More good news!
Greta's bone marrow test came back clean - this is fantastic news. Thanks, again, for all of the prayers and hope and encouragement.
Chemotherapy was started at 3pm today - the next 48 hours are critical, in terms of how her body will respond to the medications. Will update again when there's news.
Kari
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Bring It On!
Greta has what's called Ewing's Sarcoma, or PNET, a cancer that usually affects bone tissue, but in Greta's case is presenting somewhat differently. It's highly unusual for someone Greta's age to have it; the chances are 0.3 in 1,000,000 children.
Greta had been wheezing a little, and running a fever, when Kristi took her to see an Urgent Care doctor this past Saturday. Greta was treated for an ear infection and Kristi was told that the wheezing was most likely due to the congestion/cold that was causing the ear infection. On the following evening, Randy and Kristi decided that they needed to take Greta to urgent care; she once had upper respiratory infection as an infant, and her parents were concerned that she might have it again, or worse, pneumonia.
At the urgent care center, they directed Randy and Kristi to take Greta to the hospital ER, as chest Xrays came back unclear, and doctors were concerned she may have swallowed and aspirated something. There was a mass either in or around her left lung, but no one could say what it was.
Further Xrays and a CT scan confirmed that there was, in fact, a mass of some kind. Doctors at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital decided that the first order of business was to perform exploratoy surgery, hoping to drain any fluid that was hampering Greta's breathing, and get a better look at the affected tissue. Surgery was planned for the following afternoon.
The surgeon who performed the exploratory procedures on Monday said that he was certain that it is cancer, though not what type or how advanced or aggressive it was. He did say that he thought he could see multiple tumors, which is why he said he can't simply fix it with surgery, and he said his best guess was that she would need, at the very least, chemotherapy.
Yesterday we learned that it is localized in the pleural space (the space between her lungs and her chest wall), which is great news (it hasn't spread throughout other areas of her body), so the last thing to check is whether or not it is present in her bones and/or marrow. We got more great news this morning; little Greta's bone scan came back clean - that leaves one more test, her bone marrow draw, which she'll be having this morning.
Chemotherapy will start this afternoon, and then results from subsequent testing will determine the next steps. We're anxious to get this fight started, but we know it's going to be a long battle. We're told to expect that the chemotherapy will probably take about 6 months. We say "Bring it on"!
It means a lot to Kristi & Randy, Gavin, Greta and the rest of our entire family, to know that your thoughts are with us, thank you all so very much for your kind words of encouragement.
I hope that this blog will serve to keep friends and loved ones informed of Greta's progress (and this way, I won't be jamming up everyone's email inboxes).
As I learn more about Greta's condition, I will post updates. I hope to be able to post good news everyday!
Love to all,
Kari
Greta had been wheezing a little, and running a fever, when Kristi took her to see an Urgent Care doctor this past Saturday. Greta was treated for an ear infection and Kristi was told that the wheezing was most likely due to the congestion/cold that was causing the ear infection. On the following evening, Randy and Kristi decided that they needed to take Greta to urgent care; she once had upper respiratory infection as an infant, and her parents were concerned that she might have it again, or worse, pneumonia.
At the urgent care center, they directed Randy and Kristi to take Greta to the hospital ER, as chest Xrays came back unclear, and doctors were concerned she may have swallowed and aspirated something. There was a mass either in or around her left lung, but no one could say what it was.
Further Xrays and a CT scan confirmed that there was, in fact, a mass of some kind. Doctors at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital decided that the first order of business was to perform exploratoy surgery, hoping to drain any fluid that was hampering Greta's breathing, and get a better look at the affected tissue. Surgery was planned for the following afternoon.
The surgeon who performed the exploratory procedures on Monday said that he was certain that it is cancer, though not what type or how advanced or aggressive it was. He did say that he thought he could see multiple tumors, which is why he said he can't simply fix it with surgery, and he said his best guess was that she would need, at the very least, chemotherapy.
Yesterday we learned that it is localized in the pleural space (the space between her lungs and her chest wall), which is great news (it hasn't spread throughout other areas of her body), so the last thing to check is whether or not it is present in her bones and/or marrow. We got more great news this morning; little Greta's bone scan came back clean - that leaves one more test, her bone marrow draw, which she'll be having this morning.
Chemotherapy will start this afternoon, and then results from subsequent testing will determine the next steps. We're anxious to get this fight started, but we know it's going to be a long battle. We're told to expect that the chemotherapy will probably take about 6 months. We say "Bring it on"!
It means a lot to Kristi & Randy, Gavin, Greta and the rest of our entire family, to know that your thoughts are with us, thank you all so very much for your kind words of encouragement.
I hope that this blog will serve to keep friends and loved ones informed of Greta's progress (and this way, I won't be jamming up everyone's email inboxes).
As I learn more about Greta's condition, I will post updates. I hope to be able to post good news everyday!
Love to all,
Kari
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