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

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Update

Dear Friends, thank you all for caring about Kim even as she is through the worst of it all! (Finally!)
Having Kim at home is so wonderful. It is interesting, though, to see her as she is now. She still has a lot of recovering to do, and is taking so, so much longer than she ever used to before. It's like this whole experience truly has taken her right to the brink of what her body could physically handle.
Her ANC is still just at 300. She isn't allowed to "leave the house" (go places, anyway- going outside is fine as long as it isn't Snowing!) until her ANC is at 500. She went to Logan regional hospital on Thursday to have a transfusion of platelets, as she has been very low. She is still very weak. On one of the two walks she's been on outside, she pulled a muscle in her leg and had to spend the rest of the day laying down. And, as you know, this is still just killing Kim- she wants to be out there working out and building her body back up again. It's hard for her to still be having to do so just by resting.
She went back to PCMC on Monday for a check-up. Aside from being slow, they think things are going well.
The biggest problem she is facing right now is in regards to medication. She has been on so many, that her body has become dependent on them. It's been very difficult trying to figure out the best way to get her off of them completely, even for her doctors. Today has been very difficult for her. And it is very frustrating, when she wants so badly to just throw everything out the window, to still have to be taking medicine, just because her body is used to it, and not necessarily because she needs it.
But, overall, things are amazingly better. I will try to get some pictures on soon- I know how much all of you care about her. Thank you!
Love, Emily
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2 comments:

  1. mommynolanMarch 31, 2010 at 4:18 PM

    We appreciate any movement in the right direction and updates! We love you! Pat and Renee Nolan

    ReplyDelete
  2. Don RawlinsonMarch 31, 2010 at 8:31 PM

    Thanks so much for the update, Emily. Lois and I REALLY enjoyed our little visit today. We express our love to all of you.
    Don and Lois

    ReplyDelete

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