Kristin "Kourageous" Katich

Kristin's labs from the last report Wednesday Dec. 17: ANC 4000 , PLATELETS 230 , HGB 10.7 , 85% neutrophils ! Although her HGB has fallen, her ANC is way up. (ANC=absolute neutrophil count, bacteria fighting white blood cells) Kristin slept until 1:00 Saturday afternoon and looked quite pale. I was worried all day, and had terrible thoughts racing through my head. By Sunday she was feeling and looking better. We ended the night by playing a wicked game of Chinese Checkers.

It has been one year since Kristin was officially diagnosed. I cannot begin to write about the many thoughts and feelings we have had leading up to this day. They are each etched forever in our memory. Of all these experiences, we are celebrating the fact that Kristin is with us to honor the day. The journey has been undaunting and at the same time I want to exclaim, "Look where we were a year ago, look where we are now, look at where we are going!" Kristin named the day, "Happy Cancer Day" um.......I am not too sure about the happy part, but I feel that this day, with each passing year, will grow in significance, especially for her.

Kristin and Cody Darren Lasko, Annie Roach and Rob Stachofski I am finding this time of year, particularly this coming week, to be nostalgic. I compare this pics to those of last year. wow! What a year.

When we arrived at the clinic today Sandy said,"There should be fireworks, bells and whistles!" Yes,there should. I shutter when I think of where we were last year at this very time. Kristin had an LP courtesy of Dr. Hastings and Dr. Lasko with IT methotrexate and an iv push of vincristine.(which has caused the worse neuropathy yet! I am keeping her home from school because it is so bad.) She also began a PO(by mouth) regime of 6MP which will be every day another year and half, DEX for the same duration of time, oral methotrexate once a week for the same time period. Weekend bactrim will continue until the end of maintenance. In a nutshell the goal of Maintenance therapy is as follows. If a patient stays in remission after induction and consolidation therapy,which Kristin has, maintenance therapy begins. I have said many times that is takes a long time to "kill leukemia." The goal is to destroy any disease cells that remain so that the leukemia is completely gone. M...

now that is a bad hair day! WBC 2.1, HGB 11.3, PLATELETS 410, ANC 996! It has been a very long time since we have seen these numbers. Also, there has been a sighting of eyelashes!

December 1st.was to mark the beginning of Maintenance if Kristin's counts had recovered. The morning began with a phone ring...."Kristin's counts are garbage, if she is in school she needs to come home, no chemo or LP, no Maintenance,and she needs to be under social lockdown." Rats! Unfortunately Darren had arranged to have to work done on our electrical and heating system. This project ended up to be more than some minor adjustments. There was way too much unhealthy and potentially life threatening construction dust floating around. To compound the situation Kristin's ANC was almost nonexistent. Along with construction dust comes fungal and bacterial spores that when breathed in by an immune compromised person can be very serious.It was way too risky for her to be home. So, we found new hotel, Stay Bridge,and they had some rooms that had never been used. Kristin had her own little apartment suite for four days. We all enjoyed taking turns spending the night with ...

Thanksgiving 2008 After tanking Kristin up for the long holiday weekend, our family gratefully celebrated Thanksgiving with the Corrie and Alex Hames family. With the exception of Kristin being neutropenic, the day went without incident. We indulged ourselves in fabulously delicious Thanksgiving eats. The evening was topped off with charades and the movie Australia. As the weekend ended,I found myself profoundly grateful for the significance of Thanksgiving. The depth of gratitude I feel is unmearsured and leaves me hardpressed for the right words. Simply put, thank you. Leslie

Kristin had an appointment this morning for Vincristine at Renown. Tomorrow we will go back for stat labs and probably a transfusion. Since her counts are heading south, Dr. Raphael wants to avoid a Thanksgiving Day transfusion as no one from Oakland will be in town after Tuesday. While we were there she talked with some of her favorite nurses, Tia Spiers and Sandy Payne, about her new career decision...nursing. They gave her some good advice. I know she is excited about the future and we are just as thrilled also. We talk about future plans often, knowing that there are so many good things in store for her. I personally think she would make an excellent nurse especially if she chooses the hematology/oncology path as a nurse practitioner. (yes Connie, just like you!) As of today there are only seven days left of Delayed Intensification 2 and then she will be in Maintenance! (count dependent)This is significant because she can look forward to having her Broviac removed in February. Mos...

