Kimberly

Kim was diagnosed with AML Leukemia on July 22, 2009, just after she finished high school. She'd been feeling well, just showing a few bruises when she went to Primary Childrens Medical Center for a heart surgery to fix a relatively minor condition she's had since she was born. A blood test before the surgery showed that her blood had been completely taken over by the cancer. They admitted her that day and began treatment right away. She went through five long rounds of chemotherapy, doing relatively well, with the exception of one infection that led to a very scary stay in the Pediatric ICU. She spent almost all of that time in the hospital, with just a few breaks to go home. By the end of March 2010 she was allowed to go home for good- officially in remission! She was so excited to finally go to USU Fall semester, and got strait A's in all of her classes! Psychology, Humanities, Family Finance and ANATOMY. Not a week after finals, at a regular check up at PCMC, her blood tests showed that her cancer was back. And thus began round two- Kim's goal was to make it to a bone marrow transplant. We had found a donor, so all that was left was to get her in remission once more. After three rounds of chemotherapy, her body was no longer strong enough to keep fighting, no matter that her spirit was. She will always be with us. 7:48 pm, March 31, 2011

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Day 2










Day Two. I will start right now by letting you know that not much happened today. They were not able to diagnose her Leukemia by her blood samples, so we still don't know what type she has. Today she had a marrow sample taken- which is being tested right now to determine the type (ALL or AML.) We should hear back on that tomorrow morning, and then things will really start to happen.
So, let me go back and give you a few more details from our day.
As you know, mom spent the night here, on the fold out bed, and dad and I went back home. He had to work today, but I came back to the hospital this morning, with Kim's gear for the week (changes of clothes and such.)
The first thing that she did this morning was have her bone marrow sample taken. For that, she went down to the surgery floor, and was put under anesthesia. They inserted a needle into her hip. She was pretty loopy going in and coming out from the anesthesia (a fairly quick process.) When they first injected her, she rolled over on her stomach and put her face in the pillow... but then lifted it back up and said "I can't breathe very well this way..." (maybe you had to be there- but it was pretty hilarious.) The whole process didn't take too long.
Just before it began, her friends Melissa (who brought a lovely card from her parents- who also send Kim great cards in anticipation of her surgery) and Whitney showed up at the hospital for a surprise visit to Kim. They followed her down for the procedure, and stayed with her for a while afterwords for company. This turned out to be a good thing. Because they can't start treatment yet, the only other thing she had to do today was lay in bed and take her transfusions.
After a while, another of her friends, Kyle, came by to see her. It was actually a little crowded for a while- but great for Kim to see so many people who love and care about her. Jess Smart came by to say hi, and a while after everyone finally had to go, Sandra and Heather Cazier came by to say hi. THANK YOU ALL, SO MUCH.
One other show of affection that we want to recognize is the beautiful flower arrangement that the Stake Young Women's leaders sent her. Unfortunately, we couldn't bring them into the room- but we got a great picture of them (see above!) and hopefully she'll get to see them before too long.
After dinner and some movies, Kim is now sleeping.
If I can clarify anything more, or try to find answers to questions you may have, please leave a comment. Thank you all again for the love and support. ~Emily
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