Kristin "Kourageous" Katich

JUST A QUICK NOTE TO LET YOU KNOW THAT WE ARE HERE AT HOTEL OAKLAND AGAIN IN OUR OWN PRIVATE SUITE. THE ACCOMMODATIONS SEEM TO BE ADEQUATE BUT THE ROOM SERVICE LEAVES ONE WANTING! WE ARE GOING THROUGH THE SAME PROCESS AS THE LAST THREE ADMITS. HIGH DOSE METHOTREXATE- LEUCOVORIN- LITERS AND LITERS OF SODIUM BICARB! FUN STUFF.... KRISTIN IS VERY, VERY SLEEPY TODAY. SHE WOKE UP WITH NAUSEA IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, BUT SEEMS BETTER TODAY. I APOLOGIZE FOR NOT UPDATING THIS SOONER. WHEN I AM HOME IT SEEMS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO GET TO THE COMPUTER AS THERE IS SO MUCH TO DO. I HAVE MUCH MORE TIME ON MY HANDS WHEN WE ARE DOWN HERE. GO FIGURE! THERE IS A LOT TO FILL YOU ALL IN ON. MR. LINTON'S RUN, DAN DUGAN'S "LIVE HAPPY" SOCCER TEAM, MAKE A WISH, PICTURES, AND THE GREAT ALASKAN ADVENTURE. THE COMPUTER LAB IS CLOSING TO I WILL GET BACK TO THIS A.S.A.P.

So here we are again. Do I dare say that this almost feels normal? That is a creepy thought as I cannot think that there is anything normal about chemo-therapy. Once again Kristin had a lumbar puncture with chemo (chemo injected into the spinal fluid) under anesthesia. After 6 hours of hydration with sodium bicarb, she was started on high dose methotrexate via her broviac catheter. This will take 24 hours and then they give the rescue drug so that it clears from her body. methotrexate actually mimics folic acid and trick the cancer into absorbing it. It then kills these absorbed cells. But, when left into the body for too long it causes serious damage. Thus, the rescue drug leucovorin. Amazing isn't it! Once this clears from her, we are free to go! Yipee! She is tolerating the drugs well, but is emotionally struggling. This is a tough time and the treatment looks to go long and hard through the summer and into the fall. This is devastating for her. My heart hurts for the price she ...

Kristin was honored to help kick-off the Leukemia Lymphoma Society's Man&Woman & Celebrity of the year this past week. She has be chosen to be the Girl of the Year. Our night began at 5:30 as we all watched the spot on Ch. 2 that Neda Iranpour did on Kristin. She highlighted efforts that the kids at Galena have been doing to raise funds and awareness on Kristin's behalf. If you missed it, you can log onto their website at KTVN.com and watch both of the spots that they aired. Neda is a gifted story teller and she did a fabulous job with Kristin's. At 6:00 a limousine from the Silver Legacy came to the house and picked us up to take us to the Reno Downtown Ballroom. Kristin invited Danny Hames to take Eric's spot. (he is in Alaska working for the summer) The boys had a great time and loved the ride! Yes, so did the rest of us. Jamey Hinman;LLS hard working campaign manager,greeted us and introduced Kristin to the nominees for the campaign. She had her pic...

The story will air tonight at 5:30 channel 2

I would like to share the following copy of a "gift" we received from Bishop Manogue High School. It touched us deeply...... Dear Kristin, Leslie and Darren, We come to you with good news and a gift from friends and admirers at Bishop Manogue Catholic High School. We are happy to enclose a check in the amount of $1,117.oo. This gift is to help you with the many medical and travel expenses you are incurring. You may wonder how all this came about. Willie Hartman, whom you know is a student at Bishop Manogue, sought to find a way to help Kristin. Through Willie's advocacy, we conducted a special collection yesterday in what we term a "Miracle Minute." For sixty seconds students, teachers and staff made a contribution on behalf of Kristin. We collected the $1,117.00 in that time. Earlier in the week we aired videos on our in-house television system to acquaint the Bishop Manogue family with Kristin. Students from Galena and Manogue collaborated in creating these vi...

Saturday afternoon Neda Iranpour from KTVN, Jamey Hinman(from the leukemia lymphoma society, Jay the camera guy came over to the house to interview Kristin for an upcoming event the Leukemia Lymphoma Society puts on. It is called the Man and Woman of the Year. This campaign is a fund raising competition among individuals in the community. Candidates run in honor of the Boy/Girl of the Year. This happens to be Kristin. Each person nominated campaigns for the LLS society. The kick-off event is this Wednesday and the Grand Finale Gala will follow after the campaigning approximately 8-10 weeks later. The boys are excited about the limo that will pick us up this Wednesday and take us to the Silver Legacy. What a treat for us! So, watch channel 2 tonight at 11:00 and then on Wednesday at 6:00 or 6:30? (I will post the definite time when we know what it is) and 11:00 for the full story . Our trip to Oakland went well. Kristin again cleared her high dose methotrexate in fabulous time and we w...

We just said goodbye to Kristin and Kyle Karrasch as they left for Galena's Prom. Can I have a moment and say how beautiful she looked to me?