In the last update, Kira was scheduled for another surgery on her leg to clean up one spot that was not healing as fast as it should have. During the surgery they also found that some of the muscle had shifted and was not covering the plate in her leg properly! Once again, things happen for a reason, they fixed everything up and today everything seems to be healing nicely and looks really good!
Following that surgery Kira was given two weeks off from Chemo to allow things to heal. After the two week break the Oncologists changed her Chemo schedule as the Chemo she was scheduled for slows the healing process, so they changes things up to allow her leg more time to heal and gave her a round of Chemo that effects the blood cells, then another two weeks off to let her blood counts recover. Kira had to make one trip back to Calgary for a blood transfusion (which was somewhat expected), this was a long day. Blood work at 8am in Stettler, off to Calgary once we had the results (10am) then 3 hours of blood transfusions, 4 hours of waiting around then home to Stettler by 11pm.
One issue Kira was having a few days following her Surgery she lost some of the movement in her foot (new knee). She still had good movement that would allow her to kick her prostethic leg forward however lost the movement that would pull it back. The figured some post surgery swelling may have damaged some nerves and that when the swelling came down the movement should return. As time went by and the swelling came down, the movement did not return. Kira's physiotherapists tried electronic muscle stimulation (numerous times) and still no movement! Just as everyone was convinced the movement was lost, if not for good then for many months at least, as Kira was watching TV on night she noticed something "felt weird" and just like that the movement returned and is getting better and stronger every day!
Kira heads back to Calgary tomorrow (July 13th) and will be starting on Chemo treatments that will go until the end of September if everything goes as planned (we will not expect that to happen) with a couple short breaks between sessions (one week max). Kira is glad that there is an end of the Chemo treatments in site and that during this time she will be starting down the path of getting and learning to use her new leg. She gets upset now and then that Summer is here and she is missing out on all the fun (camping, swimming, playing) however is keeping the big picture in mind (7 year olds should not have to do this), beat the cancer, get her new leg. Then running, going to school and playing with her friends!
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| Kira got to meet a couple of the Calgary Stampeders while in the hospital! Fred Bennett and Randy "Chevy" Chevrier brought many smiles and laughs! So nice of them to visit! |
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| They signed a couple footballs for Kira and Jace. Great guys!! |
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| Enjoying a little wheel chair baseball with Jace while at home! |
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| The long blood transfusion day! |
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| Beads of Courage are getting long! |
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| The Ladies of the Heartland paid a special tribute to Kira at the Stettler rodeo this year! They did a musical horse ride to Kira's favorite One Direction song! Wearing Kira's camo buffs on their cow boy hats and using special pink flags. It was AWESOME! We loved it! Thank you for making Kira feel so special! |
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| Chemo |
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| We got to go visit Kira's class before school ended. Here Kira is with her amazing grade 2 teacher, Mrs. Hunter! She has been so supportive and wonderful! |
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| This is a very special group of ladies I am lucky enough to call my friends! What they have done to help us these last few months has been truly amazing! One of the amazing things they did was put on a Keep Kira Smiling fundraiser nite! It was such a fantastic night of support and love! We are so greatful to have such wonderful people and such a supportive community in our lives! We can't say thank you enough to everyone who has been there for us! |
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| Kira got to ride in the Stettler parade! (that's her in the back seat) This is the float for her singing group, the Tiny Gracenotes! |
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| This awesome fundraiser was put on by Sean's No Frills in Stettler! They raised money for Kira and had everyone sign a card!! This picture doesn't even show all the cards filled out for Kira!! See what I mean, this community is truly truly amazing! Huge thank you to Sean and his staff at No Frills!! |
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| Playing ball while getting a blood transfusion! Thank you to everyone who donates blood! We've seen first hand how important that really is!! |
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| Doing her rounds in the halls of the oncology unit! She loves socializing with all the nurses! |
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| Jace came for a visit! |