After chemo on Monday;I know, no rest for the weary, Kristin's platelet count was on the way down. Last week she was at 187 (x1000) and by Monday her count was 30. Connie called with the plan, a stat CBC early Wednesday morning and plan on a transfusion for later in the day. We knew her counts were low as she has had a little nose bleeds since Sunday and the three shots of PEG bled more than usual. So while Kristin ate waffles for breakfast, I drew her labs. Yum-o! Her counts as of today are ANC 200, Platelets 17, HGB 10. We spent the afternoon at Renown getting tanked up on Platelets.

Kristin is currenly in room 5330 getting two units of PRBC's. Her counts are on the way down and I am hoping that this is all the drama we will see. It has been a long, difficult...two months.....seems like forever.... especially as we approach the one year mark. Our daily excursions to Berkley have been uneventful. (I decided that if I had another life, I would like it to be in Berkley. I love this area!) We are going to Alta Bates Hospital. I am taken by the compassion, charity, and warmth that the patients are treated with here. It is the same spirit you feel when you walk onto the 5th floor here at CHO. Wonderful people who truly and compassionately love what they do. Back to her radiation.....Her radiation takes all of two minutes. I call it a "lick." Thankfully she is getting a very low dose so the side effects are pretty much nil. Kristin really looks forward to returning to school on a more regular basis. I cannot begin to tell you of the hardships Kristin has ...

We have been here in the bay area for a week now. Kristin was admitted to Oakland where she received Cyclophosphamide (cytoxan) and Ara-C. We are also doing radiation daily in Berkley at Alta Bates Medical Center. Except for a rather severe anaphylactic reaction to IVIG (iv immunoglobulin) so far all is going well. After alarms and the whole hospital descending on Kristin's room, our Doctor said,"We won't be doing that again!"I told Kristin I am over the drama! Remembering Eric I am asking all of you to please remember the Trowbridge family in your prayers during this very difficult time. They are a beautiful family who have endured and experienced more than one could imagine with courage and grace beyond my ability to express. I honor his memory with the courage he fought his battles with.

I would like to ask all of our faithful friends and family to remember Eric Trowbridge in your prayers. He really needs all the help he can get right now. Sadly, there have been many serious complications following his successful bone marrow transplant. Eric is a fellow Galena student who we have grown to love. Heaven is very close to these children. Kristin comments on this often, they feel the strength of your sincere and humble prayers offered on their behalf. Thank you for remembering Eric.

Kristin came home around noon today. What a difference from last Friday! From too weak to speak to walking out to the car on her own! She still needs to have TPN for 12 hours a day. This is in addition to anything she can take by mouth. As far as labs go Triglycerides are still very elevated???? Peg asparaginase seems to be the culprit here. Albumin is still low, but seems to be holding. HGB is dancing close to the edge so hopefully we can make it through the weekend without any transfusion issues. The fungi seems to be retreating. An upper GI scan showed the possibility of an ulcer, but we won't know for sure as you have to be scoped to confirm one and that is not an option for Kristin. But, all the symptoms are there and many of these kids have had ulcers so it is not a surprise. She is due at CHO on Monday morning and it looks like we will be there for about 10-12 days for chemo and radiation.Kristin is not quite up to speed, but she has definitely improved thanks to all the gre...

Again, I am stealing a moment in the doctor's dictation room to update. It was decided not to scope Kristin to confirm an ulcer. Dr. Raphael feels her counts are going too far south to risk the procedure, and that they are treating her as if she does have one. Kristin in trying to stay on top of the pain, but it is difficult. Her albumin level dropped more this morning so she is getting albumin. This is a protein that helps cells retain fluid. Fluconazole is still being given along with another antibiotic for the fungus. It seems to be effective. Hopefully she can take in more calories, and stay on top of the pain so we can get the girl home! thanks for the help and prayers......

