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Monday, September 8, 2008 11:15 AM CDT

Garrett has started a new year and he loves his school! He is still figuring out how to make the most of his day and to focus on his school work a little more. He has two teachers in his room and he loves them both. Homework is going pretty smoothly so far this year. Only one day has he had issues, which is great for everyone living in our house!

A new scouting year will start this week and Garrett can hardly wait! He is a Webelo 1, so they learn more about camping and cooking outdoors! All of which Garrett loves!

We will keep you updated as we can....but it's getting easier to forget since all is starting to get to normal. He is 2 years off treatment and doesn't have an appointment until November. We are finally gettting his ADHD under control with an all day dose which he likes...since he only has to remember once to take. (Instead of his 3 times a day dose before.) It seems to be working for him....we sure can tell a difference....especialy when he forgets a day.

God Bless, The Kruses'

Monday, June 9, 2008 3:44 PM CDT

Garrett had his 2 years off treatment check up!!!!!!!! Can hardly believe it has happened. Garrett is hanging in there and is healthy as any boy his age. He is in the 3rd and 5th percentiles for height and weight. So he is very small for his age but he is continuing to grow at a steady rate. There will be another check up in 6 months and we may have to look into growth hormones. What haven't we done! I think we can handle that too. We will keep you updated.

School is out and Garrett has moved on to the 4th grade! Wyatt will be in 2nd grade! Where has the time gone? They are growing up and now are 9 and will be 7 in three weeks. They don't need mom anymore, unless they want to go somewhere! Well we start the transition from littles to youth. Here we go...hang on!!!

Garrett's ADHD meds are working great for him. He loves taking them and feels a big difference when he doesn't take them. We even gave him the option to not take them with him this week to Heart Connection Camp and he insited that he have them so he can hear his leaders and play nice with everyone. What a grown up! Not a day goes by that he doesn't say something profound and adult. That's our boy.

That's all for now. God Bless, The Kruses'

Thursday, May 1, 2008 8:36 AM CDT

Long overdue update. Garrett has been making a few trips to Iowa City to see some "focusing doctors" (Garrett's terms and understanding) It's official that he is now diagnosed with ADHD. We tried a clinical trial yesterday in clinic taking tests before and after "focusing meds". This is how it looked: Before the meds Garrett finished 2 worksheets in the aloted time and scored 40%. He did a lot of walking around in the room instead of working. It was an independant work space with a "spy window". After the meds he did 4 and 1/2 worksheets and scored 97%!!!! We were shocked. He sat the entire time and worked without looking around and without getting up or skipping the harder worksheets! We could even tell walking back from lunch that he was more focused and more relaxed. It was amazing to see him so relaxed. He even said he felt better. Not so wiggly and upset. We had an EKG before we left Iowa City and are now waiting for the results. The nurse said all looked great but we have to wait for the offical word before we can get the prescription filled and start the meds. Garrett is more excited about than we are....he finished his homework at the clinic in record time and he actualy knew what he was doing without help and believe it or not his handwriting was more ledgable!

Garrett took his worksheets to school with him today to show his teacher what he did and he is thrilled to start taking his "focusing pills"! He even read extra minutes for homework without being asked to! What a difference this will make for him at school and home with his brother. We will keep you updated as he progresses. Glory be to the Lord for showing us the light! Garrett has been praying to feel better lately and he even wrote mom and dad a letter telling us about Jesus and his love for him. It was a great moment of clarity for Garrett and brought mom to tears. So God Bless to all! The Kruses'

Thursday, December 27, 2007 10:25 AM CST

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We hope everyone had a great holiday. Garrett is doing great, healthy, growing, weighs in at 53 lbs now! Doing well in third grade, getting better at homework...if he is concentrating. Wyatt is flying through 1st grade...he loves it! He was also an artist chosen for the Heart Connection Cards this Chritmas! He is very proud of himself...he received an award and everything. His cards sold out too!!!

We made a special trip to Iowa City to see an educational specialist last week...to see if we can narrow down some of Garrett's issues. Well it was a LONG day for Garrett but he did well. 2 hours of tests in the morning with the educational specialist and he tested well, just showing he takes longer to go through his thought process than other kids his age...which we knew...but average scores for his age. Then we took lunch, talked to a social worker about ideas to get through homework smoother, and back for 2 1/2 more hours of tests with a phycologist. Well this is the afternoon now and his attention span was starting to fade, he was hurrying to get done with his tests, and he just answered as fast as he could...reflecting what we see when it's homework time. We had determined that he does well in a very structured envirenment but then cuts loose when he gets out. So needless to say we are waiting for the reports to be compared and also to get another appointment to see a specialist in attention spans and an occupational therapist to look at his handwriting skills...to determine if it's the attention span or motor skills from chemo. He thought the day was great and I guess that's good....since we have to go back and do it all again. What a parent won't do to help their child get through the tough times smoother. That's what we live for here...helping our boys anyway we can. After all they are our angels...Oh Garrett is our Superman!

Garrett did get to see his college buddy Chris for lunch that day and he LOVED IT! Thank you Chris for the adult break and the child attention. It was great to relax for a little while. You are the best!!!

Dance Marathon is coming up fast also Garrett will be 9 on Feb 6th! 9 already, where did the time go? The boys are already excited about dancing all night long! So watch out dancers and be ready...they really don't run out of energy that night!!!! As I'm sure Chris well remembers!

Garrett is in the Angels Calander again this year, for the Leukemia Society. If anyone is interested I can order them. They are $10 proceeds going to help cure blood cancers.

That's all for now. I will try to get some new pictures up after our Christmas's and keep you updated on the new doctor visits. God Bless, The Kruses'

Wednesday, October 3, 2007 9:56 AM CDT

Garrett continues to amaze with his bravery. He had his immuniztions caught up on Monday...4 shots in the legs. He did not cry, he did not flinch. The MMR burned a lot but he didn't move a muscle while the nurses put him to the test. They recommended that I hold his hands down while they did the shots...well Garrett just held my hands and never once got scared. That's our superman.

Halloween is around the corner and the boys already have costumes ready. They should be a sight...you'll all have to hold your breath. They are even ready for Christmas--lists done and sent out to Grandparents.

Soccer season is in full swing. Garrett is playing his heart out...loves to play but doesn't care about winning...seems to be his attitude. He sees what's important in life. Having the outlook to enjoy not hurry and worry. I guess we should all take his advise and take a look at the enjoyment and back away from the frenzy. Again he amazes us all.

Wyatt is rocking the soccer field too. Loves the game and loves to have the ball when he can get it. He has learned this year that he has to work a little harder to get that ball and some games tiredness wins out over determination. But he continues to play and learn more ball control and new moves.

