Katie Kitchens

Welcome to our CaringBridge site. It has been created to keep friends and family updated about my journey after my diagnosis with cancer. Be sure to read the latest in the journal, view the photo gallery, and leave a note in the guestbook.  FROG = Forever Relying on GOD!

 



 

My name is Katie Kitchens, I am married to James & mother of 3 beautiful children Cody, Brooke, and Jessika. We live in Mississippi - yes I am a true Southern Girl - drawl and all. LOL I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma in October 2008. My doctor (who found this completely by accident) referred me to oncology at Hattiesburg Clinic but they couldn't see me until a month later...I couldn't wait.


God knows what he is doing. He put me in the right place at the right time. While at a USM football game, I ran into an old friend I worked with at H'burg Clinic (who also has MM) and a little voice told me to talk to him about my diagnosis. He put me in touch with the Myeloma Institute in Little Rock, Arkansas. They reviewed my records and asked to see me that very week. James and I went Oct. 13th and for a solid week, I think I had every test known to mankind. They took tons of blood, did EKG's, a Pet Scan, MRI, Xrays, and two bone marrow biopsy procedures. I finally got to see the Dr on my last day there and he chose not to start chemo or radiation right now. Once I jump to the next stage they will begin actual treatment...which is chemo, radiation and stem cell transplants. If it is started too early it can do more harm than good (I know..makes little sense to me either). He said that if I started it too early, I could build up a resistance to it and when I really needed it, it wouldn't work. So my story begins....


UPDATE:  I was diagnosed with AL Amyloidosis in April 2017 after fighting for a diagnosis for nearly two years.  I knew something was wrong and had pulled case studies and medical journals so I thought I knew what it was but wasn't sure (I'm not a doctor). After numerous dr visits and test and being told I was crazy, I finally found a GI dr who would listen to me.  He agreed to test me for Amyloidosis since he was already doing biopsies. (He had never heard of Amy and didn't even know what the name of the test was, but thank God he listened to me!)  Fast forward to January  2018:  I've been a patient at MD Anderson in Houston since all this started and will begin my stem cell transplant this month.  The Amyloidosis in in my GI tract and my diaphragm.  Prayers are very appreciated.