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

The Battle Begins








Tuesday (July 21), the day before her planned heart surgery, Kim woke tired, and had a fever around 103. We thought she was probably fighting a cold, and gave her tylenol that brought the fever down. We called the hospital, and they told us to bring her anyway, and they would check her out when we got there. The next morning, Wednesday July 22, her fever was just as high, but Dad, Mom and I piled into the car with her for the drive to Primary Children's. After getting through her vitals in the observation room, the surgeon who was going to work on her came to talk to us. He said he didn't think we should do the surgery, but he wanted to run some blood tests anyway. He left, but was back before too long to let us know that her blood test showed her to be very low in platelets, so he wanted us to go upstairs to the Hemotology/Oncology Clinic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oncology

We checked in, and again her vitals were taken, and a nurse asked her about her background. A few minutes later, a doctor came in to talk with us. She told us that Kimberly's blood platelets were only a small fraction of what the should be, red blood cells were less than a third of what they should be, and white blood cells where over half of the normal count- and going crazy, not working properly. She then proceded to tell us that there were a number of cancer cells in her blood stream, and it is clear that she has Leukemia. We would need to get transfusions of blood and platelets into her immediately, and as soon as further tests of her blood could be made to determine the type of Leukemia- get her started on chemotherapy. They would take her right over to their section in the hospital and get her settled in.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lukemia

Needless to say, it's all been pretty shocking and overwhelming. They took her right over to their in-patient section in the hospital, and got her a room. First, they gave her a transfusion of platelets, followed by one of blood. The head/attending physician of hemotology and oncology, Dr. Barnette, was in very shortly to explain things to us. There are two different types of Leukemia that she may have- ALL or AML. From the simple blood test that they first did, they weren't able to tell which sort it was. They would have to have to do a few more tests on it.
Dr. Barnette explained that she will have to stay in the hospital for at least a week, no matter what, but beyond that it is very difficult to know how long she will need to stay, and what her treatment will be like until we know exactly which type she has. They would keep running the tests and let us know the next morning as to the results.
While she was getting her transfusions- a volunteer with his "friend" Rudolf, came to visit Kim- the enormous bear/dog in the above picture. This is just an example of why we are so glad Kim is able to be at this particular hospital. They pay such close attention to her, and have been so friendly and understanding. We really feel good about how they will take care of her.
http://intermountainhealthcare.org/hospitals/primarychildrens/Pages/home.aspx

That night mom stayed in the hospital room with her, on the pull-out chair/bed. Dad and I headed home to contact family, and get some sleep. The adventure continues tomorrow.




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