That's all for now. If you want to read about school see the last entry posted. God Bless and Happy Fall. The Kruses'

Monday, September 17, 2007 9:29 AM CDT

Hello everyone. I never really believed that after awhile it would be harder and harder to get on the computer to update on Garrett's life. Well here I am proven wrong. Garrett had a check up in Aug. and all is great. His counts are still in the normal ranges and he has hardly been sick at all. He seems to fight off colds better than any of us.
School started and, so far, Garrett is doing great. He is now in 3rd grade, reading chapter books (slowly but surly), mastering spelling (which he loves! and has gotten 100n all his tests), doing much better at math (currently all review but he is staying with the other kids not a big back slide like last year) and loves social studies/history and science. He does go to special reading to help him but he loves it there so it works well for him. It helps him be more sure of himself and this year he is asking questions when he needs help...where before he would just sit at his desk afraid to be wrong. He is in scouts again and fall soccer. He loves scouts, thinks soccer is okay. He likes to play but not to agressive. He's a lover what can we say.
Wyatt is in 1st grade and rocking his class. He is a top reader and is starting to learn story problems which he likes...must be like his daddy. He is doing 100n all his reading tests this year. He has 2 different lists of words each week to learn and then test over. He is so proud of himself...as are mom and dad. He joined scouts this year and is still in soccer. No more broken bones and this year they banned the Kinderbeans from the monkey bars...one year too late for us but thank goodness for the little ones. Wyatt has gotten back on them and is back to no fear. He also is an art master. The Heart Connection pick one of his drawings this year for the Christmas cards! So anyone interested in buying cards let us know...Wyatt is super excited about being the one in the spotlight for a change!!
I know there is more to share but at this moment it slips from my mind. God Bless and enjoy the last offical week of summer. The Kruses'

Tuesday, June 26, 2007 10:41 AM CDT

Man, Women, Celeb of the Year for the Luekemia Society was great! It was fancy but Garrett loved every minute. Even the monkey suits they all had to wear. He was introduced and he ran up to the stage, in front of hundreds, and smiled his smile and waved his hand for all to see him. Then when they asked all survivor's to stand up he got up on his chair so everyone could see him. He was so proud of himself as was our entire table. They played a video/interview of us and the other sponsor families. Very emotional! Even though we did the video and it was our life it was emotional to hear. Garrett had sooooo many people come up to him and tell him he was brave, amazing, strong, and he soaked it all up. He's our hero and always will be.

Wyatt's cast is off now. He is still healing from the pins being yanked out at the doctor's office. Wyatt sat on dad's lap and let Dr. Farber pull them out with what looked like a pair a pliers everyone has at home. He cried...but said, "I was scared but it didn't really hurt mom." He is using he arm pretty well now but still sometimes forgets and tries to do things with his left instead of his right. I would guess after not using it for a month is would be hard to remember.

Garrett is taking swim lessons again this year. Yesterday they tried to learn to tred water in the deap end. It was a shot and he tried. He will go in farther at the pool now...up to his shoulders and he feels safe. He is trying to get brave enough to do more. Someday...we all know that Garrett is careful about everything he does.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. Yes he thinks he wants to be a doctor again. God Bless, The Kruses'

Wednesday, June 6, 2007 10:05 AM CDT

There has been so much going on lately that there hasn't been time to update. Garrett is now a year off treatment and doing great health wise!! He is getting stronger and taller...still very skinny but his dad and I were little at his age too so he has little hopes of fattening up. Which by the way is important to him for some reason....he is always checking out his belly seeing if it is getting bigger. Funny boy. He is growing his hair out now too. Everyone says he looks older and he does but we still have to look twice sometimes to see that he is the little boy who once couldn't run, had no hair, and was puffy checked from steroids. He has changed and put it all behind him. Sick? What? Not me!

Garrett is still struggling with reading and math but has passed the second grade in the 25% for his age in reading. He will be reading all summer at the library...he has mixed feelings about this. Math worksheets are popping up around his nose from school and a workbook grandma gave him. Depending on the day he is greatful and hateful. But we are determined to keep him up to speed on both. He is planning on playing soccer again this fall so he is signed up and will be playing U-10 and traveling in the fall. We will see how he does. He is very excited. So he is trying to overcome and is determined to go for it. Wish us luck.

As for the eye patch he is done with that. His eyes have adjusted as much as they are going to and he will be watched to make sure his eyes don't falter with his glasses. He is using both of them with his glasses so they aren't worried about him. He sees straight and doesn't tip his head at all so he is now a glasses wearer like mom.

Wyatt on the other hand is the wild man we all knew he was. Two weeks before school was out he fell off the monkey bars and broke his arm/elbow! Yes bad break---actually they say the worst break for a little one. He broke the bone right were it attaches to the elbow joint...all the way through. (overt your eyes if you are squimmish) The elbow was on the wrong side of his arm! He was taken to the ER to the best doctor in the field. They knocked him out...via IV in the arm...and jammed it back into place. Then he stayed over night in the hopital with ice packs surrounding his arm to help swelling go down. Then bright and early he was rushed into surgery knocked out again and had pins placed into his elbow to hold it in place. He was extremely brave...he even went into surgery with the nurse and kicked us to the waiting room. Well he had 2 weeks of a soft cast...which was a brace wrapped in ace bandages. Then he had the brace taken off and a hard cast put on...in his favorite color, red. He will have it taken off June 15th. The morning of Garrett's BIG day. The Leukemia Society's Grand Finale for Man, Woman, Celb of the Year.

Now the boys are telling war stories about who hurt more and who was more brave! They are a crack up. Garrett is having some jealous moments with his little brother having all the attention. Well he now knows how Wyatt has been these past 4 years. That's all for now. Camp is coming up fast and mom hasn't packed a thing. So guess we better get busy. Summer is in full swing and the boys are already asking when school starts---only been out since Friday! Here we go. Have a great adventure with your children whenever you can. God Bless, The Kruses'

Monday, April 9, 2007 8:54 AM CDT

Garrett has 1 more month until his year off treatment appointment!! Can hardly believe it is almost here. The past year has flown by and Garrett has grown so much. Over the Easter weekend he was eating nonstop! I think we are finally coming to a growth spirt!!! He is working hard to get his studies under control...some days are better than others but he is working hard. He isn't going to extra math help anymore and he seems to be keeping up with the class. Yay Garrett!!! Reading is coming along but we are still striving to read smoothly. Since math is starting to click maybe reading will be next? One can only hope.

We went to the Man, Woman, Celeb of the Year kick off this past week and all the emotions came flooding in. Garrett is the boy of the year for the Leukemia Society and we were there to tell his story to the people running. It was emotional to hear all the stories and to see the surviors...even more so to know that Garrett is almost a year off treatment. Garrett did great talking to all those who wanted to talk to him and he recieved lots of praise for all his struggles. He is truely our hero and to see him motivate others makes us beam with pride. He is an amazing boy.

