Life As Of Late... - Kristin Sterk

It’s been a LONG time since I’ve done a “life” update, so I thought I would share what we have been up to!

I started off the new year with a bang by starting to work at school again and also helped coach our school’s 8th grade basketball team. I had reached ONE YEAR post transplant and what a milestone it was to hit. In fact, just yesterday I received a message that my one year cancer test came back NEGATIVE! Woohoo! The next goal is to get me through the next year and by next January, I should be considered “cured”. I am slowly working on getting off some medications (t-cells aren’t QUITE where they should be), and also eventually getting revaccinated since my chemo and BMT wiped everything out of me. Just goes to show what that stuff does to ya! When they say it kills everything it kills EVERYTHING :).

I am feeling well and the heart is working on recovering from my ablation in December. I just had an ECHO, and it showed that the heart is about the same since December, but isn’t getting worse, so that’s a good thing I guess! We are praying God puts his healing hand on my heart again and that I don’t have to go back on any anti-arrythmia meds anytime soon!

Here’s a picture-view of what we’ve been up to…

In January we were blessed with 4 snow days off! I got absolutely NOTHING done those 4 days, but boy did Mazy and I live them to the fullest! She created “homes” out of popsicle sticks and boxes, which she spend HOURS on! I was quite impressed with her creations!

Every snow day we hung out with our neighbor who also teaches, so when 10:00am hit, that meant it was neighbor time! We LOVE our new tradition and are incredibly grateful for neighbors who have become best friends.

We were even crazy enough one night to drive out looking for ice cream! I say “looking for” because we struck out on a few places that closed early due to the weather. So it was Culver’s for the win!

It was just a little nasty…

And wouldn’t you know, amidst all of the snow that week, I was scheduled to fly to Mesa, Arizona Thursday afternoon at 2:30, the day we received over a foot of snow. But lo and behold, my flight LEFT ON TIME! As you can see below…we got just a few flakes that day…

I promise there is a pool in there somewhere!

While I was gone, Mazy and Dan decided to start building an igloo:

Mazy was SO excited for me to get away for a few days that she even made me a going-away sign:

AND…I made it to Arizona, where I met my dear friend my Minnesota! It felt AMAZING to escape the cold, the snow, and soak in some vitamin D. We had the ABSOLUTE BEST TIME. I can’t tell you how many times I was doubled-over laughing about who knows what. Oh the stories we came home with, even though we were only there 2 full days. It was the perfect way to celebrate my one year post-transplant with a friend who has been through it all with me!

Even though it was a short trip, it was just enough to catch up for the time being. We stayed in Fountain Hills, which I HIGHLY recommend. It was incredibly quiet, mountains all around us, with gorgeous views everywhere.

Dem cactus were BIG!

Something I never would’ve thought of, but there were a LOT of planes that flew over hence all the plane lines, It would’ve been interesting to see where they were all going!

Oh to sit down for dinner for hours and just talk for hours. Anyone else love eggplant parmesan???

The cacti never got old! Who wouldn’t love this pink beauty in their front landscape?

Fountain Hills is known for it’s, well, massive fountain! There were beautiful trails all around and while hiking them, we quickly realized everyone knew we were tourists because we stuck out like sore thumbs; most were older than us by about 20 years or more :).

The views never got old…can you see the fountain in the background?

We quickly learned that at this canyon, they “check your shoes” to see what trail you are fit for…we clearly did not have the appropriate shoes for some trails!

Even though the moon is in the background, this is actually the sunRISE:

On the way back to the airport, I decided to take the scenic route back and little did I know it would take me through some pretty mountainous areas! Thankfully the speed limit was slow, which allowed for everyone to just take it all in. As with any picture, it never does it justice!

Our God is such a magnificent artist, isn’t he?

I know I’ve posted about being 1 year post-transplant, but I feel the celebration just continues because it truly gives even MORE reason to celebrate EVERY SINGLE DAY OF LIFE. Tomorrow is not a guarantee. It has been hard to figure out what is “normal” is again, after years of battling. But God has given us grace for each day and we are just grateful FOR each day.