Kristin "Kourageous" Katich

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!