Kirsten left me a voicemail at my Google Voice account. They got the transcription wrong.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Hi Larry and just testing your new ways. I love you bye.

google voice · transcribe · voicemail

Today Kirsten underwent her third operation in the fight against her pituitary tumor.

Supra-Orbital Craniotomy
Kirsten Uhler, Cogitations, August 23, 2009

Instead of going in through her nose like the previous two times they went straight through her forehead skull. Her neurosurgeon, Dr. Florman, doesn’t shave. Instead, he parts the hair, cuts between the hairs, folds the face down, drills a hole in the skull, removes as much tumor mass as possible, patches the skull hole with a metal plate and screws, and sews the skin back in place. I know. I don’t like it more than you.

Kirsten is a tough girl. She rarely mentioned her surgery and said she wasn’t much nervous.

They called to tell her they were ahead of schedule and were moving her surgery up to 14:30 from 15:30. That cut down our picnic time, but we didn’t mind. We ate in the grass in the shade of a tree just outside the hospital on Portland’s Western Promenade. It was a fantastic morning.

Surgery prep was fairly routine. She got an IV and signed her life away (literally). Dr. Florman came in to review the procedure, and then the anesthesiologists did the same. Then they wheeled her away.

(more…)

brain surgery · craniotomy · kirsten · pituitary · surgery · tumor

A couple days ago I saw a tweet advertising 2 for 1 breakfast at Sea Dog Brewing Company in South Portland.

Mon, June 1 through Wed, June 3 only: 2 for 1 breakfast at Sea Dog South Portland — http://tinyurl.com/nl5xap 4:46 PM May 28th from web

Breakfast is my favorite meal to eat out, mostly because it’s an excellent way to get a day off to a great start. Kirsten and I are always looking for exceptional breakfast restaurants. Our old favorite, Eggspectations, recently closed. We used to take the girls there for Festibond. Sea Dog Brewing Company is now in their old location!! How cool is that?

(more…)

beer · breakfast · brewery · date · maine · restaurant · sea dog

I am madly in love, and it feels so good! Kirsten and I met at Ricks College in eastern Idaho during our fall semester in 1991. The dopamine reaction was intense and immediate! I was hooked.

My feelings for Kirsten have not waned over the years. In fact, they have intensified. We have three young daughters and a wonderful life here in beautiful coastal Maine. I can’t get enough of her. I love her smell, sexy body, curious intellect and childlike sense of humor. She is dedicated, organized, compassionate and patient. I don’t know what I’d do without her.

Kirsten is–in addition to being my partner in parenting–my very best friend. I can talk to her about anything without worrying about how she might react. She’s cool. She understands me (and still likes me) and gives me the space I need, when I need it.

I hit the girlfriend jackpot!

girlfriend · kirsten · love · sexy · woman

Petition Granted and Ordered
Kirsten Uhler, Cogitations, May 2, 2009

Kirsten changed her name from Jan Kirsten Danley to Kirsten Uhler. I had been encouraging her to change her last name for a long time. She initially resisted the suggestion because Danley is easier to pronounce than her birth name, Uhler (yoo-ler). When she began researching the history and significance of women changing their name at marriage, the decision to jettison Danley and assume Uhler was swift and final.

She also took the opportunity to legally drop her first name, Jan.

When I watched her stand before the probate judge and raise her right hand to swear the oath I was filled with pride. Kirsten’s courage and resoluteness are extraordinary. When the judge ordered the change we were both ecstatic and filled with emotion.

danley · kirsten · name change · uhler

Kirsten and I enjoyed each other and the gorgeousness of Maine on Tuesday. I received a tweet last week about Mackworth Island and planned to take Kirsten after her class. Kirsten wanted to go to the beach. So we did both.

The temperature reached an unseasonably warm 96.5 °F, which is a bit warmer than my preference.

The hike around Mackworth Island was very nice. The tourists aren’t here yet so there were only a few people and plenty of available parking. Neither of us had ever hiked the 1.25 mile perimeter trail around the island. The vistas are beautiful, of course. The center of the island is the Baxter School for the Deaf, so Kirsten said we could make as much noise as we wanted. On the east side there is a fairy village in the woods. The girls will LOVE that when we go back. Kirsten and I held hands as we walked and spent a long time relaxing on a swinging bench on the south side overlooking Portland.

(more…)

bay view · beach · brent · date · kirsten · mackworth island · maine · saco · summer

I love St. Patrick’s Day. It is my favorite holiday, by far! No gluttonous meals, no gift exchanges and no god! It’s just people dressing up in crazy green outfits, lots of great (Guinness) beer, parades, and pinches. It is holiday done right!

Kirsten and I celebrated at Bull Feeney’s in Portland. They had live music, Irish dancers and bagpipers. It was awesome. The place was packed with people who were festive, lubricated and in a partying mood. The food was awesome and the beer just the way we like it: smooth, dark and creamy.

Enjoy the pictures.

(more…)

bar · beer · brent · date · green · guinness · holiday · kirsten · pub · st. patrick's day

Kirsten found out this morning that her prolactinoma, which was mostly removed during a transsphenoidal surgery in 2006, is back and larger than ever. She’ll see a neurosurgeon in a couple weeks to discuss another operation.

Kirsten’s Prolactinoma
Brent Danley, The Rhetoric, August 3, 2006

kirsten · pituitary · prolactinoma · surgery · tumor · tumour

A hotel room, good beer, fresh mozzarella, apples and Kirsten. It’s not a bad life.

beer · cheese · hotel · kirsten · mozzarella

Kirsten wants to write more personal and edgy blog posts than are really suited to our family blog, Danley.org, so she asked me to help her set up her own. I had set up a blog for her a year ago but she never even made the initial post. Regardless, I was thrilled at her suggestion. I love to read her writings and I think it’s a healthy exercise.

I dropped the tables from her database and wiped the old WordPress files from the web server then installed the latest version of WordPress. It took less than five minutes. Then I had her select a theme we could customize to her liking. She chose metamorph_DNA for its simplicity, feature set, and strength of styles. I told her it would be no problem to pinkify the colors and shrink the header.

(more…)

blog · cogitations · customize · kirsten · theme · wordpress