A letter to my mother

My dearest mother,

I want to tell you how lucky I am to have been placed here on earth under you r care. I am grateful to have had this time to be able to express the things that so often go unspoken. You leave behind a legacy of strength, compassion, generosity, motherhood, excellence, pride in your work and most of all Love. Love of family, love of life of laughter and a supreme love for the Savior. You taught me to have patience with my daughter as you have had with me. You taught me to love my husband with all my heart as you have loved my father. You taught me to be honest to never take anything that was not rightfully mine. You taught me to strive for excellence in all that I do. You showed me support in all aspects of my life. I hope that I have made you proud. I wand to say Thank You for loving and supporting me although I know that I could never begin to express my gratitude. I only hope that I can pass along these things to my daughter so that your legacy lives on. I love you and will miss you terribly.

Love your Daughter,
Keely

Mom passed away this morning at about 2 am. All of the family was able to be with her in her last days and were there to care for and comfort her. She will be missed but has earned her rightful place in heaven. When we arrived in Utah a couple of days before her passing I was able to read this letter to Mom. I am so grateful that I was able to express my love for her while she was still here.

Obituary of
Robinette Zoe Koford Wilkinson
(1944-2011)

Tremonton-Robinette Zoe Koford Wilkinson died peacefully March 23, 2011 surrounded by her loving family. She had fought a good battle with leukemia. She was born March 15, 1944 in Sacramento, CA to Marion George and Naomi Geneva Christesen Koford. She was raised and educated in the Sacramento area graduating from Hyrum Johnson Senior High. She met her sweetheart and Eternal Companion Keith Evan Wilkinson and they were married August 14, 1962 in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple.
Together they raised three children and made a wonderful life in California. In 1995 they moved to Tremonton, UT where she held various jobs until she became employed by Lazy Boy. She retired from Lazy Boy. Her first love was serving as a Wife and Mother. She was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She served faithfully in various callings all her life.
Robin is survived by her husband Keith Evan Wilkinson; son, Kevin Robert (Diane) Wilkinson, Daughters: Kimber Rose (Blake) Gibbs and Keely Dawn (Manuel) Flores; seven grandchildren: Bryce Allen Wilkinson, Collin Robert Wilkinson, Hannah Naomi Wilkinson, Whitney Rose Macfarlane, Garrett Dean Gibbs, Hyatt Drew Gibbs, Isabel Geneva Flores; and sister Karen Ann (Gerald) Robertson. She was preceded in death by her parents.
Funeral Services will be held Saturday, March 26, 2011 at 2:00 p.m. at the Garland Tabernacle 140 West Factory St., Garland. Friends may call Friday, March 25, 2011 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at Rogers and Taylor Funeral Home 111 North 100 East, Tremonton, and Saturday from 12:30-1:40 p.m. at the Tabernacle prior to the funeral services. Interment will follow in the Garland Cemetery.
Online condolences may be expressed at www.rogersandtaylor.com

Home and comfortable

Mom has been home since last Thursday and has had too many visitors to count. She is fairly comfortable and has had only the occasional bout of nausea. She is not eating much but every so often will come up with a special request...She made Dads mouth drop the other day when she asked for a Big Mac. So we got her one. The only real discomfort that she has had is the swelling and pain in her knee. Her orthopedic surgeon who replaced her knees came to the house and drained some fluid off the joint and she felt much better. For now we are trying to keep her as comfortable as possible. She and Dad have had several phone calls and have enjoyed catching up with friends and family. We were able to get her to a family portrait session on last Friday which went very well. We are so grateful that she was able to get there. We will so cherish those last memories of us all together and are trying to make the most of the time that we have left. Please continue to send love and prayers our way. Much love -Keely

Going Home...forever

I guess on some level I knew the day she called me to tell me that the cancer was back that this was the beginning of the end. After an exausting 35 days in the hospital she was sent home yesterday (Thursday). We got into town and when I walked in to the hospital room she said "I am going home...forever." She had 40% blast cells in her marrow when she went into the hospital before the chemo and she now has 42% after the chemo...there are no options for a bone marrow transplant since she has to be in remission for that to happen. So........she has come home to live out her remaining days in the comfort of her own home surrounded by those that love her. She is in good spirits and would love to see people. Phone calls are great too.

