It's an Off Week

No treatment this week, I have to wait till next tues. My white count was low again. The doctor stopped my continuous chemo in hopes my counts would increase. I feel good, just can't keep my numbers up. My new great niece is here, Laurel and Zeb had a little girl Kaita Ann Kriefels born Dec. 6th. Everyone is doing good. Have a great week. Thanks for your support, Love Kim

Thankful

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving, I am still celebrating last sunday we went to my sisters ( Jan and Ken Snyder) had a great time, there were over 60 family and friends. We ate, crafted, visited and told our thankfuls. It's alot of fun getting together and just watching all the little ones play, there were 5 babies to share. We are waiting for our 6th baby of the year, Laurel and Zeb Kreifels are expecting next month. This sunday we will go to my inlaws Harlan and Belva's for more food and fun. I am thankful for my support group, great doctors and wonderful family, each and everyone of you are important to me. Thank you for blessing my life with your friendship. I had a treatment Nov. 18th and the next should be Dec.9th. Happy Thanksgiving Love Kim

Ballerina Gorilla

Hi, not much to tell, treatments were postponed a week, my white counts were low again. But I have been busy, my sister Gail had a halloween party for all our little spooks. Hailey and Ryan were pumpkins, J.J. was a dinosaur, and I was a ballerina gorilla, yes I had a pink tu tu. And the last two weeks I have been going to my nieces (Mackenzie Scheef) volleyball games, the Syracuse Rockets ended up 3rd at state. Mack had a great tournament. GO ROCKETS! I am planning on chemo tomorrow. Thanks for your prayers and have a great week. Love Kim

War Eagle Princess

Good Morning, I had a treatment Tues. 21st. all went well. It's been over a month since my last one, so I was feeling pretty good and not looking forward to another but I survived. Actually this one hasn't been as bad, I think it's because of the long break between.

Last week I was able to go down south to War Eagle (Arkansas) with my sisters, mom, aunt, and friends, great time was had. This is a large craft fair or should I say several large fairs. The weather was good and the fellowship wounderful.Very grateful I got to go, Sister Gail has been going for 26 years. I hope everyone has a wonderful week tell your family and friends how much you care for them. Thank you for your prayers. Love Kim

Honey I Shrunk the Tumor

I am feeling better and have been back to work for several days. My white blood cells were low and I developed neutropenia a side effect of chemo, so I had to stay a few days in the hospital. My counts are coming up because Dr. has stopped my continuous chemo and postponed my big day of chemo until Oct. 21. The best news is the tumors are shrinking I just got off the phone with my nurse, results from the CT Scan they did yesterday show a decrease in all the tumors except the two spots on the lung. And those two spots have not grown, I am not sure they are even cancer. My Dr. said most Nebraskan's have spots on their lungs. My blood work also showed my CA125 is down to 26. So it's been a great day, hope your all having one too. And Thank You all for your prayers. I Love You

Takin' It Easy

Kim had a Dr.'s appointment today in Omaha. The Dr. was pleased to see her feeling good but said they would wait a week or so before starting up the chemo again. She does not have her continuous chemo bag on so she is feeling free - she plans to be back on the job tomorrow but has promised to take it easy.

Kim will have blood work every few days to make sure her numbers are where they need to be and is also scheduled for a CAT scan next week.

Thank you for all the love and prayers you are sending her way!

Gail Bates

Bug Update

Kim had a Dr.'s appointment today in Omaha. The Dr. was pleased to see her feeling good but said they would wait a week or so before starting up the chemo again. She does not have her continuous chemo bag on so she is feeling free - she plans to be back on the job tomorrow but has promised to take it easy.

Kim will have blood work every few days to make sure her numbers are where they need to be and is also scheduled for a CAT scan next week.

Thank you for all the love and prayers you are sending her way!

Gail Bates

Bug Control

Kim was released today from the hospital and is home resting. She will meet with her oncology Dr. in the next two days to see what the next step is. She no longer has flu symptoms and feels that after a good nights sleep in her own bed she will be feeling even better.

She thanks you for all the thoughts and prayers coming her way.

Gail Bates

A Little Bug

Kim went to the Syracuse Hospital last night because she wasn't feeling good and had a high temperature. She picked up a bug (stomach) over the weekend. Her white blood count is low and will need to be there until she can fight this off. She will have to stay in the hospital 48 hours without a temperature before she can go home.

I talked to her this morning a couple times and said she didn't get much sleep last night and is pretty tired. We're praying for a speedy recovery from this bug. Thank you for keeping her in your thoughts and prayers.