I am stealing a quick moment to give an update on Kristin's condition as I run home to get let the boys know they still have a Mom. The weekend was very rough to say the least. Thank heaven we have had a very hard working doctor, David Peterson, and nurse Kristen advocating for Kristin's behalf. I cannot begin to write about all the road blocks they have run up against. Too much drama. Physically she is very weak, and tires extremely easily. The NG tube was removed Saturday and brought much relief to her sore throat. Unfortunately it was discovered that some creepy crawlies were growing back there. Today the culture showed it to be "multiple fungi agents." They have changed the meds to fluconazole(sp). Hopefully this will not be an opportunistic fungi. An ultrasound revealed a "moderate amount" of fluid in the abdomen and has quite a tender belly and is in pain just about all the time. This may be due to her low levels of albumin. Then there is the terrible...

Kristin has taken quite a down slide the last two weeks and yesterday it caught up with her. She quickly lost the last few healthy pounds that she was hanging onto while she has been trying to recover from the last two doses of doxorubicin, dexamethasone and vincristine. Although we are repeating delayed intensification, this go around has been extremely difficult and physically taxing. Yesterday, she decided; on her own, that she needed extra nutrition. Actually she had gotten ready for school and was desperately trying to eat something for breakfast. We took one look at her struggle and Darren carried her to our bed to rest. "I cannot do this by myself Mom.," was her surrender. She called Connie Goes; our nurse practitioner extraordinaire herself unbeknownest to me,while I was in the shower. Connie ordered an NG tube (nasal gastric) for which liquid nutrition would be given to Kristin at home. Knowing that she truly needed this, Kristin bravely went with me to Renown to hav...

This was a priceless moment. After being announced, Darren carried Kristin through the honor guard. "Getting by with a little help from my Dad." Kristin and Darren Lasko at the homecoming assembly. a.k.a. Foxy Cleopatra and Austin Powers Keeping warm before half time. BEAUTIFUL!

Kristin has requested that all of our friends remember her in their prayers specifically to help her get through this very rough phase for her. Her weight is at an all time low. She has lost 20% of her body weight! That is not good. Our option is to tube feed her through the nights for extra calories if we cannot manage to put on a few pounds in the next 10 days. This verdict brought tears.The last two weeks have been especially hard on her physically and each and every day, every step is a struggle. When people ask how things are going.....well it is just plain awful! She is physically and emotionally spent and frankly so am I. thank you for your thoughts and prayers....I see innocent children, the preciousnesses of life, on a daily basis; who's lives are forever changed, struggle through the "awfulness" of chemo, and face each day will simply the will to live! Gratefully, Leslie

Just a quick note to top off all the drama of the week. As I went to draw labs yesterday (Thursday), I discovered that her clave on the end of her Broviac catheter was left off. Kristin said, "I didn't do it!" Of course not, but there was no way I was going to flush it like that for fear of sending bacteria straight into her bloodstream. I don't know if that is possible, but I did not want to risk it. So I called the clinic at Renown because our Oakland Docs were in town still. They had us come right down and they did blood cultures and gave her some more fluids. She is still feeling poorly. It has been my experience that no news is good news when it comes to culture results. It is mid afternoon Friday so I am hoping all is fine. It has been made known;and not very ethically I might add, that some Doctors do not want her on the peds floor anymore because she has turned 18....( yes, a doctor came in the room while I was gone and told Kristin he would not treat her any...

RENO BALLOON RACES LIGHT THE NIGHT WALK DOWN TOWN RENO GALENA KIDS SHINE AT LIGHT THE NIGHT THANK YOU TEAM KRISTIN!