This past week Garrett feel at school and hit his head on the slide. So we had a little boy with his first big black eye. His glasses slammed into his eye and caused a scratch by his eye, then swollen eye lid, and now black, blue, and red marks. It was amazing that he didn't damage his eye at all. Glad to see that God is truly looking over him at every moment. Garrett's friends were all very concerned about him too. Refreshing! He toughed it out at school the rest of the day too...ice pack in tow. He knows no pain. Or should I say he knows pain but he isn't afraid and he pushes it away. What a kid!

Wyatt started soccer and is trying to get back into his "wild man" game face. He loves soccer but it was chilly for the firt game so hopfully we will start to warm up for the rest of the season.

Both boys had great conferences. Wyatt is at the top of his class in everything. And Garrett is almost at his reading goal for the end of the year. All in all they are working hard and looks like they will be first and third graders next year. That's our boys!

That's all for now. Hope everyone had a great Easter holiday and celebrated Jesus' rising. He truly did die and rise again to wash away our sins. We see God's glory everyday when we look at our beautiful sons. Glory to God. The Kruses'

Thursday, March 8, 2007 10:27 AM CST

Spring are you near? Snow has been crazy here but the boys were loving it. They missed only 2 days of school thank goodness. This morning they were sad to see the yard is almost all grass and just snow piles here and there. But they are asking when the flowers will start growing. Isn't childhood great! One second they are wishing for the past the next waiting for the future. And it all seems great to them, go with the flow.

Garrett had his 9 month off treatment check this morning and he is still looking great. All his counts are still in the normal range. He hasn't gained any weight but didn't loss any this month either. His biggest news is he lost tooth number 8 a couple days ago. So he is running around making dorky, cheesey smiles to see if anyone notices. He has yucky news too. We went for his 3 months of wearing glasses check and he got the news he didn't want to hear. Garrett's eye is still not working correctly so weekends are now "patch on the good eye" days. He hates every minute of it but he does it with very little fussing. So he will go back in May to see if this is working then....if ot...don't know.

Confrences are next week...stay tuned for the updates there. Garrett did bring home a reading update. His goal for the end of the school year is 75 words per minute and he just brought home a 66 words per minute certificate. So he is getting there. His math is also coming along better. But....have to share a story from last night:

Wyatt works on workbooks after school, almost everyday and last night he was working on math. He is getting ahead of his classmates on learning addition and subtraction on his own...he will tell you that too! Well, he was tired of his workbook and so he stuck his nose into big brother's 2nd grade math book....Well Garrett had had enough working for the day and I couldn't get him to even do the basic math pages at the begining of the book so Wyatt piped up. "I can do those pages. They are easy." (they were single digit addition and working with tens and ones groupings to make double digit numbers) Well, needless to say, Wyatt jumped in and did 4 or 5 pages of Garrett's book and when he was done Garrett got mad. His reply to Wyatt was "I was going to do those pages tomorrow!" I asked Garrett why he didn't want to do them when I asked him too and he said nothing just looked at brother with his angry eyes. So they had a tiff and did't talk for 10 minutes then forgot about the whole thing and started playing. I think Garrett was thinking, Oh he's little he can't do my book so whatever. Then he did and Garrett was mad that brother could work out of his book too. This is an example of how Garrett is laid back about school and Wyatt is full steam ahead. Just the opposite of how they are at play time.

Wyatt will be starting soccer in the next couple weeks..He can't wait! He was taking winter classes so he should have some great skills to show the other kids his year. We'll see the wildman back and will keep you updated.

Garrett just earned his wolf badge in cub scouts and is now working on gold and silver arrows to go with it. Then, when schools out, he will be a bear! He is VERY proud of himself...as are mom and dad.

Camp is coming up too. Just filled the apps out and got our physicals in. Garrett can hardly wait and Wyatt is sure waiting will be okay. Until next time. Wish for spring and watch the wonders of nature come alive. God Bless, The Kruses'

Monday, February 12, 2007 9:58 AM CST

Garrett had his check up and only had one problem. Doc said he could stand to gain a little weight! HA! Garrett has either maintained or lost a few pounds each month over the last 6 months. He is okay for now but can't afford to lose anymore. Mom is open for ideas but he isn't a sweet eater and he eats nonstop during the day. SO.....I don't know.

DM was rockin'! The boys had a GREAT time with Chris, our awesome leader! Their group was the number one money raiser!! Chris was the number two individual money raiser! They ROCK!!! Way to go dancers!!! They even had time with our other awesome leader Brian, who came back again this year! Are these Kruse boys spoiled or what. The boys were excited to have the old ballroom back...they danced nonstop--surprise! They even got up on the stage for a few minutes for power hour to dance with Herkie and Perkie! Then they were kicked off but they rocked it when they were up there. Garrett was also on the radio for a radio-a-thon they had going live during the DM! It was cool! Garrett also went up on stage to tell the dancers what he loved about cancer camp....it's playing with his friends from DM! Again the boys had multipule pictures taken with girls, girls, girls!!! What are we in for in the future?! YIKES! Garrett and Wyatt also had a visit from Chris' parents and they brought goodies! Cookies, cupcakes, and toys...they were excited!!

Garrett is now 8! He had a party at school with cookies, goodies at DM, Chris brought him balloons at his clinic visit, and we had a small friend get together other the weekend. He has had lots of people tell him he has changed and is so grown up now. A couple nurses at IC didn't even know him until they saw mom. He now has glasses, darker longer hair and is taller and skinnier. My how they change when you aren't looking. Or should I say that we see him everyday and it isn't as noticable to us. We compared photos from last year to this year and his IS skinnier! He does look more grown up with his glasses. This summer our little one will be 6!!! Where are the babies?! "Mom we aren't your babies anymore." But Wyatt lets mom call him her little buddy. (only at home) So there is that to hang onto....and the mommy time when they don't feel well. Soak it all in now...for the boys are our joy and sunshine.

That's all for now, busy, busy, busy. Garrett has ITBS this week and both boys have Valentines parties. God Bless, The Kruses'

Monday, January 29, 2007 9:24 AM CST

Garrett will shortly be 8 years old and 8 months off treatment. His check up has been pushed off until Feb. 8th so we will keep you posted on that news. But all has been fine here. He is in great health and has only had an ear infection so far this winter season. Dance Marathon is coming up this Friday and the boys can't wait!!! They LOVE IT!!! We will post pictures for you when we get back.

It's official that Garrett will be the LLS Boy of the Year. Little Mr. Celeb is back and going strong. He is also helping the school get out the 411 on the Heart Connection. They are earning coins for campers this year and he has a few quotes in the note to be sent home for the families. Wyatt is also shinning because "I go to camp too mom!" They are a couple of hams!