Lizabeth Kirchhoff

Busy Busy Busy

Hi, quick update not much to tell I am feeling really good. My white blood counts have come up and so has my energy. I have been enjoying the grandkids had the two oldest this weekend and visit the littlest as often as possible. This weekend Hailey and JJ will be in my nephews wedding (Joel Mueller). On the 14th we had our annal hayrack ride at my folks it was our 26th year and on dads birthday. There was around 60 of us, took 2 racks we finished it with a hot dog and s'more roast. Jan and Gail organized the youngest 14 grandkids for a nativity picture, (for mom) this year they did angels among us. My new grandbaby Ryan was Jesus and the rest were angels. Took the pictures in dads barn they turn out great. I'll see if I can get them to post a pic. Hope everyone has a good week. Love Kim

Chemo & Numbers

I just visited with Kim as she was finishing up with her chemo treatment. She sounded good and was pleased with her newest CA 125 blood test. Her number back in December was 1200, a couple of months ago it had improved to somewhere around 268 and today it was down to 53, They would like to see it 40 or lower but she is very pleased with her progress.

The CA 125 test is a blood test that determines the level of an antigen in the blood which is known to be a tumor marker. It is commonly used to monitor the state of the disease.

The low note is that her white blood cell count is low and they are concerned about infection so they will be monitoring it closely and ask that she be careful not to pick up any germs.

Kim’s side effects from the chemo treatments are fatigue, headaches and different degrees of nausea. She has been able to manage these with a couple of days rest and medication.

Thanks for keeping her close to your heart!

Gail Bates

32 Years

Kim and Shane are celebrating their 32nd Wedding Anniversary today, (9-11-08)! They share this unforgettable day with another anniversary, 9-11-01. Were you doing anything memorable 7 years ago?

Lizabeth Kirchhoff

It's a BOY!

It's a BOY!!! Kim's newest grandbaby is finally here! Ryan Mark Kirchhoff arrived today (9-4-08) at 7:22 am, weighed 8 lbs. 8oz. and is 21 1/4 in. long. Today is also Jess' birthday so they will get to share their birthday's together! This is Jess and Lori's second child, their first born is 3 yr old Hailey Rae. Both Lori and Ryan are doing good!

Lizabeth Kirchhoff

Island Relaxin'

Kim and company have left the island. It was a great day. Her eye is looking better and she is looking great. Although she said her hair is thinning, she still has quite a bit of it.

Hailey and J.J. took Papa Shane on a long ride through the woods. Then Shane took Kim and their grandkids on their first air-boat ride. They spotted some large bald eagles while going up stream to Columbus. The kids liked it and J.J. took a little nap on the way home.

After a bit of rest and nourishment, Shane took all the kids to the sand bar with Gabe and Janelle. Kim is not suppose to be in the sun much so she and I stay in the air conditioning. It seemed a little too quiet but that didn't last long. They came back hot and hungry.

Kim and Shane needed to get on the road to get the grandkids home before starting the work week tomorrow.

We were thinking that it would be a great day for Kim's new grandchild to come while Hailey was staying with us, but we didn't hear anything so I am guessing we will need to wait for a bit more. Grandchild number 3 is due on Friday so it shouldn't be long now.

Jan Snyder

September 1st Happenings

Yesterday we had a birthday party in Omaha for 5 of the little cousins summer birthdays. Kim looks great and is feeling better after battling an eye infection the last few days. Shane, Kim and their two grandkids took a detour home last night and went to spend the night at the island with sister Jan and her husband Ken. "The island" as we call it is Jan and Ken's place on the Platte River by Schuyler NE. Hope you all enjoyed your holiday weekend!

Gail Bates

Thank You!!

Round 3, want to put a big thanks out to everyone and specially Patty J. for organizing the goody bag. Many friends and family sent cards, magazines, books, lotion, candy, scrapbook, jokes, scratch tickets, green tea, pedicure, stories of great times with special friends, and jewelry. ( guardian angel pin and cross necklace) There was so much packed into this beach bag I am sure I missed something. I opened everything but I will have enough reading material to get me through several more treatments. Huge thanks it made the day go fast. Oh, I also had a friend bring me flowers the day before just because she was thinking of me. I am truly blessed to have each and everyone of you in my life. This site proves it by all the visits and comments. It seems to take alittle longer each time to recoup, but its working so I will push on. I will let you know when my grandbaby gets here. Thank you for all your Prayers, Love Kim

God Isn't Going Off Duty

We asked God to watch over Kim and take care of her. Our narrow scope was on chemo, good thing he doesn't go off duty. The following is a recap from mom on their trip home.