After Monday's chemo, Kristin has had a rough go of it. She received vincristine, and doxorubicin. This has made her very sick. Without any of the unpleasant details, I will just say she began to lose it out of both ends. by Tuesday afternoon she began to have blurry vision and was too weak to walk! Darren carried her to the car. After some political red tape due, to the absolutely ridiculous fact that Kristin is now 18 and no one would step up to the plate to admit her. (I am not kidding! Renown needs to figure this one out if they want to be a "children's hosital" like they have been saying because Kristin will not be the only 18 year old with a pediatric cancer!) Nicole, as nurse at Renown, said to bring her in which I was about to as she was withering quickly. Oakland had arranged for our home supplier to bring 1 liter of fluids to our home later in the evening due to the fact that no one was willing to admit her at Renown. This was way too long to wait considerin...

Oct. 6,2008 marks the beginning of Delayed Intensification 2 ;DI2, which will last approximately 57 days. This is be an intense phase for her as it also includes eight days of radiation, steroids, ARA-C, and cyclophosphamide. yuck. The first day started with an LP and intrathecal methotrexate, vincristine via the broviac, a six hour infusion of donorubicin (sp)and oral dexamethasone. Yes, it was awful. Thankfully Galena had a three hour delayed start the next day and she was able to sleep in. I could not believe she was off to school even with the extra sleep. Her hair is beginning to grow once again, but we know it will be short lived. This is always a difficult pill to swallow. Wednesday was filled with an echo to monitor the condition of her heart. The donorubicin weakens the heart muscle and she needs to carefully monitored. Then, we went to Renown for three shots of PEG. These are the shots that patients can have severe allergic reactions to. So, she was carefully observed for ...

Like the title says...Oakland called this morning with lab results from yesterday. ANC 490, HGB 6.8, PLATELETS 120. Although the last labs indicated recovering counts, this week that is not the case. It appears that whatever kind of recovery she was having is taking its sweet time, while some counts are on their way down struggling to recover. This translates into running a CBC down to the peds floor at Renown so it can be typed and crossed for two units of packed red blood cells. Since no one from Oakland is in clinic today, I have asked if we could do the transfusion tomorrow instead of going to the pediatric floor and hanging out until 2 a.m. like last time. This way everything can be ready tomorrow morning and the process will not be so long. Making things much easier for Kristin. Here we go again!

Monday morning it was decided that Kristin's marrow was slowly on the upswing and recovering enough to where the docs felt that Kristin could come home. This news was met with much relief on her part. After looking at the monocytes, her labs were all indicating that her ANC was on the way up. Although it is still not good enough for school, it was safe enough to be home. If her ANC is above 500 on Thursday, she would receive vincristine and more methotrexate. The latter being responsible for the low counts. We were secretly hoping that she would be too low for the methotrexate as Kristin did not want a repeat of last week. It was rough for the entire family. Sometimes we jokingly ask if we can get time off for "good behavior." They just laugh and say no. Thursday we returned; relunctantly, to Renown for more chemo.... her ANC was 468! No methotrexate, yes! I asked what bearing this had on her progress and they said that the chemo had done it's job and she did...

A JOYFUL CELEBRATION ! Darren, Linda, and Jared Lasko She's going to love this! Willie and Amanda Hartman Rob and Kyle Darren, Cody, Cory Foulk, and JR Hansen Braden, Garret, Ryan, Derek, Josh Karen Cox, Jenny and Tim Amundsen Devery Amundsen, Chris Dugen LaRae Wilson, Sherry Foote, Diane Feldman Only the best of friends! Happy Birthday! I am finally getting around to down-loading pictures from Kristin's fabulous 18th birthday. After much ado, we were finally able to pull it off. I knew that picking a day and hoping counts would be good was a shot in the dark. As it turned out, we did it in the nick of time as two days later Kristin's counts crashed and we spent the week at recovering. We want to say; from the bottom of our hearts, "Thank you." The evening was beautiful and it was such a joyous celebration for Kristin. I cannot explain to you all how it made her feel in words. Suffice it to say, she felt very loved . We are very grateful to have been able ...