Garrett has lost a total of 7 teeth now! He looks like a little guy with big people teeth...it's very cute. Math is getting better for him. They started double digit subtraction this week--hopefully he can make the transition easily. He just got the hang of adding double digits and 3 numbers together. He is getting stronger though. Reading has leveled off--hope to get him moving again. The literacy program starts back up in Feb. So we hope it will get him excited more and help him to read smoother and faster. He is reading fine but slowly and double guessing so he doesn't miss a word...which slows down his words per minute. We'll keep working and strive for the best.

That's all for now. God Bless, The Kruses'

Tuesday, November 28, 2006 9:31 AM CST

Hope everyone had a great turkey day and counted their blessings. The big news is Garrett finally lost his other front tooth...with a lot of help from daddy pulling on it. His perm tooth was already half in and the baby tooth was sticking straight out, still connected by the front edge..yes the entire front edge. Garrett, the brave little man that he is, sat back and let dad yank it out...NO crying and NO fussing just let dad yank. He is now complaining about another bottom tooth that is loose and it hurts to bite food there. Yup it's loose too. I think we are in for a mass tooth loss here. I guess he is now catching up with his friends...which he thought was unfair a year ago when they lost teeth and he didn't. This new loose one will make 5 teeth so far.

The boys are complaining also that we don't have our tree up yet...and have been since before Thanksgiving...Carlisle is on the ball and multipule houses are lit up. We are working on it really. Practice for the Christmas singing program at church has started and the boys know 2 of their 4 songs already. They have been practicing at home, in the car, and at church. They are ready to sing on the 17th.

Garrett has been feeling great and he will go for his 7 month after treatment check this Thursday. He now loves to get his blood taken because he can brag about "How brave I was today!" He is still struggling a little with math and reading so we are praying for some improvements there as time moves forward. He is giving it his all but that little brain of his just won't let it all through. Hopes that this will change. (that's what mom wants for Christmas this year!)

That's all for now. God Bless! The Kruses'

Tuesday, October 24, 2006 4:14 PM CDT

Well well, guess who had loose teeth?! Garrett's two front (top) teeth have been loose and Friday he had a run in, actually, with another kid and that night one was out! The other is loose too and when he smiles it sticks out on his lip---kind of like Nanny McPhee, for anyone who has seen that movie. So he has been playing with his teeth and we keep telling him to keep his hands out of his mouth. Then we remember he is wiggling his tooth. He gives such mean looks when you tell him to keep his fingers out of his mouth! Three years of "no hands in your mouth" is hard to break.

Garrett also has an ear infection--first time since he stopped meds for chemo that he has had to take a presciption again. What fun for him...NOT! He isn't happy at all about taking meds again but he knows he has too and that's our boy. He will do it because he has too.

The DM Halloween party was chilly, wet, and muddy. SOOOOO that means two little boys had a great time! They had a ball! Met their new DM moral captain, Chris, and other new dancers, old ones too, and people from camp. They actually tried the muddy, wet corn maze--as mom and dad drank coffee in the barn! :) They were cold but didn't want to leave! Boys! All in all it was a cold day but they loved every minute of it!!!!!!!!! And Chris didn't even get a taste of how much energy they can have--get ready to dance all night for DM 13!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Halloween is coming fast and the parties are flowing like crazy here....the boys have been to three already and still have 2 more to go to by the end of the month! Plus trick or treat. You would think that Halloween was the best holiday ever! It is, until Christmas! I will post pictures soon so you can see the Captain Jack Sparrow and his buddy Ralph, the Ninja Turtle. They are a hoot! That's all for now...Happy Halloween and don't eat toooooo much candy! God Bless, The Kruses'

Tuesday, October 10, 2006 5:31 PM CDT

School is in full swing and the time seems to be flying by...Garrett is now 5 months off treatment! He had his check up last Thursday and all looks great! He had blood drawn from the top of his hand this time and guess what? He wasn't even nervous, even though it was the first time he has done that! WAY TO GO GARRETT!!!! He's getting so brave, big, and where has the time gone? Where are my little boys?

School updates....Garrett has doubled his words he can read per minute since the beginning of the year! He is starting to get a handle on his math concepts and he is attending a literacy group once a week after school. Believe it or not he loves all of this! We will be talking with the teacher soon and seeing his report card...we are expecting huge improvements on his part. We have found out that Garrett has been memorizing his math problems not learning what they mean or how to figure them out....but on the plus side he has a great memory! This will help him with school work in the future. No wonder he is so terrific at spelling. Garrett is now a wolf scout...he is loving it! We didn't let him join last year because of all the meds and precautions and now he is jumping in there and we don't have to worry. What a great feeling for us and him. They made dog treats last month and took them to the Animal Life Line here for them to sell and earn money for the animals. Garrett loved seeing all the animals and was extremly proud of the treats they made for them.

Wyatt is, according to his kindergarten teacher, "a hoot!" Yes I can hear all the grandparents laughing aloud!! He is LOVING school!!! He knows sooooo much it's amazing. He knows how to figure out words on his own and is starting to read by himself! WOW!! He was telling us words that started with the letter "r" yesterday and I thought he would never run out of things that started with "r". He went on and on and on....WAY TO GO WYATT!!! He is becoming a little know it all--or as we call him a smarty butt. He loves the attention and that he can "read" like his brother. His next step is "Mom, I am going to learn math with brother when he does homework." Go Wyatt go! He is also rocking it on the soccer field this year...goals are being made by HIM and he is starting to go for it more now that he can see "he can do it!"

Halloween is coming up...parties, trick or treating, jumping in leaves, carving pumpkins, all things the boys love! It's a great time here at the Kruse house. Love, Laugh, Live. Hug your kids or grandkids and tell someone you love them. God Bless, The Kruses'

Friday, September 8, 2006 11:44 AM CDT

Four months off treatment! Garrett is still going strong. He does have a slight cold--which I was told that 9 out of 10 kids in the office this week have--due to school starting and kids sharing those germs. We do have to report that Garrett was VERY BRAVE this time...he even said so himself!! This was his first blood draw from his arm that he DID NOT cry!!! They even had to move it around a little, in his vein, to get blood flowing! Garrett announced right there in the room that he was "the bravest boy!" It was cute and we are very proud of our bravest boy!

School is going and Garrett is struggling--and the parents are pulling out hair--soon to be bald! Math is a strange language that just isn't quite clicking yet and he is getting MAD!! He is doing better with addition but not subtration. It seems to be hard for his brain to switch back and forth. Help is being given at school and may be at home shortly! We have a teacher friend that is willing to help if needed....so....we will keep you updated on the progress. We are only accepting progress! (ha ha ha) He is reading much better this year--slightly faster and he knows words this year instead of sounding out all of them. So that is a big improvement. Garrett is a spelling wiz! Give him a list of words and he will have them down in 2 days. How do we connect that part of the brain with the rest?!?

