The University of Kansas Health System is treating a total of 52 COVID patients today, up from 48 yesterday. Other significant numbers:
- 31 with the active virus today, 28 yesterday
- 5 in ICU, same as yesterday
- 2 on a ventilator, same as yesterday
- 21 hospitalized but out of acute infection phase, 20 yesterday
Key points from today’s guests:
Kasey Kalivoda, Kolbie’s mother
- At birth, Kolbie had hearing issues and a heart murmur and was hospitalized with a respiratory virus, but it was an MRI and biopsy that led to the discovery of a brain tumor.
- She credits the doctors who pushed for Kolbie to get a CT scan and an MRI that diagnosed the tumor early based on a failed hearing test.
- The community was very helpful to the family with support for housing, gas, and other needs, and she is very appreciative of that.
- She has an open invitation to any the doctors, surgeons, nurses, and everyone else who helped to come to her table for dinner. She has a list of more than 150 names of people she would like to thank. She wishes she could give them a hug every day.
- Kolbie has been through so much, but she is doing great now.
Dr. Paul Camarata, neurosurgeon, The University of Kansas Health System
- This case is very special. The amazing collaboration between two health systems to help this child has been wonderful.
- This is one of those tumors that grows slowly, but unfortunately was wrapped around very critical structures of carotid artery, all of the nerves coming out of the brain stem, the brain stem itself, in addition to involving the throat, the back of the mouth -- so it could have caused significant damage if not addressed quickly.
- Part of the reason for the collaboration between The University of Kansas Health System and Children’s Mercy Hospital was because the Health System treats mostly adult tumors, but Dr. David Garcia at Children’s Mercy deals with brain tumors in kids all the time.
- This is an exceedingly rare location for a tumor even in a child. We needed to get the team together and do what's best for the patient. And collaboration just seemed to make sense at the time.
- The amount of collaboration is really phenomenal and a credit goes to everyone from schedulers to communicators to people moving the films and the images back and forth, regrouping together on Zoom calls and in person, and then finally having it happen and the follow up.
Dr. David Garcia, pediatric neurosurgeon, Children’s Mercy Hospital
- It's a rare type of tumor and it’s even more rare where she had it. It's a very unusual presentation of a fairly rare tumor.
- In these situations, he always tells families that they’ve just entered a marathon race and to have support from the family, community and beyond.
- These situations are not easy to get through -- there's the initial surgery and then there's sometimes other surgeries that are needed on top of that and a lifetime of follow up to make sure it doesn't come back.
- This is why we do this job – to see someone with such an uphill climb to be doing so well like Kolbie.
Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control, The University of Kansas Health System
- On the recent news about a potential RSV vaccine, the industry has been trying to get an RSV vaccine for 40 to 50 years, so this is all good news.
- Adults can suffer from RSV as well, especially older adults, so it is not just a virus that affects children.
- Vaccines are a great safe way to induce that immune response to provide protection. So, an RSV vaccine would be a positive development.
Wednesday, October 26 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Open Mics with Dr. Stites where we will focus on how to battle the obesity epidemic with a story about how a woman’s fatty liver diagnosis turned her life around.
ATTENTION MEDIA: Please note access is now with Microsoft Teams:
Join on your computer or mobile app
Click here to join the meeting
Meeting ID: 235 659 792 451
Passcode: 6CSfGE
Download Teams | Join on the web
Or call in (audio only)
+1 913-318-8863,566341546# United States, Kansas City
TVU Grid link: UoK_Health_SDI
Restream links: Facebook.com/kuhospital
YouTube.com/kuhospital
Send advance questions to medicalnewsnetwork@kumc.edu.