Tuesday I picked Kristin up from school after the nurse had called. She had a fever of 100.2 and was complaing of the chills. After talking to Oakland we went straight to Renown. She was immediately started on iv antibiotics, and labs and blood cultures were drawn. Soon the fever was conquered. Labs showed that she was severely neutropenic. Her neutrophils were basically nill meaning she was very susceptible to infection. Although the cultures have been negative thus far, it would be extremely dangerous to go home until her counts are on the up swing and recovering. She has a 50% chance of getting a life threatening infection. Dr. Hastings has said that there have been times when patients have gone home with counts like hers and have not made it back to the hospital in time! That is how quickly these patients have can take a turn for the worse. She spoke right to Kristin as she said this. As stressful as this is for her she is in the best place and receiving excellent care f...

This was the text that Kristin sent me from school Friday morning. The night before she had been getting dizzy when she stood up and she said her heart was pounding. This usually means that her hemoglobin is low and she needs a transfusion. The past week had been incredibly difficult for her and she was trying desperately to keep up with school but just could not muster up enough energy to do so. She has been terribly pale and tired. So, bright and early Friday morning, we did labs and had them to LabCorp by 7 a.m. Around 11:00 Oakland called with the numbers. HGB 7 and Platelets 20. This meant off to Renown for two units of juicy packed red blood cells and one unit to platelets. We arrived at 1:00 and did not receive any transfusions until 5:00!!!!!! I got some movies and Darren brought fried rice to help pass the time. Needless to say we did not get home unitl 2 a.m. this morning. Thank you to all of you who have donated blood products! These save lives and Kristin is with us...

Chemo on Monday was rough, to say the least. Kristin has slowly gotten back up and is still reeling a bit from the effects. She spent Tuesday sleeping and slept until 10:oo this morning, missing some of school. We dealt with a slight fever that could not decide to stay or go throughout Tuesday night. By the morning, it was gone...whew! Eating has become challenging as she is sooo hungry and very much wants to eat, but her stomach seems to not tolerate very much. Soup is a favorite as she says that the warmth feels good in her stomach. The good news is that there is no chemo until Sept. 22.... Yipee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I guess I am not in the mood to mince words.....Kristin had an LP with chemo today! Yes, cancer, for lack of a better word, just sucks!

Kristin and I left for Oakland on Labor Day afternoon. We had anticipated some traffic, but..... holy cow, it took five and a half hours just to get to Vacaville. With all the heavy construction and holiday traffic we averaged 35 mph the entire trip. Kristin ended up car sick just from all the braking I had to do. Our appointment was for 10:00 Tuesday morning. She received methatrexate and vincristine via an iv push and a drip. We drove back to Vacaville and I had the best nap ever! Kristin rested quietly, but ended up feeling very nauseated later in the evening. Wednesday we drove to Alta Bates Hospital in Berkley (actually it is only minutes away from Children's) where we met radiologist Dr. Swift. I had not wanted to go forward with this meeting and honestly it angers me that she has to endure radiation. But, Kristin has three strikes against her that make this arm of the protocol necessary. 1. pretreatment of steroid before diagnosis 2. her age 3. the mll gene rearran...

School has begun and I find myself busier than ever. Kristin started getting busy last week with "student body business." She helped with freshman orientation and made 29 various "I love Freshman" shirts for the rest of the student council members. It took her all day , but they were great! She also helped greet the faculty at a breakfast. Ms. Cox told me when Kristin was introduced, the entire faculty applauded. thank you Galena. Darren,and Alex Hames went for a quick trip to wakeboard at Boca and took her and some friends along. She could not get in the water, but it was a great way to finish off the week. The first day of school came and she was up early getting ready. As she and the boys left for the day, I said a prayer that she would find the strength she needed emotionally and physically to get through the day. This day was met with much anxiety, but the doubt and fear appears to have abated for the moment. yes, prayers are answered! Health wise...

First "big" catch of the day. Kristin and fellow Keaton Raphael Kids. Also pictured is Lizzie Dalton (center), director of Keaton Raphael Memorial, and Angie, Child life Specialist Renown. The entire group of participants. We fish, therefore we are! Our family was invited to participate in "Reel Kids" by the Keaton Raphael Memorial. The day began early in Markleeville, Ca.(yes, we did sleep in a bit, but still made it with time to spare) We met other local families participating and then headed up to a beautiful preserve tucked away in the Sierras. There, we were tutored in the ancient art of Fly Fishing by the most generous, kind, and likeable anglers one would ever met. Each participant then was paired up with their own personal coach and then made their way to the river to find their "spot." I opted to carry my camera instead of a rod as I was excited to capture the momen...