Wyatt is loving school and soccer starts this weekend! His favorite thing is soccer (and food). School seems to be going smoothly for him...we are to be getting a test this week to see how well he knows his letters and sounds...we will see what little mister smarty has to show us. He thinks he knows it all! But don't all little boys at that age.

As for the rest of the non-cancer world, we are living it up! I have to say that forgetting the meds was easy. (after the first couple months!) Garrett has had quite a few bloody noses but we have handled them in stride...no panic attacks on mom's part. He is fighting that cold and we aren't paniced---it's hard to believe that you can go one month to the next and make such a change in attitude. 6 weeks ago he had that fever and we didn't know what to do and now he has a cold and we are just fine with it. Strange. Well that's all for now. God Bless, The Kruses'

Thursday, August 24, 2006 8:46 AM CDT

Garrett had his 3 month off treatment check and all is still super! His counts are looking almost normal, normal! He is starting to grow and gaining weight finally. We are so excited for him and proud of him.

The boys went back to school yesterday. Garrett in second grade and Wyatt is a kinder bean! They both had a great first day but both said they didn't learn anything! We'll see what today brings. It was strange and the fastest open house for Garrett this year. We didn't have to go over all the limitations, precautions, and take the extra steps to keep him healthy this year like in years past. I didn't have to send out letters to his classmates parents either. It was bitter sweet. Scarey to let him go and a blessing to not worry.

There is not a lot to report and that feels great. Garrett is turning into a healthy, strong little boy (big boy) and loving every minute of it! That's all for now. God Bless, The Kruses'

Monday, July 31, 2006 11:55 AM CDT

Well we have now made it through some new firsts here, or are about to shortly. Garrett had his first fever over 101 without his port! That was a confussing and scary time here. At first the thought ran through my head....what do we do?! Okay all you non-ck mom's are going "duh just give tylenol and all will be okay." Well living for 3 years of "NO MEDS WITH A FEVER EVER!!!!!!" kept popping into my head and I had to fight with the voices that were screaming "NO!!! Don't do it!" There were 2 OT (off treatment) firsts to remember, giving tylenol and a fever without a trip to the hospital. Garrett had tylenol and his fever was gone by bed, after only one dose...his temp was 101.8 by the way...before OT that would have prompted a suitcase to by packed for Garrett, mom and Wyatt. Friends to be called to take Wyatt and dad to be called at work to say we are out of here right now. Wow how things changed in 3 months. It feels great and you feel helpless at the same time.

Next would be we had our post treatment check pushed back to 6 weeks out not 4 weeks. Scared me to death when we got the letter....we had NEVER missed a 4 week appointment! We scheduled everything around Garrett's trips to the doc. So we will be going to the 3 month post treatment in a few days. I will update then how he is doing. I beleive he has a cold now---hopefully only that--coughing, runny nose and that darn fever last Friday. His color is good and he is acting just fine. Listen to me...still checking his color and his head for fevers. Habbits die hard.

Garrett started jump start today. Two weeks of part day school to get him back into the groove and then a week off and jumping into school again...him and Wyatt start on the 23rd. Where did the summer go?! That's all for now. Enjoy the rest of your summer break! God Bless, The Kruses'

Friday, July 14, 2006 9:23 AM CDT

I don't know about you all but where has the summer gone?! It seems like Garrett's party was yesterday and it was weeks ago. So sorry for the late update! Here goes..

The party was great! We are so thankful and feel so loved by all those who attended or sent their thoughts and prayers for Garrett on his big day. There was a huge turnout and we spent the entire day hanging out and feeding our faces....it was GREAT!!!! We did have a slight thunderstorm in the middle of the party but we all gathered together in the middle of the shelter and waited out the storm, soon the sun shone and we were out partying again. I can't help but reflect and say that the day seemed to mirror the whole cancer world. You start your child's life in sun, happiness and glory. Then you hear the news of cancer and the storm clouds come rolling in, but while you are in that storm your friends and family huddle around you in support and love. Then one day the sun shines back in again and you realize life is still moving and you just had to wait out the storm. I know, I know, too deep and I read into everything....being a cancer mom will do that to you.

Anyway Garrett had lots of friends stay the day and even had his best bud from camp Ben there! It was such a surprise for Garrett and Ben even brought his little brother to met him. It was cool! The kids "learned" how to play sand volleyball---over an adult size net---lets say there was a lot of lifting and throwing the ball over the net and picking it up and throwing it over again....you get the idea. None the less they had a ball. We had to use our minds to think of ways to get frizbees (sp) out of trees and off the shelter roof...brought home kids full of dirt and mud...let them run wild without a care in the world...oh sweet bliss. It was so great to watch and not say don't do that, stop doing that, take meds, brush your teeth....What a great feeling and a great day. Thank you everyone for sharing in our joy.

The next day the Kruse family, Aunt Cinnamon, Ashlyn, Aunt Amy and Uncle Jason went to a concert at Water works park. It was a country bash and the boys first concert. They loved it..we did have to huddle again for a few rain showers..but it was fun and the boys got to scream! It took us a few times to explain that it WAS OK to scream here....can't at home you know! It was cute.

Well since then Garrett has spent his week at grandma and grandpa Schulz's. So you know that involved lots of fishing on the lake and playing at the beach!! Garrett was able to FINALLY go into the lake...port out and all. He was SSSSOOOOOOO excited that he had to call home and tell us, first about the fish he caught and then the beach. Thank you Grandpa Glenn for the great first time back into the lake joy. Garrett LOVED IT!!! Garrett also went to see Superman Returns with grandma Donna and he is STILL talking about it.

Garrett also had his 2 months off treatment check and all looked good count wise and he looks great. He did lose 2 pounds in that month so let's hope that's the end of the weight loss...he's small enough now. Heart Connection also gave him a off treatment party!!! We had cake and juice at 9 am and played for awhile with his new toys they brought him. THANK YOU HEART CONNECTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Garrett was sooo surprised to see them all there...we didn't tell him about the cake and he looked at me like---can I eat cake now? It was the classic "mom can I break the rules" look.

The last week in July we go to Iowa City for our 3 months off treatment check--seems unreal to be that far off treatment already. I know, 3 months is a long time you say...well when you live dose by dose, temp by temp and not day by day, month by month, yes 3 months is a long time. We will update then too....we will I swear. Until then love you children and hug then--even when they don't want you too. Time is great and every minute is a blessing.
God Bless, The Kruses'

Friday, June 23, 2006 9:40 AM CDT

Stay tunned for Garrett's BIG PARTY update....He's doing great off treatment and we love every minute of it!!!

