Happy Holidays!

Christmas was a great day for all of us. We spent Christmas Eve with Grandma Thompson and family and then headed to Clarkston to spend Christmas day with Grammy and Opa. The ride to Clarkston took a little longer than usual due to extremely icy roads. But we arrived safe and sound and in time to get to bed before Santa arrived. We concluded our Christmas holiday with a Christmas party at Grandma and Grandpa Betz's.

One of Greta's favorite gifts was a play hair dryer that actually blew cool air. Greta dried her head and then came around and dried every ones hair. Gavin got his prized polar express electric train that he'd been hoping for.

We got a call on Friday from the nurse that Greta's head CT was further reviewed and determined that the thickening of her sinuses was Sinusitis. So she started another antibiotic to clear up that today. This means that her testing for Monday will be pushed back until Tuesday. We don't know if this will push back her anticipated stem cell transplant at all.

Greta's test on Tuesday will be all day in clinic and will involve giving her small doses of the chemo that she will get in preparation for the transplant. Her blood will be drawn at various intervals to get a baseline for how she reacts/responds to this chemo drug.

It's been great having this time at home together, especially since Greta is able to go out and is feeling well right now. But we are very anxious to begin the next part of her treatment.

We again appreciate all the prayers. We hope everyone had as wonderful a holiday as we did and have a safe and happy 2009!

With love,
The Betz Family

Scans are Clean!

We got the news we've been waiting for. Greta's scans from yesterday of her chest, abdomen, head and sinus are clean. There is still no sign of any tumors in her body. We are so thrilled. We still waiting to hear on her ECHO, but the technician told us at first glance there wasn't anything that she saw that was concerning. It's a very good day!

Greta counts are up and she is ready to enjoy her Christmas holiday break. Hopefully we will have little to report until after then. Thanks once again for keeping Greta in your prayers, we hope you'll continue to do so, as well as all of the kids that aren't as lucky to be home for Christmas.

With Love,
A Very Happy Betz Family.

We're Back Home

Greta's counts took a big jump this morning and we were clear to go home this morning. We're back Wednesday and Thursday for tests required for her transplant and then probably one more time between Christmas and New Years for counts. Hopefully we'll avoid any more hospitalizations between now and her scheduled transplant. Everyone is once again healthy and we hope to keep it that way!

Thanks again for those prayers and positive thoughts!
Love,
The Betz Family

Still Waiting...

Greta's still in the hospital, she's been fever free since Friday morning, just waiting for that white blood cell count to go up so we can take her home. Gavin was much better by Friday afternoon, but Dad got it late Friday night while staying with Greta at the hospital. Fortunately I was able to avoid making it 4 for 4. Thankfully it was a quick illness for everyone.

Hope to be going home tomorrow some time. Then she'll be back in on Wednesday morning for a CT Scan and ECHO to make sure her little body is ready for the high dose chemo. She'll also have a Foley catheter inserted so we can collect her urine for a 24 hour test. Fortunately Greta will be sedated for all of this.

We're hoping that the next three weeks will be a little quieter at home. We're looking forward to spending the holidays with family and friends. Thank you once again for all your prayers. We're wishing you and yours a happy holidays!

Love,
The Betz Family

Back to the Hospital

Last night Greta developed a fever and started vomiting so back to the ER we went. Must be something going around because big brother Gavin got hit with it last night too. He was at our neighbors while we were getting Greta to the ER. Sorry Tuoris!

So we're split up today, I'm at home with Gavin and Daddy is at the hospital with Greta. Her counts are very low so she'll have to stay put until they rebound. This could be a 4-5 day stay. We're just glad this happened now and not over Christmas.

Please keep postive thoughts for a quick trip back home!

Thanks,
Kristi

30 weeks down.

We're back home again after Greta's 14th round of chemo. When the doctors said she would need 30 weeks of chemo treatments it seemed like a lifetime. It actually in some ways went by very quickly. She did pretty well with her last round, although her last night she spiked a fever and threw up a couple times. The doctors felt this was probably due to her blood transfusion she had received a few hours earlier. The fever went away quickly and seh was back to her happy self she was able to go home Saturday night as planned.


We're now lucky enough to be home until after the new year. She'll be going in for scans and various tests over the next few weeks, but if she stays in good health and fever free, we'll be staying home for the next month. After the 1st of the year she'll begin her high dose chemo and then her stem cell transplant, which will mark the beginning of her 100 days of isolation.

The 100 days is the amount of time we'll need to be extra vigilant over her care. She'll be susceptible to infections and viruses and all sorts of things during this time. We'll have to limit visitors and Greta won't be able to go to restaurants during this time. Yes, that means no McDonald fries for her until April. But once those 100 days (or less) are over and if she is in good health, she'll get her broviac removed and she'll be able to return to all normal activity. Now that will be something to celebrate!


Thanks again for your continued support these past 30 weeks. We pray that the next 15 go as well!


Love,

The Betz Family

Back to Business

We enjoyed our extended time at home, but now it's time to get back to business. Greta is starting her 14th round of chemo tonight and we should be admitted until Saturday evening. This will be her last round before her high dose chemo and stem cell rescue at the end of the month.

We'll get another nice break between this round and the stem cell rescue which will likely occur after Christmas. During that time we will be in for various testing to make sure Greta is healthy enough for the transplant. We are very nervous about this upcoming part of Greta's treatment. We ask that you keep the prayers coming to protect Greta during the high dose chemo and to ease our minds as we enter into this new phase of treatment.

Many thanks and we hope you all have a wonderful holiday season.
The Betz Family