Kim and I had the closest call and she advoided an accident by Louisville near the entrance of Louisville State Park when she swerved to miss a pickup that was in the park turning lane and decided to make a u-turn across the highway in front of us. We actually went into the other sides shoulder and back before we met three cars coming toward us. They would have hit us right where I was sitting and no doubt rolled us. Took us both a bit to recover from that shock.

We felt lucky that she had such a quick reaction even after a day of chemo.

Gail Bates

Like Christmas

My granddaughter Cameron and I went to visit Kim today during her treatment. Kim was in good spirits and excited to share with me the cards and gifts her friends had sent with her. They delivered them to her last night and told her to wait and read them today so that she would know they were all thinking of her. She said it was a lot like Christmas as she opened all the cards, letters and gifts from friends and family. Kim feels very blessed to have such great support.

Her chemo went well with no new side effects - she started around 8:15 this morning and was planning to be done by 3:00 this afternoon. Mom not only accompanies her to many of her treatments but makes sure she is well taken care of and fed. Today it was Roast Beef and Mashed Potatoes – what better comfort food could you ask for!

Kim plans on taking it easy this weekend and getting lots of rest so she can be ready for the new grandbaby that Jess and Lori are expecting the first of September.

Thank you for all the acts of kindness you show Kim and her family.

Gail Bates

Love Kim

Hi, I would like to thank everyone for their concern, support, and prayers. As you read I had good news last week and I am hopeful. The pain I had before starting this last chemo is gone and I'm feeling great. Friday will be my third round of chemo, this is a full day and it makes me nauseous and very tired for about 4 days. Then they send me home with continuous chemo that I wear in a pack around my waist, luckily this does not make me sick. I would like to thank my family for all the work they have done putting this site together, they have done a great job. It is overwhelming seeing all the hits, my family and friends are the best and your support is truly appreciated.

On a lighter note I had both grandkids this weekend and it was a wonderful time, we celebrated Hailey's 3rd birthday. She is 3 going on 18 look out Jess. And Liz's little guy J.J. loves the farm and papa's tractors. Thank you, Love Kim

Great News!!!

GREAT NEWS!!!! Kim's scan from Monday shows that the chemo is working! It showed significant decrease in some areas and slight decreases in others. No new masses were found. Kim was relieved to hear the news. She will continue on the same chemo regimen and repeat scans after a few more cycles.

Thank you to everyone who is praying for Kim and keeping track of her through this website.

Becky Hoff

August 11th Update

Kim was up to Omaha last night for a family birthday. She spent the night as she had a CAT scan done early this morning. She meets with her Dr. this Thursday to go over the results. Other than being tired and somewhat achy she is weathering the chemo treatments. She never complains. Thank you for your love and prayers.

Gail Bates

A Day at the Med Center

A brief account of a day at the Med Center by Sandy Scheef, (Kim's mom).

August 1, 2008 ---Second chemo treatment in current series.

Kim and I leave her place a little before 6:30 a.m. for the University of Nebraska Medical Center UNMC in Omaha. We arrive at the Lied Center for her 7:30 appointment. At 7:42 a nurse comes in to take her vital signs and all is well.

We go to room 17 where two recliners wait for patients. Kim's nurse today is Sue, the same as last time. She is the mother of A.J. (Luke's friend from school days),

Someone comes to take Kim to be weighed and when she returns she says "I wish it was over."

Jenna (mother of Monte's former students) comes to change needle in Kim's port.

Sue starts a hydration solution at 8:20 a.m. and from then on Kim will have a series of fluids including six large bags that will constantly flow into her body. The fluids contain cisplatin, chemo, flushes and saline solutions. Each time the fluid bag is matched to Kim's wrist band and she is asked to repeat her birth date. The large bags take two hours to drain and sometimes two and three fluids are going at the same time. It is a long process.

About noon Kim makes her first trip to bathroom pushing her rolling stand with fluid bags attached. With all the fluid going into body - some needs to come out. There will be a couple more trips before she is finished. Kim is also provided and encouraged to drink juices and water.

I go to the cafeteria and bring back some food for lunch.

Becky stops in to visit and reads Kim's labs that she brought from Syracuse. She will be back later as her office is close by.

It always amazes us that so many people we visit with know someone we know. The people that come from other states for treatment are very interesting too. We hear some great stories.

During this day three different patients come and go from our room. We have been there eight hours and 45 minutes by the time we leave.

Jenna comes back around four and hooks up the pack that Kim wears all the time and it slowly dispenses chemo and will be changed the next two Fridays in Syracuse.