Talk about "Manic Monday!" The day began driving to Renown for labs and hopefully beginning interim maintenance 2. I say hopefully because as of the last lab report Kristin's ANC too low. It needs to be Once we were there they immediately did labs to check her ANC so we would know whether we could proceed with chemo or have to wait. After a few hours and a movie later (Super Star...sooooo funny!) It was a go, barely. Since she was NPO, fasting and nothing by mouth, it was a long and miserable wait since there were other patients ahead of us. Around 2:45 she went in for the LP with intrathecal methotrexate. She was also given vincristine and more methotrexate via her broviac cath. That is a lot of chemo. She must of gotten a little extra of "something" because when she woke up she was very loopy. Today we went back for more. Three giant shots of PEG in her thighs and then two hours of observation to make sure she did not stop breathing. PEG can have some serious ...

I have learned early on that when I get phone calls from a 510 area code that Oakland is wanting to "discuss a plan." There is always a "plan" for when things do not go exactly as expected which in reality is the norm in this business. We did labs on Friday in hopes that Kristin's counts would have recovered from the evil ARA-C and Cytoxan. Although she is finally on a slow upswing with her counts, they have not quite arrived at the point where we can definitively move forward into Interim Maintenance 2 on Monday. rats! But, I have high hopes that the weekend will give her time to recover so that there will not be any delays in proceeding forward. In all honesty it is really a minor blip in the scheme of things and there are much worse things that can happen. The latest labs show (I got some numbers wrong on the last report, as the anc count was not that high) ANC 486, WBC 1.8, PLATELETS 387, HGB 9.9. All counts are looking good except the ANC, it must be I am ...

yes... better! After being down for quite a while, Kristin's counts are finally recovering. ANC 960, HGB 9.9, PLATELETS 122, WBC 1600. These are great compared to what we had been experiencing. Although she is still very tired , she can finally get out of the house and do some things with friends... This was the hardest part of the down time for her and really for the last eight months. She has felt disconnected from everything. Understandably, many kids do not know how to talk or approach her, yes it can be intimidating. I wonder if I would have had the courage to do so at that age. In reality all these children really crave is to be treated and feel; as Kristin says, " treat me like a normal kid!" This has been very difficult in so many aspects. 17 is a tough time developmentally to be going through all of this. Doctors and nurses alike have commented that everything from chemo, down time, side effects and emotional impact are more difficult, complicated and challeng...

After we got home from Renown, Kristin hopped in the shower. I had noticed that she was itching her face in the hospital a few times and had even splashed her face with water. I did not think anything of it, but did make a mental note. However, after the shower, she looked literally sun burned and it was not pretty! The redness worsened and traveled down her neck and chest. While we were there she had spiked a "tiny" fever. (completely down-played as any fever now is never tiny) Luckily, it resolved itself and we were told to call if it rose above 100. I called Oakland about the itching and redness because it was obvious she was having an allergic reaction. We took some benadryl and kept a check on any fever. She danced pretty close to the edge but, luckily she was able to keep her fevers in check and we did not need to be admitted! As of today her counts are as follows, WBC.4,(rats!!!!) HGB 8.8 (wish it were higher,but could be worse), PLATELETS 107 (nothing to write home a...

By Monday morning it was very obvious that Kristin was in need of a transfusion of red blood cells. She said, "I am so tired of being tired!" The weekend was long and she had barely energy to eat let alone get up off the couch. Her HGB count was 7.8 and she was as pale was they come, including gums, lips, fingernails, etc. So, after they did labs and a type and cross, she got the "Good Stuff." After the first unit, her lips began to pink up and by the end of the second unit she looked so much better and was beginning to feel so also. We also received vincristine via an iv push. Kristin's WBC is still low .4, and that means we still have to keep her away from people and places, but I have a feeling it will be recovering any day .While we were there we watched more Doris Day movies courtesy of Marilyn Malvey. thanks Marilyn! On Saturday, we wanted to get her out of the house because she has been "grounded" for sometime now. So, we got some take out from ...

