Kristin "Kourageous" Katich

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...

Here is a photo journey of Neda Iranpour and Kristin Remington's 'Live Happy Hour. Kristin invited some friends to ride in the limo to the Grand Sierra. The rest of us not so important people followed in the car. Being under-age at Happy Hour, these kids still look pretty Happy! Neda arranged to have this run on the marquis for the week preceding the event. When we saw this for the first timeI was completely caught off guard as I was not prepared to see my daughter.... smiling, bigger than life, helping Reno to join in the fight against cancer. To get this shot the limo driver pulled up about twenty feet from the marquis. He parked horizontally, blocking the entire lane on Glendale Ave. We jumped out, I laid down in the road and prayed that the ad would quickly roll by before I got ran over. Kristin, Neda and "not so rude" Rude Boy 102.9 Bill,Connie, and Trey 96.5...

My apologies for not updating sooner. All is going well right now and I am grateful. We have had some wonderful experiences with the Girl of the Year events, gone boating, got a job at Buffalo Wild Wings, art classes, crazy whiffle ball games, and more. I promise to post pictures soon!Kristin is currently on day 35 out of 57 days on the "delayed intensification" stage of her protocol. Thus far, she has had three doses of Vincristine, three doses of Doxorubicin ( both were via her broviac, given at Renown) and one of three intrathecal methotrexate through a lumbar puncture into the spinal fluid. She has also had 14 days total of Dex(dexamethasone) which is in pill form. Dex and Doxorubicin are steroids. She had some cousins of these meds in the very beginning and they were responsible for her "temporary diabetes." This time she had seven days on,seven off, then seven days on of the steroid Dexarubicin. I knew of the possible consequences, but things were going so wel...