Katarina's ALL Updates

Photo taken on November 14, 2008. Katie is now 6 years old & doing great in first grade!





Welcome to Katarina's site. With this site, we would like to keep everyone updated on Katie's treatment for Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (standard risk, pre-B ALL) which was diagnosed on March 17, 2004 when she was 19 months old.

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*~*~*New photos added to album on 12/18/05.*~*~*

View Katarina’s Smile Quilt filled with all of her favorite things.




*HUGS* TOTAL!
give Katarina more *HUGS*
Get hugs of your own

More photos of Katie.

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What can you, one individual, do to help? There are many things you can do! Here is a list of some things -- some are free and some cost -- but all can allow you, one person, to make a difference. Some of the ways you can help are time sensitive and some are on-going so check back often to see what is new!


NEW for 2006! We have a brand new site to help us raise funds for Light the Night this year. Visit our magazine site to renew subscriptions, give gift subscriptions, or find new magazines to enjoy. 40 percent of each purchase price is donated to Katie’s Cheerleaders Light the Night team to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. As you shop the site calculates exactly how much our team will get credit! Be sure to pass along this link to all of your friends and family as well and encourage them to renew and subscribe using our site:

http://www.magfundraising.com/Light_the_Night_-_Leukemia_and_Lymphoma_Society


NEW! I’ve posted a list of all the Illinois schools that are participating in Pennies for Patients. Please take a moment to check if there is a school in your town or nearby that is participating. With some of your spare change, you can support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and help a class work toward winning a special pizza party! Last year, more than 15,000 schools nationwide raised more than $14 million to help others through research and support services. In Illinois alone, schools helped raise over $300,000. Every cent is important as the Illinois chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is supporting thirteen blood cancer research projects statewide. If you know of a school interested in participating in Illinois, contact Emily Irrer at the Illinois Chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. If you know of a school outside of Illinois interested in participating, visit the School & Youth site to learn more or sign up your school.


Bid on items we're selling on Ebay to support The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click the banner below.




• Consider supporting Caring Bridge. Without their wonderful service, this site wouldn’t be possible. The communication network and community that has evolved from Caring Bridge is unmatched anywhere else. Thank Caring Bridge by monetarily supporting this valuable service that we rely on to communicate with you, our support network.


• Donate old, unwanted cell phones (recent or ancient, working or non-working) or used ink jet or toner printer (from any make or model) cartridges. Each one will be recycled and the proceeds benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. (For details visit Light the Night Recycling.) You can give us your phones or cartridges or we can send you a postage-paid envelope for you to send them in. Simply e-mail us to let us know what items you have to be picked up or want to mail in. We also have five drop locations in Illinois in Naperville, Lisle, Elmhurst, and Westmont where you may also drop these items. E-mail us for the locations.


• Ask your friends and family, neighbors, coworkers, and office administration if they have unwanted cell phones or used ink jet or toner cartridges to donate. Check to see if any local companies you patronize would consider donating their unwanted cell phones and ink jet and toner cartridges.


• See if there are any goodies you’d like to purchase from us on Ebay. We are selling all items with all of the purchase price going to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Let all your friends know about our Ebay auctions to raise money for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. And as you clean out closets, garages, attics, and basements, if you have any items of value you’d like to donate to put up for auction, please e-mail us.


• Purchase a RELENTLESS wristband and wear it and/or a RELENTLESS FOR A CURE car magnet to put on your car to show your support of those fighting blood cancer and those working to find a cure. Purchase additional wristbands and magnets for your friends and family.


• Donate and or check on our fundraising progress on Katie’s Cheerleaders team site for Light the Night. Send us some cheers!


• Check with your company to see if they will match your donation. View this matching gift companies list. Every extra dollar collected is used to fund life-saving research and patient and family support services for those affected by blood cancer and blood disorders.