I was hoping that we would be on an upswing through the latter part of the week, but Kristin's counts are still "in the garbage." I took labs in yesterday. Her WBC (white blood cells) were .2, PLATELETS 49, HGB 7.9! Her ANC was not calcuable. Yes, she is running on empty and is still confined to the house. Although she is feeling so poorly that she would not leave even if she could. So, if we do not get any fevers, we will go in on Monday. Please know that this is because of the chemo and not the cancer. This is a rough time for her physically and emotionally, so please keep her in your prayers. thanks everyone we love you all!

After spending the entire weekend; and then some, on the couch, we were able to get to Renown for some chemo and a platelet transfusion. We have been anticipating a drop in her blood counts because of the recent chemo and this weekend was it. (each dose has a cumulative effect) I can easily tell when her red blood cell count is low. She is very pale, weak, and has headaches. With her platelet count she usually gets tiny nose bleeds followed by not so tiny nose bleeds that will not let up. Our normal platelet count hoovers around 150-300. This morning she was at 11. She will probably go in the next day or two for some juicy packed red blood cells, but was not quite low enough for a transfusion today. Really? I just want to give them to her myself. All kidding aside, I am grateful for the wonderful care she receives. Thank you again for your support and prayers. They truly are our "transfusion" when we are low! p.s. many ask how to leave comments, just click on the comment link...

The last couple of weeks have been smooth sailing if you could say that. We have had no alarming lab reports nor complications for that matter. The most traumatic event was losing hair for the second time. It was beginning to grow back rather well when it fell out in a matter of three days. That was very hard for her and yet another reminder that we have lot more chemo ahead of us still. Our last dose of ARA-C is tonight. Last night as I was giving it to her, I finished what I thought was the last saline flush and hep lock. I looked down and saw the chemo syringe sitting there.... unused! The saline, heparin, and chemo syringes all look very similar. We had been talking about the book she is reading. In it they use heparin to commit murder. We had a good laugh as I injected the heparin into her. I had not been paying attention to detail like I should. So, I called down to Oakland and they told me what to do and that everything was okay. I do labs today and am eager to know w...

" Parks rear view" Mark Feldman Ryan Dougherty Alex Hames Jackson Feldman Run Wyatt What are they looking at? Pinned ya again! Kristin, Amanda. Diane, Kathy, Corrie, Shelly. MacKenzie,Hailey Darren and Jeremy Kristin has been asking to have friends over for dinner like we use to in the "old days" for quite some time. We have not had the right circumstances to pull this off until this past weekend. I knew that her counts would still be good for a few more days and told Darren we need to do this this Sunday. No trips to Oakland were planned, so I called some friends:Hames, Gunters,Doughertys and Feldmans, and they all happened to be home this weekend. We basically did pot luck, but when this group gets together, this is no ordinary pot-luck! Kristin was eager to help prepare stuff as usual. (she is getting to be great in the kitchen) We tried our hand at a berry English Trifle with homemade custard, and fruit salsa for some teriyaki, cedar smoked, salmon. Aft...

The campaign held it's closing event in late June. Kristin put on her very best (gorgeous prom dress), Darren donned a tux, me.....well...., Wyatt was in his Sunday best, and Kyle Karrasch looked smashing in his suit.(cody had a tournament game) We went to the Reno Ballroom where the room was set beautifully. We met all the candidates, checked out the fabulous silent auction, and I nervously fretted over my speech in the bathroom. Dinner was tasty, but Kristin was not feeling so well. Darren took her out and she ended up in the bathroom sending her salad back. (We later realized that her blood sugars were too high) The candidates were introduced. Then it was my turn to speak. In a nutshell, I expressed our thanks to the community and the outstanding people we met along the way and encourage people to help further the research efforts as this is where the answers await! Although we may have nuclear waste and brothels in our great state, we live in a very generous community. I stated...