell you chronic illness breeds knitters, the other night in the communal tv room watching the Olympics there was a whole group of us! currently, i am here until August 24th.

Gift of Life Transplant House

I am finally out of the hospital today and moved into The Gift of Life Transplant House. It is a great place offered to transplant patients at Mayo Clinic. I was really sick in the hospital and was unable to even blog! It was a rough week and now I am back to just chemotherapy and bone marrow biopsies. It is really expensive to stay somewhere for this many weeks away from home and it is so great to stay at the gift of life, it is run by sisters and on donations. I have to have a caregiver while I stay here so my mom is here with me. I still sure missed Ben during my last treatment and surgery, but he flew back to Fairbanks because if this treatment is successful we will need more time off for him. all this means I will be spending many weeks in Rochester , MN. I am in room 23 and the info. is on the website. Thanks for all the calls and emails.
My Aunt Irene and Uncle Ken were in to visit today and I had a good day. we shopped and here at the plaza in front of Mayo Clinic, which is all of downtown Rochester. Tomorrow I have a heart probe thing that I get put under for, yet another time!

a few steps backwards

we have had some bad luck. i was admitted into the hospital on Friday with a bad infection and it was a tough couple of days. i am finally responding today to iv meds and they pulled my catheter and will not replace it until Tuesday to insure i can recover from this. i will be here awhile and hopefully we will have some good news soon. my brother dave and his family stopped by, but i was still feeling pretty lousy, so our visit was short. it was still good to see them for a few minutes anyway. then ben's family arrived today and finally i was able to get out of bed and go for wheel chair ride. we snuck out to caribou coffee too. we are still not sure of the next steps, but i will be in the hospital for the next couple of days.

Mayo Clinic

hanging out at the Mayo Clinic today after a bone marrow biopsy, chemotherapy drug and more tests. alot of close attention from doctors and nurses because this is a clinical research project, it's not so bad being first! check out ben's photo blog for a more detailed account.

headed to Mayo Clinic today!

last night we had a quick drink at Lavelle's and of course jumping pictures down by the flooded Chena River. Ben and I are flying to Mayo Clinic in a few hours. I am undergoing an intense IV infusion treatment over the next few weeks. It is complicated and involves two bone marrow biopsy surgeries because it is a bone marrow cancer drug. I am a little scared, but this is our only option to have a kidney transplant. After two years of dialysis, I am ready to get this show on the road. Thanks to the Fairbanks crew for all their support and we will blog from the Mayo Clinic. Since this is a new treatment for kidney patients, we are not sure what is going to happen, but they said it is "not fun". I am hoping to rock this treatment, just like meditation intervals :-)
Lisa and TrevAH dare devils crossing over the caution line as the river heads up the side walk here in downtown Fairbanks.

cabin building and yoga

Ben and i helped Dan build part of his cabin this weekend, well mostly Ben. the second day i helped by taking some of the dogs for a hike up Granite Tors with Kristen. Ben and Dan were up to the forth layer of logs by the time we came back.

then we had a dinner party at our place with a little competitive yoga. Lisa is always saying is all about the journey, but after a couple of bottles of wine we all participated in a some competitive yoga. here is Dan doing whatever this pose is called, nice.
Lisa in the crane pose. it was such a silly dinner party and i have not laughed that hard in awhile. thanks to everyone for a great dinner.

Audrey, Carrie and I mountain biked Gilmore Trail Saturday with all the dogs. It is a great trail with a steep climb and fun descent.

Backpacking and Packrafting in Denali

Sable Sanctuary Traverse is an incredible trip that includes a little logistics, Ed, pack rafts and backpacks. Denali Park has over 6 million acres in the park and only 5 people are allowed per quadrant in the backcountry per day, to ensure few people and no trails in the back country. It was my first big trip with just a map, and of course my first pack rafting trip. It is so great to just hike in and pull out your raft from you backpack and float down the rapids! By far the best trip I have been on in Alaska, but I say that every time. I can't even believe a short drive from Fairbanks and we did this trip in a weekend, it was definitely a burly hike for me. Ed carried my raft and Ben carried my stuff because I can't carry a big pack with the catheter. I am so glad they did so I can still do these crazy trips! I highly recommend getting off the road if you come to Denali, you can see so much more. Above is our route marked by Ed's GPS software.
The start of our hike. the bus driver let us drop a couple bags (with tents and dry clothes) at our camp site where we would stay at the end of the day, and then dropped us off near Sable Pass where we skirt around Cathedral Mountain and down to the Teklanika River basin.

We hit some heavy brush patches and lots of do whooping for all the grizzly bears.Crossing the Teklanika many, many times, you just prepare to have wet feet the entire trip. We hiked down the Teklanika until the Calico Creek drainage.
Here are some of the many grizzly bear tracks, hair and scat we saw along the hike. We only saw one grizzly bear from the pack raft portion of the trip.

Everyone jumping for joy as we really lucked out with the weather and wind so no bugs!

Ted and Ed hiking up Calico Creek. I like this pic because way in the upper left the bit of snow is the pass we are going over, that was the longest part of the hike.

Finally we start making our way to the top and it was much steeper than we anticipated.

Ed at the top. Ed rocks for planning this adventure on a Thursday and we started Saturday morning. He has two extra pack raft boats and he is carrying two in his backpack, these things are amazing.
Down the other side of the pass, huge steep scree field and snow, man was it fun sliding down.
Looking back at the pass we crossed right in the middle.
awe. dan and ed with a rainbow on our way down to Sanctuary River and the beginning of the pack raft portion or our trip.
Everyone pulled out their rafts and started blowing them up. Hold up a bag connected to the inlet to catch wind, tie it off and squeeze the air in as a lightweight pump demonstrated above.
All done and we let them rest in the cold glacial silt water to equalize while putting everything in a dry bag in your pack and then tie your pack to the bow of the boat.
All the boats getting ready to paddle 16 miles down the Sanctuary river after our 10 hour hike.
Ben starting off. It was total chaos as ted, ben and I learned to ferry and drive the boat into the braided river. Ed and Dan are seasoned veterans, and had a good laugh at the beginning, but we got the hang of it soon. we were able to get pretty comfortable before we hit the class II rapids, what a wild ride in a pack raft! it was a great trip, capped of nicely by pulling the boats up to the shore just 30 feet from our camp site on the river where we had dropped bags earlier. this was the biggest day i have had on dialysis. 28 miles on land and water in 13.5 hours.


on another note Torsten and Dirk were just leaving when we returned. bye guys and we will miss you greatly! Check out their link what a trip!