RESULTS- Kim's official path for the next few months

After tests results coming in, and a long talk with Dr. Barnette, the head of the Oncology department here at PCMC, we now know what Kim is going to be facing over the next several months.

Kimberly has type AML Leukemia. This is a more agressive type, and will require more time in the hospital. However, in a way this is good, because it consists of something like six months of intense hospital treatment, followed by just short visits to the hospital (in SLC) over the following year. Other types of leukemia (A.L.L.) require weekly visits to the hospital (in SLC) for years. With this type, she will be able to get on with a more normal lifestyle (going back to school, etc) sooner.

Kim has an analogy for it: Type ALL is like a marathon... but she was never into Cross Country. She's a Sprinter, and AML is just the type for her.

She will spend one month in the hospital- starting today, with her first round of chemo therapy (not counting the shot of it they put strait into her spine yesterday.) The general outline will be a one-month stay in the hospital, followed by a week-long break at home. Then she will go back to the hospital for a month, and home again for a week. She will complete the cycle five times, (about six months long) and by then, should be completely in recession and will only have to come down for a monthly check-up.

Her month-long stay will consist of ten days of chemo, followed by a couple of weeks of recovery. Her blood count and immunity are going to be very low, so she will need a lot of transfusions and time in a germ-free enviroment.

This type of leukemia is three times more common in older adults (60+) than it is in children and young adults. There is no known cause for it's occurance in young people- not genetics, not exposure to anything. And it is not contagious. (So come see her when she's feeling up to it! She'll love the company.) She will need to eat nutririous foods to keep up her strength.

Leukemia is a caner of the blood and marrow. It isn't hurting any other part of her body (there are no tumors) so she basically will take chemo to kill all of the cancer cells, (and a good portion of her good cells as well- no helping that) and then, her body will recover, growing new, healthy cells- with a nice boost from transfusions of other healthy cells.

Kim's blood is currently made up of 99% cancerous leukemia cells. After her first month-long cycle, less than 15% of the cancer cells should be left in her body. If less than 5% are left, she'll be considered going into remission. (This is rare.) They would still do chemo for a few more months, but her body would be recovering on it's own, and it will be the fastest, healthiest track for her. THIS IS WHAT YOU SHOULD PRAY FOR. The most likely thing that will happen is that she will have less than 15% of her cancer. In that case, they will still do chemo, but will also check my brother Michael (even though he is on his mission) and me, to see if we are potential matches to the type of cell she has in her body (called stem cells.) If one of us is- they will have us donate a number of these stem cells, and they will transplant them into Kim's body- to sort of flush out the cancer with healthy cells. If Mike and I are not matches, then they will just continue with the chemo without doing a transplant, Unless- after the first month, she still has Over 15% of the luekemia cells in her body. Then, the doctors will search... basically the world, to find a positive match for Kim. This is obviously difficult, and not nearly as good a match as a sibling would be, and so is only used in a worst-case kind of scenario. The odds of it being that bad are only about 10%.

*SIDE NOTE* Thanks to those of you who have offered to donate blood. In Kim's case, because her immune system is such a big concern, they are just using blood from a well-stocked bank that has already been collected. If you are considering volunteering if she needs a stem-cell donor other than Mike or me... we don't know yet how that process will go. They may have matches already in some sort of database. I will let you know more about that in a few weeks, as we learn more and the time gets closer.

After three months of chemo, the leukemia should basically be gone from her body. They will keep up with chemo just to be sure, but then after the six months or so, as I said, (it could be longer by a month or two if she needs a stem cell transplat) she will basically be through it, and we'll just have to pray that it doesn't come back.

So, today she began the chemo. They are giving her three types of it, all given to her through the stint (lines) surgically placed in her yesterday. She is also getting a constant drug for the nausea. She did volunteer for an experiemental drug that is like chemo- but she only had a 50% chance for being selected to use it (random.) It's just one less drug+side effects for her to worry about. This will go on for ten days. After that, they'll be giving her blood and platelets, and keeping an eye on the levels of different kinds of cells in her body. She will probably not lose her hair right away, but after a couple of weeks. (If anyone is up for a sympathy buzz- send pictures!)

And that brings us to where we are now. Currently, she's in very high spirits. She still has a fever, (day five of that now) but after sleeping on ice packs all night, it is starting to come down. She is still up for company, and has loved visiting.

Her brother Michael was able to call us this morning. We filled him in with all the details, and let him know we'll keep him posted about EVERY little thing. We are so proud of him for his dedication to serving a mission. He loves his sister so much, and is going to do all he can for her.