Busy Busy !

Once again sorry for such a long delay on doing a post, seems like we get more busy every day. Kensley has been doing really well for the past month or so. We had to take her into the E R about a month ago with a high fever and after it was taken care of, the blood cultures were coming back with a bacteria growing on them. We put her on some antibiotics to see if things would clear up but as the days went on things were staying the same. Certain bacteria's can get into the central lines that these children have and there is no way to kill them and clear them out without removing them. We had a weekend planned in St George for the relay for life and a concert at tuachan until Kensley's doctor called us and said they were really concerned with the bacteria that was going on. So Thursday afternoon we headed for salt lake and put her in the hospital that night. Friday morning they took her into the operating room and took her central line out and left an IV in her to treat her through for the next few days. We ended up staying until Monday which was scheduled for a round of chemo but they decided to hold that off for a week to let the infection clear up a little more before we wiped her system out again. Going back for a second sorry, through the weekend they would do a blood culture every morning to make sure the line was the source of the infection and it seemed to have worked because from the cultures after the line was taken out friday morning stayed clear. If the blood stayed clear for three days they would put a picc line in her arm to do the chemo through the next week, and then after a thirteen day coarse of antibiotics they could replace the central line. For those of you who are confused about a picc line and central line they are the same type of hose and have the same ends on them, the difference is the picc goes in at the inside of the elbow and goes up through the arm and drops down into the big blood vessel just to the side of the heart. The central goes into the chest and goes into the same vessel. Central lines can stay in place for up to a year if there are no infections that start in them. A picc line is typically only used for up to a month. So back to where I left off, we came home that Monday and started her thirteen day coarse of meds. The following Monday we went back up to do her chemo for a couple days and she handled it really well. Her little brother was pretty sick at the time and all she could think about was him and kept telling us he was sick while she was throwing up herself from the chemo :( We finished up her antibiotics later that week and then this past Monday we went back up to have her central line replaced and picc taken out. She seems to be doing really well right now which is a blessing and we just keep counting the days down until October when this is finished. We will try to keep updated a little better for you guys, and until then thanks for your thoughts and prayers. love Adam Jenni Kensley and Korbin

Playing Catch-up

Kensley has been doing really good these last few weeks. She has been able to keep some weight on which we are so grateful for. Kensley started to bare down and push again which really made us nervous. She was acting exactly how she was when this started. It scared us because we were hoping the tumor was gone. We called the Doctor up at primary's and they scheduled a scan here in cedar to see what was going on. We got the results back, the tumor has decreased but it is not completely gone. It was not the news we were hoping for, but the doctor's don't seem to be to worried at this point. This last week we had her evaluation. We took her up to primary's to get her trial chemo. This is the really hard one for her, but since they modified the medication a little she has taken it a lot better then the first time. When we got all the results back from the evaluation they said everything is going good and everything is on track. They said if the tumor is not gone by the end of her treatments they may have to go in and get what is remaining if it's not completely dead. We are hoping and praying that will not be the case. The doctor's don't want to touch the bladder. We are so happy our Kensley is taking this round well. She has been able to play and be a normal kid. Right now Kensley is a die hard fan for Dora. She would watch it 24/7 if we would let her. She will come up to me and say "Mom, mom, swipper the fox" in her cute little voice. She is liking Korbin more, and loves when he crawls after her and chases her. She is constantly acting like animals, especially a horse. She makes all the little sounds, it's so cute. We feel so blessed to be her parents. We want to thank everyone for all the prayers and support on our behalf.

Benefit dinner

We wanted to give a quick update on Kensley and on the dinner that was held for her. Kensley has been doing really well these past few weeks. She is running around and playing like her usual self and it has been great to see that, she is also gaining her weight back so that is helping with a lot of things. She handled her last round of chemo really well, so that was a small relief for us. We are going back up on Monday for another treatment and hoping that she will handle this one okay. Last Saturday Our employers put together a benefit dinner and auction for Kensley and it was a huge success. We wanted to thank everyone at Mel Clark and Shear d lite for their generosity in putting this event together. We also want to thank everyone in the community and those family and friends who traveled down here to show your support to our family. We are so thankful and grateful to have Kensley doing so well and to have so much support from others around us. Thanks again to everyone for your love and support, love the Kings

Benefit dinner

The last two weeks...

This past week Kensley has been doing a lot better. Two weeks ago we took Kensley to the emergency room in cedar. She had a high fever, two ear infections and couldn't keep anything down. We were scared, She looked horrible and was barely coherent. After they got her fever down they released us and we headed up north the next day. When we got there we took her in and they admitted Kensley right away. She spent the next week at primary children's where they were monitoring her, having her take different medication for her nausea. Kensley couldn't keep anything down, and was losing weight. After a long week in the hospital she started improving and getting back to her old self. They released her on friday and she was able to come home for the weekend. This week has been such an improvement. She has been playing, laughing and running around. It makes us so happy to see her feeling so good. She was even up for a visit to see her great grandparents and cousins, which made Kens so happy. We finished out her 5th week of radiation, which has been going as planned. After radiation I was changing Kensley's diaper and accidently pulled out her cath. which turned out to be a good thing. It allowed her to try and pee on her own... and she was able to! : ) One less thing for her to have to deal with. Next week is our last week of radiation.. Whoo Hoo!! We start Chemo again on Monday, which makes us sad because she has felt so good. We are hoping this round will not be as bad this time, its hard to see her getting better just to knock her down again. But Kensley is a strong little girl and she will get through this. We are so thankful for all the love and support for our Family. We are very blessed to have such great people in our lives.

Pushing the halfway mark for radiation completion

It's Been a busy last couple weeks for us. After the first week of radiation was complete we had some good news that kensleys tumor was about half the size it was when we started. After we got home the docs called and wanted to set up another surgery for her ovaries because they were afraid they were still in the radiation field. It was basically the same procedure she had done a few weeks before so they used the same incisions and it went just as planned. We finished that week of radiation and friday she was running a little temp so that held us up for a while getting out of here. This week she has been doing her chemo everyday along with radiation and so far so good. We are hoping she handles this round a little better than last time. The feeding tube has really helped her out, she is gaining a little bit every week so hoping to only have that for a few more weeks. We are counting the days down to Feb10 that is the end of radiation and hopefully the end of the cathedar so hoping she will be back to her busy little self. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts, prayers, and concerns . Love the Kings

Radiation week

Well we are ending the first week of radiation in the morning and it has been a rough week for Kens. Last Friday with her last dose of irinotecan she threw up and it has been throw up everyday since. We started the radiation Monday morning then Tuesday we had to take her into primary's to get her blood work done. She was getting down on her weight so they decided for a feeding tube for Thursday if she didn't improve in the next two days. We were forcing any liquid or food on her we could and she just wasn't having it. They say it is common for loss of appetite and no urge for eating or drinking while the radiation is going on. And as many of you know it makes it that much harder for a two year old to understand what has to happen. So long story short I had to hold her down and let them put the feeding tube in today. I felt so bad for her but it had to be done she is starting to look pretty hungry the poor little thing. We don't know how long it will stay in but most likely until the radiation is over or until she just starts eating like she used to. We hope to put a little meat on those bones while we are in control of the feeding for a day or two. The weeks are racing by most of the time so hopefully before we know it the year will go by and she will be healthy as a horse. Thanks for the thoughts, concerns, and most of all the prayers from all of you. Susan I know you check in on this and just wanted to tell you and Mike thank you so much for letting our family stay at your place while we are up here, we couldn't ask for more. Thanks again to all of those who have helped us and that are helping us out. Love the Kings