Updates

So over the last two weeks Mom has had five days of Chemo staring on the 22nd of January. This time she did have lots of side effects such as itchiness, redness and swelling of the hands and feet, infections, nausea, vomiting, upset stomach and such. These symptoms have begun to subside, they have been giving her Atavan to keep her from thowing up. They have kept her on antibiotics and she keeps running a temperature. Dad and the docs have been having to force her to eat since she has no appetite. She has lost another 15 lbs through this process. She has lost some of her zip and personality but has still been plugging along. They have been monitoring her to check for blood clots and fluid buildup. She has had 5 units of blood and 3 platelet transfusions since her blood count is so low. She is in the Nadar phase where her body is at its lowest point and, without tempting fate, she can only go up from here. Her sister Karen has been tested to see if she is a potential marrow donor, so the docs are discussing a transplant for her. Lots of stuff going on and lots more to come. This has been a really rough round and she really needs everyones love and prayers and good thoughts.

Well this sucks!

So after only 4 short months...here we go again. I had hoped to never again have anything to post on this blog, but as you can see here we are again. Mom has been doing well over the last few months, feeling good and even traveling a bit to see family. Last month, in December when she had her monthly blood work done they found a little something strange, so they did a bone marrow test and sure enough they found some blast cells again....cancer...again. She got the news on Thursday and was headed back for the hospital on Friday. When they arrived for prep to start Chemo again the Drs. wanted to get her Central Line in and when they did the procedure they somehow knicked her artery and she started to bleed and they had to stop. This is something that sometimes happens when they pull out the guide wire. Lucily the body is able to heal itself fairly quickly. They decided that they would put in a pick line in her arm instead. All of this was quite an ordeal so they waited untill Saturday to start the Chemo. This time around, because somehow one of those little buggers survived in her marrow, they will have to use a different type of Chemo. I talked to Mom today and she says that she is a little sicker this time around and has had a couple of bouts of nausea and vomiting. Nothing that she can't handle though. Today, Monday, was day three of treatment and she feels much better today. They are giving her atavan (sp?) to help with the nausea. A good friend of the family, Carrie Delgado, brought in dinner and Mom was able to eat a bit of soup and felt pretty good. So for now we will take this day by day and see how she does. As always your prayers and thoughts, calls and visits are needed and appreciated. Love to all.

Remission

Its been 6 months and 8 days since our lives were turned upside-down with the big "L" word. You always think that nothing like that could ever happen to your family but when it does its devestating. The Lord works in mysterious ways and I know that this trial in our lives was there to strengthen our family. Moms progress has been very steady and good over the last couple of months. She has traveled this road with such grace and has shown a strength beyond anything I could have imagined her capable of, comforting us when we broke down. But all of that aside today was a GREAT day, Kim traveled to Salt Lake with Mom and Dad today to her last Dr. appointment and it could not have gone better. The Dr. removed her central line and now she only has to wear her mask in large crowds or where there are sick people. So she will still use it for the next little while during cold and flu season. During her consult the Dr. told them that she has all of the best possible set of circumstances in her favor. She is officially in remission and she has the correct combination of mutated chromosomes that will give her a 55% chance of being CURED!!! The likelyhood of a relapse of the cancer is low but if it were to occour it would happen in the first 18 months to 2 years. If after 5 years she still shows no signs of any cancer then they will consider her cured. So for now she will fall into a routine of monthly bloodwork and evey 3 months she will have a bone marrow tap and they will just keep monitoring her. So keep her in your prayers and once again thanks to all who have prayed, visited, called, emailed, facebooked, and everything else you have done. Much love to all. I love you Mommy!

Still swollen

Well things are not going as swimmingly as I previously reported. The swelling has not gone down as much as I had thought. Dad says that Mom had been really sick and tired for those first few days in the hospital. She also has a blood clot in her neck area from the problem with the central line that they moved. so they are giving her even more yucky medicines to help with those issues. She finally felt good enough to get up and walk some on Sunday morning, but still isn't feeling really good.