Common Questions and Answers

When did this all begin?

Sometime in November she noticed her lymphoid were enlarged. A family practice said it was nothing big to worry about and it could just go away after the holidays. She was not sick or in pain. She was healthy.

How did she find out?

On Sunday, December 30th 9:30 P.M., as we were driving back home from a friends, she began to vomit, felt lower back pains, which eventually went down both her legs. She was not able to move or talk. She went through the pain for about 7 hours and finally built up some strength to get into the car to drive to the E.R. at around 5 A.M.

A bone marrow biopsy was done Wednesday at McKay Dee. She was hospitalized there until Thursday, when we found out she had Leukemia. She was transported to the LDS Hospital in Salt Lake. They specialize in Leukemia.

Can we visit her?

Yes. But you must be healthy, no sickness, no sniffles, sneezing, runny nose, absolutely nothing. I do ask, if possible, that you take some sort of Airborne, Emergen C, or simply a high dose of vitamin C so make sure you have nothing on her before you come visit. Please sanitize your hands before walking into the room.

Can we bring flowers?

No. You can bring fake flowers and plants. This is a better choice anyway for she will be in her room for a while so we can use it to decorate it to make it home-ish. Bring pictures of yourself and the family also so we can post it on the wall.

Can we bring kids?

No. Just because her immune system is very low. To give you an idea, normal peoples ANC (white cell count) should be at 2000-4000. Erika's ANC is at 100. So I can't stress enough, please be sure you have nothing before you or your party comes out to visit. Take some Airborne, EmergenC, Vitamin C ahead of time to get your immunity strong to kill off whatever it is you may have before you come to visit. If you question yourself but still would like to visit her, we can arrange a video chat via Google Talk.

Where is she? 

LDS Hospital
8th Ave & C Street
Salt Lake City, UT 84143
Room 801 East Wing

How long will she be there for?

At least 5 weeks. 

When will she start on Chemo?

Possibly Monday January 7th. The reason is because she needs to get her strength back and get the pain controlled.

How is her health so far?

Her kidneys, liver, heart, besides her lunges with pneumonia, she's doing great. Docs said she needs to main a clean healthy diet of 1500 - 2000 calories a day to throughout her stay here to stay healthy and strong.

What type of Leukemia does she have?

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia aka ALL

What type of treatment will she recieve for ALL?

We will not know for sure until we find out if she has Philadelphia Chromosome (Phili what!!! The only phili both Erika and I know of are the delicious phili cheese streak sandwich at Moochies) either this coming Sunday or Monday before the treatment begins.