Monday, June 12, 2006 8:21 AM CDT

Garrett is now at camp for the week. He could hardly wait to get there this year to tell the news. As we were checking in he told EVERYONE that he was done with chemo and that he had his port out! It was so cute... he was overly excited about letting everyone know he was done. He only had to check in his bactruim and then we were off to the cabin and BEN! Yes Garrett's favorite buddy is there again. (first thought he wouldn't make it this year--Garrett was sad.) Then Ben called our house last week and told Garrett he would be there! Garrett was sooooo excited that he was jumping up and down when he heard!

It was strange dropping him off this year...this is his third year at camp and his first year there off treatment. So why was it strange to leave him there? He has always been "sick" when we have left him before and it was okay, now he's "normal" and I felt a little sad leaving him. He was extremely quiet as we (just Garrett and mom) drove there this year...I think he used up all his energy the week before getting ready for camp. And he was actually tired on the ride to camp...strange for him. But we haven't gotten any calls yet and mom and dad are helping Wed. at camp with dad's store Kohls, so we will see then how he's doing. I'm sure he is just fine and has forgotten all about us by now. That's the usual for him.

Wyatt had his last soccer game for the spring season yesterday and had to miss the camp drop off. But he was all over the field dribbling the ball, just like the wildman he is. Great Job Wyatt!

Garrett has been off treatment for almost 6 weeks now and no port for almost 2 weeks and we are flying high! I was assured that if I hadn't paniced by the first post treatment that I was going to handle this just fine...great to hear! I actually was more nervous before the end then now...strange how that happens. God has brought us a peace only he can bring into your hearts and he has blessed us with a wonderful child to show us the way. Garrett is our angel and leads us into the light of joy. He is sooo much wiser than his parents ever could be.

We are having a party to celebrate Garrett's journey and victory on June 24th here in Des Moines. It will be a day outside to run and play and just get down right dirty and NOT worry about it!! Anyone interested in joining us please email me and I will get you the info.

That's all for now. God Bless, The Kruses'

Friday, June 2, 2006 7:53 AM CDT

Garrett had his BIG DAY!! The port is gone! gone! gone!! Our superman did great! We were at Iowa City Wed. at 5:30 am for his 7:15 surgery. Garrett was fine for the most part...he did have a look of "run run run" on his face for about 30 seconds when they called his name. But it flashed away just as quick. Mom was able to go in with him until he feel asleep and man on man did that boy snore loud. He was snoring a little while he was sitting up and then they laid him down and the roar came rushing out...the doctors, nurses, and mom all had a little chuckle then mom went out to wait. His surgery was quick and uneventful...just as we hoped. Not even an hour.

When he woke we realized he had brought his angry eyes with him. Not sure how they got into the truck but he had them on! Garrett's biggest fear was the IV--too many flashes to the pic-line in his arem when he was 4. (he even told friends that he had a pic-line in his hand after the surgery!) Well, he was told mutipule times that it would be put in after he went to sleep and would be there when he woke up but that must have been blocked out of his little head. He was staring at his hand and the little brace taped to it and almost crying. The nurse tried to cover it with a cup and that was a "NO!" and I tried to cover it with the blanket and that was a "NO!" So he just stared at it for a long time. Quote from Garrett "Mom, I can't see very well." as his tiny little voice trembled. He started to tear up and his little body started to tremble too. His eyes were all red and matted from surgery. After he started to come to more he forgot about his eyes.

The boys BOTH had popcicles and pop or breakfast! And may we add were able to watch cartoons at the same time! A big treat for them...no TV during meals here. They were in heaven...sitting in the stage 2 recovery room. Garrett did great and was up and ready to go an hour after surgery. So home we went. For two little boys who had to get up at 3am to travel they didn't nap at all!!! All the way home mom and dad wanted to fall asleep but the boys were up and ready to go. They didn't even want to go to bed at 9pm!! Crazy Kids!!!

All in all he did super and we couldn't be more proud of him. He had clinic yesterday for his first post treatment check! They used a small needle in his arm to draw blood and he did super! He started t panic at first and then realized it was already in and was okay. Garrett and the nurse made up a story to tell brother. Garrett held his arms out in front of him and told his brother that the needle was this long!! It was the first thing he told him! So funny!! He had been feeling great, only remebering his "scar" when someone touches it or bumps it. He didn't even take any pain meds Thursday, just Wed. and he didn't even say he hurt, we were just instructed to give him some for the rest of the day. So he is our ture superman! Brave as can be and still going strong!!

God Bless, The Kruses'

Friday, May 19, 2006 8:15 AM CDT

Short note: May 24, 2006
What was I saying about being normal?! I just had to share our day yesterday....We woke to go to school--Garrett's field trip to the hospital, (of which he could hardly wait to go on?!?!!! like he hasn't lived around one for 3 years?) and wouldn't you know it the truck wouldn't start...dead battery. And our adult superman, who solves all our problems of this sort, is in Minn. for work. Well, we hurried to the neighbor's and hitched 2 of them a ride. Wyatt and mom had to pull the truck out of the garage with dad's truck so we could jump it...a whole other story in itself of which IS NOT G-rated for this page. Then last night our little Wilma ran away and mom and aunt Cinnamon spent hours looking for her. Turns out she was in doggie jail. So if this is the way a "normal" families day goes I think that the cancer--know what to do, when to do it, where to be, scheduled confussion is much better. We are all hiding out today and not making much noise...Lord help us to have a real "normal" day. Just wanted to share the fun fun fun of the Kruses' and the off treatment life...hee hee hee. (boy is mom more than ready for daddy to be home!)


It is official....Garrett will have his port removed on May 31, 2006. It is the day after the last day of school. We had a talk with the surgeon and the "sleep nurse" and Garrett is feeling a little better about all of this. He asked questions and the main one was about his IV. Well he is beathing easy now...they will put it in AFTER he goes to sleep, so there will be no scarey poke. And he gets to take mom or dad in with him to go to sleep-he really liked that idea. Then he was told he gets to hang out in a recliner afterwards until he feels like going home. Lcky guy!

Garrett has had a great 2 weeks off treatment!! One story I have to share: Tuesday night (the day after end of meds) Garrett runs to brush his teeth and then brings mom the bottle of troches. "Mom can you open these please?" I looked at him and asked why. "I can't open then by myself mom." Then I reminded him he doesn't have to take them anymore, but I will give you one if you want. He then takes off running to the kitchen laughing and yelling "NO NO I don't want one!!" So habits die hard here. He is still a great teeth brusher though! He does it after every meal, just like before, without complaints. So a great habit comes out of all the years of germ watch.

We also have a celeb again. Garrett was in the Indianola and Carlilse papers this week. So he was flying high and was proud to show everyone his photo on the front page. He even wanted to have Dr. V, in Iowa City, to have one. So we stopped after our pre surgery visit to show him. Garrett also wore his scrubs--Dr. V loves them.

