Karen’s Story

Site created on October 27, 2019

Karen was being treated in August for what doctors thought was just a UTI. After two different antibiotics were not curing her symptoms, Karen had a CT scan and the doctors discovered an abscess in her colon and shortly thereafter, determined that there was a tumor in her bladder.  Biopsies on both confirmed it was cancer.  The doctor told her she had cancer on September 13, 2019.

On September 19th, Karen had an MRI and a CT Scan at the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinic and the results determined that there were spots on both her liver and her lungs.  Obviously, not the news that we were all hoping for.  However, the doctors say the spots are too small to biopsy which is some good news.   The doctors decided that they needed to treat her ongoing UTI and begin chemo as soon as possible so she underwent surgery on October 15th for a colostomy bag.  She was in the hospital for 6 days recovering from that surgery.  She had a follow up appointment with her doctors on October 24th to determine the next course of action.  She will have surgery on October 31st at 8:00 am to insert a port and then she will begin chemo treatments that same day

Karen has a long and difficult road ahead of her but she has a good attitude, a great support group (thank you, Lee!) and she is ready to fight back and beat this cancer!  We would appreciate prayers and good thoughts as she continues on this journey.  Words of love and encouragement would be greatly appreciated.

Love,
Linda Wood (one of Karen's sisters)

Newest Update

February 29, 2020

Journal entry by Karen Kinney —

Platelets were 92 on Monday which is a decent number for chemo.  My doctor wanted me to have them checked again on Wednesday.  They were down to 84.  I still had chemo on Thursday.  Dr. Sharif reduced one of the chemo medications by 20%.  I was hoping that would shorten the process.  Nope, still a 11+ hour day.  Oh well. 🤷‍♀️.  Hanna and I played memory and go fish to pass the time.  😀 Lee was doing school work.  

No window view this time.  The nurses were very accommodating as usual.   Jill was my nurse.  She is my favorite nurse.   She is very nice, friendly, compassionate, and talks with me a lot throughout the day when she has time.  😀 They had a team meeting in the morning close to my station.  They were 160 patients scheduled for that day.   It was a busy day as they usually have around 120 patients a day.  I saw many people come and go throughout the day while I was still hooked up.  

MRI and CT are still scheduled for March 10 and tumor board review on March 12.  If surgery is the next step it will be 6 weeks after my last chemo treatment.  This will give me time to recover and get strong and for the chemo to get out of my body.  Building up white blood cells and platelets will be important before surgery. 

I have bad days here and there.  It’s an emotional journey as well as a physical journey.  You can’t imagine what it feels like to hear “You have cancer”.  Thank you for your love, support, hugs, cards, flowers, words of encouragement, etc.   These all help me get through the bad days and the good days.  I am strong.  I am brave.   I am courageous.   ❤️💪🏻🥰🗡🛡



 
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