• Pass along Katie’s Cheerleaders team site web address for Light the Night to your friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, Internet friends, local businesses, and anyone else! Every cent that is collected is that much closer to a cure!


• Write a letter to your government representatives to help fund cancer research, especially childhood cancers.


• Pen another letter to the USPS in support of a childhood cancer stamp to help raise awareness to the general public. For more info, visit the Committee to Establish a Childhood Cancer Awareness Stamp.


• Write drug companies to thank them for their continued research in developing and continuing to produce drugs to save peoples’ lives. Many patients are saved by what are considered “orphan drugs” and the orphan drug list on the FDA’s List of Ophan Drugs and Approvals shows at least two drugs that Katie has taken for treatment of Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia.


• Give blood regularly to help not only leukemia patients (who often undergo regular transfusions), but other ill people in need. In Chicago call LifeSource at 1-877-LIFESOURCE or Heartland Blood Centers at 1-800-7-TO-GIVE or call your local hospital.


• Volunteer your time at a blood bank if you cannot donate blood. In Chicago call LifeSource at 1-877-LIFESOURCE or Heartland Blood Centers at 1-800-7-TO-GIVE or call your local hospital.


• Consider joining the bone marrow registry to potentially help save a life! Bone marrow transplants help relapsed leukemia patients and others with serious illnesses. See National Marrow Donor Program Registry or call 1-800-MARROW2 (in the US and Canada) for more info. Registration is inexpensive and easy. Please contact me if you have questions about joining the registry. Kevin and I have both joined the registry and can explain the simple process.


• Show your support of the National Marrow Donor Program by requesting and wearing your PEOPLE FIRST wristband. Each request is FREE and generates $0.50 toward the NMDP Registry. Visit the Saturn Donor Center to get more info on blood, organ, and bone marrow donations.


• Encourage pregnant women you know to donate their newborn’s cord blood. Cord blood transplants also save the lives of relapsed leukemia patients and are proving useful in treating other serious illnesses. For additional information, visit the NMDP Cord Blood Bank site. There is NO cost to pregnant women to donate their baby’s cord blood. Please plan ahead though as a cord blood collection kit must be available during the baby’s delivery.


• Raise awareness for childhood cancers. Feel free to share Katarina’s story with your friends and family. Pass along Katie’s website address as well – www.caringbridge.org/il/katarina – to put a face on blood cancers. Also, don’t hesitate to pass along our contact information to anyone you think might have questions.


• Sign Katie’s guestbook to let us know that you stopped by! Katie loves the graphics that visitors leave in the guestbook, but we read her the messages whether there are graphics or not!


• Visit other kids’ Caring Bridge sites and sign their guestbooks to make their day. Start with Katie’s friends who have leukemia or simply click on a link from a friend in Katie’s guestbook.


• Pray for Katarina and others with cancer or facing serious illnesses.

Journal

Wednesday, November 22, 2006 7:00 PM CST

DAY #193 OFF TREATMENT
Working to get to Day #1,825 as uneventfully as possible!

Wow! How time flies! Katie is doing great! And, as you can see from the ticker at the top of the page, she is now past the six month off treatment mark! Yay! That means that she finished up taking Bactrim four times weekly. Her last dose actually was October 31. She now does not have to take any meds! She is very, very happy!

Her last scheduled clinic visit was Friday, November 3, 2006. She did great! She handled the blood draw (done from her arm) just fine and earned her stickers. Her visit was quick and she cooperated great for the doctor. There was nothing to note on her exam and she was feeling fine. Her blood counts are looking good and should look even better next month when her counts should reflect her being off Bactrim. (The Bactrim can lower counts somewhat.) Her next scheduled clinic visit is Friday, December 1, 2006.