Garrett will be going on his first ever friend sleep over. No meds, no germ watch, no mom nerves, and he gets to go camping! He loves camping!!! Well there we have it..Garrett is falling right into the "normal kid" life again. Who ever thought it would be that easy to slide back in....it was way more difficult to go the other way.

Thank you for checking in and drop Garrett a congrats note so he knows you are here. God Bless, The Kruses'

Tuesday, May 9, 2006 10:13 AM CDT

PARTY PARTY PARTY! Garrett just finished his last dose of oral steroids this morning, last 6-MP last night, and last Thursday was the big day for the vinctistine. (check out the new photos) A cute story before I update you all on the happenings of the weekend. Last night mom had to work so I did not have the privledge of witnessing the last 6-MP dose. Well this morning I went downstairs to wake Garrett to get ready for school and he was hiding under his covers. I poked him and he jumped up smiling ear to ear. "Mom! Mom! I took my last medicine last night!!" Then he ran upstairs to eat breakfast and this morning was the fastest he has EVER gotten ready for school.

Thursday May 4, 2006:
The clinic visit went well. Garrett's counts were fine, as usual. He was so happy that he was getting his port accessed for the last time and his last chemo. We were bumped from the surgeon's schedule to pre-evaluate Garrett so that pushes off his port removal even more. We will be going back on the 18th to find out when his port will come out. So we are done with treatment but still bound by the "fever rules". Bitter sweet. Hopefully we will be able to fend off germs this next month. Garrett's heart test went well and the prelimianry numbers looked right on target. Thank goodness for that. After running from the clinic cheering, smiling and laughing we took a trip through the flowers out front--belive it or not we had never taken the boys out there--it's always been hurry to clinic and sick feeling after and straight to the truck.

Friday May 5, 2006:
Catching up on some sleep and having some much needed R & R as a family we headed out to the world and saw a movie. Ice Age 2--of which the boys loved and are still acting like the animals in the movie (ironic since boys are always animals). Then Friday night we made it to Vets and the circus. We had front row seats in front of the lion/tiger ring. Boy was that great and seemed to be the best part of the show UNTIL the dirt bikes came out and started racing around in the ball cage. The boys eyes couldn't have been any bigger. Garrett's comment "Cool! I would never want to do that." Wyatt's commetn "Awesome. Way cool dad. Can we have a dirt bike?" We saw lots of clowns and a couple of snakes! And the boys were alseep as soon as we got moving in the truck. Must have been a great day!

Saturday May 6, 2006:
Wyatt had a make up soccer game. He is now know as the "Wild Man". After taking a shot in the face a couple weeks ago and playing like a mad man after the fact coach now lets him bounce a ball off his head before the game and he's off and running. Wyatt played alomost the whole game with only 2 sit outs in the second half. He played his best game ever. We then headed to the zoo for thier 40th birthday party. Rode the train, fed the goats and fish, watched the swans, ate free ice cream, Garrett climbed the rock wall, (of which we can't keep him away from now that he has done it at camp the last 2 years) and the boys had thier faces painted. (see photos) Wild animals roamed the house that night. We had some supper at Joe's Crab Shack and the boys ordered pizza! Garrett did try a bite of crab legs and liked them. There he is still trying new things brave and strong.

Sunday May 7, 2006:
Wyatt had another soccer game. He was still the wild man! He rocked but got tired by the 4th quarter. He still did great and they played against a taller team--Wyatt's team is all about the same size--so they had a tough game but hung in there and proved to be fast on their feet. The rest of the day we hung out and relaxed. Later taking a walk to the local ice cream shop for subs and cones. All in all the weekend was a celebration of life, struggles, memories and love. Garrett has been the bravest little guy and is now a cancer survior!

Garrett mom and dad are sooooo proud of you! You DID IT BUDDY! Love you, mom and dad

God Bless, The Kruses'

Friday, April 21, 2006 7:38 AM CDT

Small update--May 2, 2006

Just 2 more days until Garrett's last vincristine and one more week of meds. We will be most pleased to announce the ending of treatment and let you know how Thursday goes, stay tuned. Thank you everyone who has prayed for Garrett and sent him encouragment over the last 3 years. It has made a huge impact on our whole family. We are blessed to have so many that care for Garrett and so many more we now call family too. God Bless and be praying for a perfect day Thursday for Garrett. Mommy Kruse

Update April 27, 2006

One more week until end of treatment!! 11 more days of meds!!! Then the life of normal kid begins?! (Other than the monthly blood workups and doctors visits.) We have mixed emotions--excitement, relief, nervous, scared, just plain craziness. Here we are coming to Garrett's historic day and we don't know how to act or feel. Well we are going to party up that's for sure! More to come when the plans are fianalized. Garrett just can't wait to ditch the meds! That's all he wants is to throw those bottles out! It seems to be getting harder to get those troches in the mouth each day--seems ironic that he hasn't complained that much in 3 years and now that we are down to 11 days he "all of a sudden" hates taking them. We will share the great news soon! God Bless and thanks for stopping by to "see" Garrett.

We have another friend finishing up treatment the week after us too! IAN WAY TO GO!!! www.caringbridge.org/ne/ian

The count down continues...2 weeks until Garrett's last vincristine dose and the day of tests. We will then find out when the port comes out and how his little heart has handled all this monster fighting chemo drugs. So we have 3 more doses of methotrexate (18 pills), 18 more days of 6-MP, 54 more troches to suck on---Garrett's most exited about this part!---and only 5 more days of decadron (that's 10 more doses of the mean drug)---mom and dad are most excited about this one!

Garrett is excited about no more meds but still a little unsure about the port removal...he is getting better about it though. He actually said "Mom gettting my port out will be boring." But in the next breath he was worried about going to sleep to do it. So that will be a hurdle in itself, when we get there.

We have a big anoucement from the play ground at Carlisle Elem. Garrett Jon Kruse has now overcome his fear of the fire pole. He is now a "fireman" and can hole his little body (I mean big muscular first grader body!) as he goes down the pole. So so add another milstone to the list of firsts in the ck world.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Monday, April 10, 2006 12:35 AM CDT

The count down is on!!!!!!!! Just 29 more days until the end of treatment! 24 more days until the LAST vincristine dose!!! That means only 87 more troches to suck on, 29 more doses of 6-MP, 4 more Fridays of methotrexate (that's 24 more pills!), and 12 more doses of decadron!! (and only 2 more times of emotional break downs from steroids?!--can that be possible?) Garrett had clinic on Thursday and all was normal....same old check and blood draw/chemo push as always. No new news there. What can I say that is a great thing to say...nothing to report here.

