Kristin Lowe

Tomorrow marks one month since Kristin headed to Mountain Home for a follow-up with her doctor, with nothing more than a common cold. I can’t even begin to explain just how difficult the last 30 days have been since Kristin received her AML diagnosis. That being said, today was a big day. Kristin’s bone marrow has returned to full function following the chemo, and her various blood count numbers are returning to the normal range. She has been removed from all the various IV medications she was on due to her reduced immunity. Tomorrow afternoon, she will undergo another bone marrow biopsy and then she will be ready to be released. Yep, you read that right. Kristin will be released from the hospital tomorrow evening (Tuesday morning at the latest). Tomorrows biopsy marks the successful completion of the Induction Phase of Kristin’s AML treatment.

As I am sitting here this evening, I can’t help but reflect on everything Kristin has been through in just one short month. Since leaving home a month ago for a quick trip to town, Kristin has:

Spent 6 hours in an Emergency Room
Took a 250 mile road trip in an Ambulance
Underwent 168 hours of Continuous IV chemothreapy, that’s 7 days with not a minute missed!
Plus 3 Additional rounds of chemotherapy concurrent with the 24/7 routine
28 doses of oral chemotherapy to treat her FLT3 mutation
3 painful Bone Marrow Biopsy procedures
Blood Transfusions totalling 18 units of blood
Platlet transfusions totalling 8 units of platlets
96 doses of IV Antibiotics
21 doses of IV Anti-fungal medication
Around 200 Injections for one thing or another
Several hundred blood sugar pin pricks
About 150 Insulin injections
Countless doses of various medications
Approximately 12000 Labratory tests (Seriously, they do about 400 per day)
She’s even had her temperature taken and blood pressure checked nearly 500 times
Talked with her ocologists around 70 or so different times
Had a consult with just about every other speciality doctor in the hospital. Seriously, she had some sinus pressure one day and it resulted in 4 different ENT doctors popping by to look up her nose.
Had no less that 20 different nurses ask her about her bowel movements at least a dozen times a day. (pretty sure there is a special class in nursing school called, Poop 101)
She hasn’t went more than 2 hours without being poked or prodded for something since she arrived.

In case you didn’t know it already, Kristin is one heck of a woman to be able to endure all this and still have a smile on her face.

While we will be coming home in the next couple days, it will only be for a short period of time. Kristin will need to return her to Barnes in just a few weeks to begin the Consolidation Phase of her treatment. This phase of her treatment will include additional rounds of inpatient chemotherapy as well as additional treatment for her FLT3 mutation. They will also continue to complete the needed genetic testing to determine her suitability and risk factors for a potential Stem Cell Transplant at some point in the future.