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