Karsten's birthday celebrations and THE RESULTS ARE IN !!!!!

Our youngest grandson is no longer a baby and has transitioned to toddler.  Karsten turned one year old on August 25th and we were there to celebrate with him.  Of course one day is not enough for a first birthday celebration so we kidnapped Karsten and Kasey for a fun filled day at the zoo with just the four of us!  We don't know about the super K's but Grandma and Grandpa had a great time.  Here our a few pics of the boys at the zoo!

Grandpa has his hands full!!!!

Karsten needs some Grandma help!!!

On Saturday the whole family gathered at Kris and Amy's for Karsten's official birthday party.  We took a few pictures of the celebration.

Grandpa blowing bubbles with Karsten

Kasey "helped" Karsten open his presents, apparently Mom and Grandma needed to help also

It was a hot day so a little pool time was in order for the boys!!

Karsten needed a little help to dry off --- Dad and Grandma helped him out!!

Amy and Karsten - a perfect picture of mom and son!

Uncle David and Aunt Nikki enjoying the party

Kris working the ribs on the grill after Amy slaved all day cooking the ribs - They were really great!!!

Karsten with a face full of cake on his boat and ready to go!

Your heard it first here!!!!   Karsten George Cannode may be known as" Little Hoss" in the future.  Why you may ask?  Do you remember the TV show "Bonanza", with Dan Blocker as Hoss Cartwright.  Well Karsten's mom and dad took a picture of Karsten with a ten gallon hat and he looks just like a miniture "Hoss".  If you look at Karsten, even without the hat, he resembles the gentle giant portrayed on Bonanza.  He also has a terrific personality just like Dan Blocker. 

THE PET SCAN RESULTS !!!!!!!

We promised you an answer on George's chemo treatments - the PET scan did not find any signs of cancer!!!!!  He is in remission!!!!!  That is the results we had hoped and prayed for, for the past six months.  George has a great medical team taking care of the cancer but your prayers, thoughts and good wishes gave us the mental strength and comfort needed to fight the cancer.  We knew he would beat this because of all of the support from you, our friends and family.  Anyone who has battled cancer knows that a strong support group is essential to beating cancer.  Thank you for being there for George, your compassion and encouragement were key to his remission.  We are now ready for the next phase of this battle - to make the remission permanent!  We will meet with Dr. Bergen to discuss the follow on maintenance program.  George will be on a two year chemo maintenance program but the schedule is flexible and consist only of a 45 minute treatment at an interval to be determined by our travel schedule.  It may be once every two months or three treatments in a week at a six month interval or something in between.  We will keep you posted!  Our next mission is to travel back to Ohio.  We will be enjoying a couple rounds of golf, maybe watch a little high school football, enjoy some of the best cooking in the world, and relax with family and old friends.

Many times we have ended this blog with a plea to go out and live life to the fullest ... George's cancer fight only reinforces that plea.  We retired after his first bout with cancer eight years ago in order to enjoy life and travel.  We did not think he would develop cancer again but were thankful that we had enjoyed the new lifestyle we had chosen.  Now that he is in remission we will continue to do those things that we enjoy and will continue to look forward not backward.  That may mean traveling for the next 10 years or maybe buying another stick home and playing with our grandchildren.  We do not know what our future holds, we only know that we will have fun.   We hope you will also live your lives to the fullest and have fun!!!!