Kim will see the Dr. on August 14th and then on Friday, August 22nd(3 weeks) the same process will be repeated.

Round 2

Kim had her second round of chemo yesterday. She got through the treatment fine and will take the weekend and Monday to recoup. She told me her hair was thinning and that she didn't think it would be long before she lost it. She showed me a cute little hat she had and said that she didn't plan on wearing the wigs much in the summer as they are so hot. Kim is to be careful in the sun as some of her medication can cause her to burn easily. Thank you for keeping her in your prayers.

Love you Sister!

Gail Bates

A Pleasant Run-in

I just ran into Kim and Liz at Super Target in Omaha. Kim looks great! She said that she will need to come back to Omaha tomorrow afternoon to get some magnesium through her IV. Friday's lab showed that her magnesium was low and her white blood cell count was dropping. Your white blood cells help fight infection so she is now at risk for infection.

She says that overall she is feeling better. It took over a week after she started this 1st round of chemo to start feeling better. She truly is one of the toughest people I know! Keep fighting Aunt Kim.

Becky Hoff

Another Blog We Love - The Scheef Triplets!

Some of you have asked about Kim's newest niece and nephews (Monte's triplets). We had mentioned that they were the inspiration in using this particular site for providing updates.


Here is how you get to their site: www.caringbridge.org


Once you get to the Caring Bridge home page, type the name of the site you wish to visit in the box on the left side of the page.


Monte's Triplet site name: scheeftriplets (for the Scheef Triplets)


Kim's site name: kimsstory (for Kim's Story)

We Wore Kim Out

We may have worn Kim out yesterday. I know I came home dog tired.

We were able to re-create an old family tradition of a state park overnighter. Our kids, now parents, had fond memories of those days gone bye. After a walk down memory lane, we started organizing a “re-do”. One of the many lessons we have learn through Kim’s journey with cancer is to celebrate life now and not wait for the elusive ‘someday’. Kim put this custom back on track with a quick call to the reservation office at Mahoney State park.

The park could sandwich us in for 1 night in 3 cabins in the middle of a week. It was not the ideal scenario but we made it close to perfect! The weather co-operated, the activities were abundant, the food was wonderful, fellowship comforting and the memories old and now new are priceless.

The proof of just how important this custom was for the new parent generation was quite evident. Many of them made it a point to rearrange their work schedule. My sons were disappointed that our stay could not be on a weekend.

The newest generation was in heaven. They had a ball. In fact we all had a lot of fun. The water park is a new addition since our last stay but a favorite of everyone. The trails were re-visited, the tower was conquered and Laurel remembered the Nilla wafers for feeding the fish. Monte even ventured over to the putt putt course with his oldest sons. Mom and Dad hosted our departing picnic complete with the theme of Christmas in July. I don’t remember sweating this much at Christmas but I did feel the same sense of family, thankfulness and peacefulness that is experienced at that special time of year. A favorite memory this time was watching the smiles and drinking in the feeling of a loving family. As Gail and I sat in the shade at the marina and watched Kim interact with the kids, Gail whispered how she just wanted to burn this site into her memory. When we were the young mother’s we were too busy to even consider the powerfulness of a statement like that. I wish I would have burned more of those visions into my memory. I may not be able to recall the vision of those long ago days like I would like but they still bring out the warm fuzzies. We had the assistance of many cameras this trip. That will help. I can’t wait to see everyone’s pictures.

"Back in the Day" when our young adults were the kids, we usually numbered 15-20 with some family members coming and going for meals and work. This year there were 40 (plus 2 halves) for the evening meal but only 17 spent the night. Our group has grown since we did this with our kids. Brother, Monte, was one of the kids then and now he adds 6 more to the total number with wife and 5 kids.

The biggest change was having so many babies. 2 were a year old so walking and chasing them always kept someone busy. Then there was a 7 month old and 3 tiny 5 week old triplets. Before 2008 is over, we will have 2 more babies too. It's not hard to find a baby to hold.

This state park overnighter is a good tradition but I am going to start doubling up on my vitamins a couple of weeks before next years outing!

Thanks Kim for re-starting this fun tradition.

Jan Snyder

Restarting a Family Tradition

Kim will be heading out to Mahoney State Park today with her family to restart a family tradition with the youngest generation. We will spend today by the pool and exploring the park. Tonight we will celebrate Kim's grandson JJ's birthday. 34 plan to join us for the party tonight and 22 will be spending the night. We will update you on our adventures when we return!

