Kristin "Kourageous" Katich

Last Thursday Kristin was discharged from the hospital after the lovely shingles' episode. The rapidly growing monsters responded well to the iv meds, fever was resolved and blood pressure eventually stabilized. I am not sure if she grasped the magnitude of the situation as she was so focused on getting out and on her way to BYU. Honestly, I cannot blame her one bit nor did anyone else. But, when the doctor goes from we will take this day by day to hour by hour, you just do that...Thankfully, hour by hour was gracious to her and she was finally released. I will add that it was not without myself and Doctor Raphael being in the dog house for holding her hostage! Once she made it home, she focused on packing for school. We were on the road by 4:00. Luckily she had gotten a lot done the previous week which was very helpful. We decided to drive to picturesque Wendover and stay the night there. She was so anxious to get there and asked, "Can't we just drive all night?" We ...

What a long day.........here is the lowdown on today's events. 1. no fever since last night 2. started third iv line as the acyclovir is unmercifully harsh on the veins 3. blood pressure running on the low side, too low for Dr. Raphael's liking 4. shingles continue to respond well to meds and do not appear so red & angry 5. nothing to report on the blood cultures...this is good 6. labs are nice and stable and this is good too 7. handling pain well, I mean very, very well 8. emotionally drained over the whole situation and desperately wants to be released 9. she is ready for a shower 10. I will leave this one up to your imagination ...%@#&! Big Thank yous to Melissa Daniels and Kerri Hansen for taking the boys. I am so grateful. Kristin appreciates your comments so keep them coming.

I have just returned from the hospital where Kristin has been the last two days. She has contracted a beastly case of shingles! I know, shingles....could the timing be any worse? Last week a little itch on the back grew to a rash that is now covering her back right shoulder, under the arm and across the chest. By Monday morning I knew they should be looked at as they were progressively getting worse. As shingles run along a nerve, hers are misbehaving and tending to spread out. Which can happen when one is immune compromised. Much to Kristin's disappointment, Dr. Raphael acted quickly and admitted her. Shingles in someone with a weakend immune system is quite serious as it can spread internally to the lungs and liver. He said the timing of this is no coincidence. She is being treated with iv acyclovir and has had four rounds thus far. As for pain, they bother her when they are touched and has break through pain now and again. From my observation she seems to handling the pain quit...

Yesterday labs were drawn as our doctors wanted to repeat them one more time before Kristin leaves for school. The phone rang around 8:30 and I saw that it was from Renown. I knew immediately that something was up with her labs...let me take that back. Something was down with her labs, specifically her ANC. (the absolute neutrophil count=the number of bacteria fighting white blood cells) Sandy Payne reported that her ANC was 168! Yikes ..remember the goal during maintenance is to keep the ANC hoovering around 1000-2000. The other counts we look at regularly are WBC 1.2, PLATELETS 256, HGB 12.7. The plates and hgb are nice and stable, just the way we like them. I have been a suspicious, for two months now, that we needed to tweek the meds a bit. I have felt that her counts have been suppressed just a little too much. What does this all mean. Stay away from sick people!!!! don't get any fever, hold all meds and until we repeat labs on Monday. So, if you are visiting the house please ...

Today is Kristin's graduation....yes, I am feeling a bit blue. This is a slide slide I put together for our family graduation party. I promise to post grad photos later. Enjoy the years, heaven knows I have. ( just click the play button and turn up your volume.)

This is Vicki Woodring. The scholarship was established in honor of her son. We recently attended the GHS awards night. It was held at the Atlantis courtesy of the Farahi family. Mr. Farahi said,"Your daughter has class." Thank you Mr. Farahi, I have to agree. And, may I add that there were many other young people there that fit the description as well. Kristin was the lucky recipient of the Ricky Woodring Memorial Scholarship, the Michelle Cox Memorial Scholarship and the Galena High School General Scholarship! It was a lovely evening. The following is an email we received from the wonderful Dan Dugan the next day. Dan is a champion for the cause. He summed the evening up pretty well and I will leave you with his kind and thoughtful words. Katich Family: I want to tell you all again that no matter how many awards or what types of awards all the other kids got last night, the fact that Kristin was there to collect hers meant more to me than any of the others. You remain my h...

Harry Reid June 2, 2009 Senate Majority Leader United States Senate 528 Hart Senate Building Washington, D.C. 20515 I could never have imagined myself in this position. If it could happen to our family, it could happen to you too. Sadly, on December 17, 2007, our intelligent, intuitive, athletic, beautiful daughter was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Kristin was just seventeen. She had begun her junior year of high school with all the enthusiasm a smart and active child could possibly possess. While in the throws of building homecoming floats, running cross country races, and life, Kristin stated, “I feel like I am coming down with something.” Little did we know just how wicked that something was. This diagnosis would certainly have been a death sentence for children a few, not too distant, decades ago. That could have possibly been some of you who are reading this letter. Look around. Imagine your congress twenty years into the future. Are there empty chairs, voids, and e...