After this latest clinic visit, the weather was somewhat warm (for Chicago) and sunny. We were in Chicago (which we aren’t very often) and Katie and Christian were both feeling good. So, we went to Lincoln Park Zoo that day. It’s kind of weird, but every time Katie had a clinic visit in the past when she was on treatment, we zoomed right back home. Mainly because she was often tired or felt bad (after getting chemo) and often times, Christian, was at home. (Christian often stayed home with me or Kevin while Katie had clinic due to his nap schedule, feeding schedule, or just the fact that he couldn’t sit around the clinic and be a patient little guy for very long.)

Now that Katie is off treatment, we’re taking time to explore Chicago and the kids LOVE it! They love the tall buildings, the lake, the taxis, the buses, and the constant hub-bub.

Prior to her November 3 clinic visit, Katie’s last scheduled visit to the clinic was Monday, October 9, 2006. This was Columbus Day so many people were off work and school. Our friend Renee suggested that we meet in Hyde Park (where the University of Chicago is) and make a day of it after Katie’s clinic visit. It sounded so weird to have an enjoyable time down by the U of C after associating it with unpleasantness for so long! But, we were game for a change of pace.

Well, Renee’s idea was great! While waiting for Renee and family to arrive, the kids and I happened upon a park where we were just enjoying the warm temperatures and looking for a playground when I saw what I thought was a parrot in a tree. I joked with the kids that I thought I even *heard* a parrot.

We kept walking and then came across a huge tree with bizarre looking nests in it. The nests were sort of huge bulbous twig concoctions and right then and there was a GREEN PARROT with a twig in his mouth hanging from this nest! Suddenly we noticed TONS of squawking green parrots...on the ground, in the trees, flying around...in Chicago!!! I was floored and was taking pictures because I knew no one would believe me. How could an exotic, tropical, warm temp loving bird like this survive here!??! Well, turns out they have come to roost here! Check out this site for photos of these Monk Parakeets and their nests along with their story of settling in the city. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it. Oh, and the kids thought it was hilarious to see parrots "in the wild."

Renee, who filled me in on the history of the parrots when I mentioned them to her, had lived in Hyde Park a while back so knew about them and also knew exactly where to take us for our outing. We all had lunch together at a kid-friendly pizza/pasta place. Then, we found a convenient parking area near the lake (that was free!) and Katie, Christian, and Renee’s boys, John and Michael, went for a walk along the lakeshore together. The kids had a blast! The weather was warm and sunny and the views of the city and lake were crystal clear. It is one of the best fall days we had this year!

And…to think, it was a clinic day!! Her clinic visit that day had been good too. She handled the exam like a trooper and didn’t even flinch when they drew blood from her arm. She, as always, earned her stickers!! Christian handled the waiting pretty well too and even got a few stickers from the nice nurses as well. He’s quickly learning that he can earn stuff just by being a good little brother!

I guess the thing is that we’ve turned the tide into clinic day being awful and dreadful to a fun day. We are hoping to explore the Museum of Science and Industry (we’ve driven by it at least monthly for over 2 ½ years and have yet to stop there), the Shedd Aquarium, and Museum of Natural History sometime soon. We’ve got a list a yard long of other things to explore in the city. The kids are intrigued by the tall buildings and are eager to go up in the Sears Tower and Hancock Observatory as well.

I hope that the smooth, tear-free clinic days continue. The kids love having a little “reward” of a fun visit to someplace new after the clinic visit is out of the way! And, I have to admit, so do I!

There is lots more to update as we had a busy and fun summer too. But seeing as though it’s Thanksgiving Eve and there’s a lot to get done yet, I’ll update more later.

We wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Love,

Amy, Kevin, Katarina & Christian

Read Journal History

Hospital Information:

The University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital
5721 South Maryland Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
1-888-UCH-0200

Links:

E-mail Author: khausman@wideopenwest.com

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Note: The foregoing information was authored by the patient, parent or guardian, or other parties who are solely responsible for the content. Such announcements or their content are not necessarily endorsed by CaringBridge, Inc. or any sponsoring agent.  This information does not confirm that anyone is or was actually a patient at any facility.