Next Steps

On July 11th Kim started another round of chemotherapy. She will be getting a 3 drug regimen. Her first day started in the treatment center at the Med Center. She received 2 different chemo drugs and was sent home with a continuous infusion of another drug called 5-FU. She will have this continuous infusion for three weeks total and then go back to the treatment center on August 1st for the other two drugs. She will then repeat the 3 weeks of 5-FU at home.

At the end of two months (2 rounds of the regimen) they will repeat her CAT scan and see how the therapy is working. If it is working they will continue with the same regimen. If it is not, there is another regimen that they would start her on.

Lots of Love

Talked to Kim and it sounds like the Dr. gave her two test studies to look at. She will look them over today and decide which she wants to do. Maybe Becky will give more detail tonight but it is my understanding that the Dr. left it up to Kim. One would be similar to the chemo she had before with an additional pill she would take. She sounded good and ready for her next challenge - I told her that we would all be there by her side ready to help where ever she needed us! Lots of love as you decide your next step Kim.

Gail Bates

Picking a Fight

Today my mom had her doctor's appointment with Dr. Remmenga. He gave us the results from her scan on Monday and it's not what we wanted to hear. She has a new spot on her liver and one on her lung, both an inch in size. She has another the size of a tennis ball on what he called her "vaginal cuff". She will see a specialist, Dr. Grim, hopefully the first part of next week to see what her treatment plan will be.

As this isn't the news we wanted we all know how my mom is a fighter and the strongest person that I know! So that's exactly what we all will keep doing is fighting this horrible monster with the help of all of you! We will know more next week once she will see this specialist and hopefully get a plan of treatment.

Liz Kirchhoff

Feeling the Love

Thank you everyone, tonight was a lot of fun for me. While I was walking after everyone had left I realized how lucky I was to be able to experience the love and support from my family and friends. A lot of the people on the luminaries’ probably didn't get to experience what I felt tonight. I Love You

Kim

Relay for Life 2008

6/13/08 Rely for Life

A Matter of Perspective

We met with Dr. Remmenga today and he was feeling positive about Kim's current situation. Given that Kim's tumor had grown significantly while she received the chemo Avastin in Nov/Dec, he was very pleased that it had decreased in size with hormone therapy and radiation. I guess it’s all a matter of perspective. We were hoping that the tumors would be gone. What this tells us is that the therapy is working- just at a slower pace than we would all like. He explained that hormone therapy as not destroying the tumor immediately, but slowly killing it off. Kim will continue on the hormone therapy. She asked about increasing the dose because she was tolerating it well but he said that she is on the standard dose and they don't increase it.

The spot on her liver is about 1 inch in size. He will speak with the radiologist Dr. Thompson tomorrow about starting radiation to this area. Dr. Remmenga wasn't sure whether this was a new spot or one that had been there. The reason he feels this way is because depending on the "cut" of the scan they may have missed it in the past. It is positioned on the edge of the liver and he felt that radiation would be a good option. This is not the same spot that was found during Kim's first go round with chemo.

Kim will have repeat scans in 2 months. Kim was also given the okay for acupuncture and massage therapy. They drew a CA 125 level which is a tumor marker in the blood. They have drawn this lab at different points in her therapy. Her level has gone up and down and this will give them more information that could be valuable to her treatment. From what I remember they don't typically follow this marker in uterine cancer, but since Kim's cancer has a mind of its own it might lead to some good information.

Kim and I also discussed the possibility of a second opinion. With her current situation she feels confident that one is not needed at this time. If her next scans do not show continued improvement we will seek out a second opinion at that time. Kim, Shane and I all felt that Dr. Remmenga was doing all that he could and have great confidence in him. Kim felt relief after meeting with him and I believe she too has a new perspective on her.

Becky Hoff

No News

I know some of you are waiting to hear how my test went today, but I don't know anything. My doctors appt. was rescheduled for next wed. I went ahead and had the CT done this morning (late morning) but my nurse hasn't called me with the results yet. Hopefully I hear something tomorrow.

Kim

Spring Flowers

I was very touched to see in our bulletin today that Ruth Windhorst had given a bouquet of daffodils in Honor of Kim. When I told her how thoughtful she was, Ruth said that she thinks a lot of Kim and know the money for Daffodil Sunday is used to fight cancer and she has been impressed with how Kim has fought her cancer. Ruth asked about Kim and when I shared that she was enjoying a vacation she asked if I would like to take the flowers home. She didn't need to twist my arm. So while the sisters are enjoying a sunny warm vacation I am enjoying spring flowers.

Terri Janssen

Cruisin' and Celebrating Life

The Kirchhoff the Bates and Snyder’s take a 7 day cruise enjoy and celebrating life.