Kirk and Kolbjorn are home!

It was a quick, 35 hour round trip to Victoria for Kolbjorn and Kirk (although they were away from home for 48 hours), but they're back now, and we're all very happy to be back together again. The girls and I picked them up at the airport yesterday afternoon. On the drive to the airport, Annika kept saying "Daddy, Kol, home, now." When she saw them come through the sliding glass door at the airport, she ran straight to Kol and gave him a huge hug. It was great to see. Kol had a giant smile on his face when he saw her (and the rest of us), too. You'd think they'd been gone for much longer than they were. Maybe it's just wishful thinking, or maybe I just haven't been paying too much attention to Kol's behaviour at home, but Kol seemed much more energetic, active, and "with it" yesterday after he got home than I remember him being in the days before he left.

We're feeling encouraged by the meeting with Dr. McKinney. Kirk and Kol were at the appointment in person, and I listened in on the phone. Dr. McKinney is a naturopathic oncologist. He provides support for patients who are receiving radiation and chemo, as well as those who, like Kol, are not receiving conventional treatment. I was really quite impressed with him. He knew his stuff, and was very encouraging. He said we've been doing a lot of good things; he was impressed with the medications and supplements we've been giving Kol, however there were a couple of key items missing, and we needed to increase amounts of others. There were also a few supplements that are no longer necessary. He thinks that with the changes he recommended, Kol should be having fewer headaches within a week or two, and he will have more energy. He found that Kol's liver and adrenal glands are showing decreased capacity - the liver damage was most likely from the chemo, and the steroid he was on in January and February probably caused (or at least exacerbated) the adrenal damage. We're now also working on healing these parts of Kol's body.

It's fascinating to me how God created our bodies. Everything is connected. We need every organ in our body to be working in order to be healthy, yet at the same time our bodies are capable of making huge adaptations, and can withstand tons of abuse before we get sick. If we can get Kol's body balanced and working properly, the way God designed it to work, he can fight the cancer much more effectively. That's what I've believed all along. I just haven't really known how to do it.