Family Camp filled our weekend, and wore out the boys (us too!). Both boys climbed all the way to the top of the rock wall this year and were all smiles as they did it too! Wyatt had a small panic attack at the bottom of the ladder and cried, but looked up at his brother climbing and started up the ladder to the wall. Just looking up to his big bro he gained his courage and was on his way! Just another person Garrett has encouraged to keep on keeping on. What an amazing little guy he has become. Horses were rode, dirt was jumping from everywhere and sticking to the boys, food was ate and ate and ate (steroid boy!), and fun was had by all. What a great weekend on family time, friend bonding time, and a big thank you to the Heart Connection. You guys rock!!!!

Wyatt had his little highlight this past week too. He attended Kindergarten round up and had a blast! Excitement built all week and then he finally made it to the gym and off with new and old friends to meet teachers and "play". We recieved the call this morning that our youngest shinning star will be a big kinder bean next year! He knew all his colors, shapes, numbers to 15, and almost all of his letters and their sounds! He has a summer birthday so they are screening them more--we have a k-prep class here--but he is going to move past it and up the Kindergarten. Boy how they grow up soooooo fast. As us parents sat and listened to some teachers talk about the school programs mom flashed back to Garrett's round up and thought "how did we get here so fast?" And I actually felt relief that Wyatt will be in school and there will be no extra instructions to the school, teachers, other parents, and to his classmates about germs, fevers, illness, sun protection, teeth brushing....blah blah blah. Then I thought HHHMMMMMM Can you just send a kid to school and walk away? Guess we will find out next year...to be continued.

Garrett's thought's about next year are as follows....
"I can show Wyatt the ropes."
"I can pick him up after class and walk out with him mom."
"Who will you take care of mom?"
"Brother will eat lunch here too."
"I'm still the big boy and brother is still the little one. Beacuse I will be in 2nd grade."

Another highlight: this summer it looks like Garrett will be free from summer school. His scores in his special reading class are too high to recieve special help all summer. Scarey and a relief. Garrett will have to keep up on reading but he is retaining and that makes us proud. He is overcoming this educational block put up by the chemo. So read on Garrett!!

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Tuesday, March 28, 2006 3:44 PM CST

First off if you haven't been here and read the really big news you will have to read our past journal entry. Next, I tried to update the other day and my battery went dead on the lap top and I lost everything. Well you know they say everything happens for a reason and I guess they are right....news to follow:

Garrett's BIG NEWS is he has mastered shoe tying! Yes yes you heard it here first folks Garrett Jon Kruse, seven years old, cutie blue eyed boy that he is has indeed finally got the hang of shoe strings. His teacher, Mrs. Borron, spent time with him right before spring break trying to get him to TRY to tie and sent home a red plate with colorful shoestring tied in each side to practice with. Well he did that a few times and told us he could do it alone and he has ever since. Thank you Mrs. Borron!!! Every parent knows how their kids don't think you know anything and outside help is a wonderful thing. Garrett has struggled with the fine motors skills needed to tie his shoes--due to this thing called cancer and chemo--and he finally has the strength (of mind) to do just that. He still takes his time but he does it in the end. Now the part that I'm glad I could add--due to losing the last entry. Right after I lost all my work here Garrett was tying his shoes and Ashlyn (his 3 year old cousin) was waiting for me to tie her's and he jumped right in with "Mom I can show her how to do it. It's not hard at all." How cute is that!?! I was all smiles and my mom brain went "Hey remember that one! How sweet." And I smiled the biggest smile. Next up walking down stairs with only one foot on each step....another fine motor skills hold up. (he also is afraid of falling down)

SO A BIG WAY TO GO GARRETT YOU ARE THE MAN GOES OUT TO OUR GUY! That's one more battle you have overcome and won buddy. Mom and dad couln't be more proud of you!

Garrett and Wyatt loved the big snow storm that we had over spring break--the whole 2 days it was here. The boys were outside the minute they could Tuesday and played until they were so wet they couldn't move. Then back out again Wed morning and played until the snow was gone. They loved every minute and mom just watched and laughed. The boys really missed the snow this winter...although mom was just fine without it...but I'll never let them know that. Truck roads and melted snowmen were all over the back yard and the boys couldn't have been happier.

A not so small note that Garrett's conferences went well. He is reading better and his spelling is great...he practices so hard EVERY night! Math is coming along and now we are back to addition but with double digits and mixing subtration and addition on the same page...but Garrett will prevail!

We are so proud of Garrett for over the spring break he read a book every single day..even though he had no homework to do so he still read every day! GO GARRETT!!!!!

Upcoming is family camp, Wyatt's kindergarten round up, soccer year has started, and on the horizon is the summer hair cuts. So stay tunned these are the days of Garrett's life...and small clips of the people living in it. hee hee hee. God Bless, The Kruses'

Friday, March 10, 2006 10:25 AM CST

"WoooooooooWhooooooo!" says mom.
Garrett gives the big thumbs up sign with a smile.
Wyatt jumps up and down and claps, smiling ear to ear.
"Yeeesssss!" says dad.

What is all the comotion about?! Garrett just had his last spinal tap yesterday! Yes I said last, no more, ain't gonna do it again spinal tap!!!!!!!!!!! To make the day even sweeter Garrett slept through the entire procedure, didn't even flinch as the doctor tried 3 times to get the needle in his spine. Dr. V said he was way too relaxed and it was hard to find the spot---funny thing to say when usually he is tense awaiting the poke. And to make the day perfect for Garrett he never, yes I said never, even got sick!!!!!!! What a great way to end with a spinal tap! It was the best day ever! (until the port is out and chemo is done of course!) And of course that means we are nearing the end of treatment too!! We can hardly believe it here...it seems so long ago we started and yet we are thinking can it really be ending already!?!? Official end of treatment, cold turkey chemo toss out, play carefree in the dirt, swim in the lake again day is MAY 9, 2006!!

Garrett started his last segement of maintainance yesterday at Iowa City. That means 2 more chemo injections of vincristine, 3 more weeks of steroids (or course not in a row), 2 more months of 6-MP, methotrextate and troches! And 2 more months of watching the clock after we eat! We can eat and go directly to bed, eat in bed, get up and eat in the middle of the night. Not carry the toothbrush everywhere we go, or do mouth care anymore!!!!!!!! Let me catch you all up on his day at the clinic:

First off we were out of emla and the pharmacies here aren't selling it over the counter anymore--no child proof lids--so Garrett went to clinic without it. We all expected the day to be longer due to the wait for emla to take effect on his port. Well to mom's surprise Garrett went ahead and had his port accessed WITHOUT any numbing cream!!!! And Garrett's response after was "It didn't even hurt." All matter of factly. Then Garrett had his check up and all looked great, he chatted with everyone and then crashed. All at once he was tired out and feel asleep. He woke long enough to walk to the treatment room and then back to sleep he went until it was time to leave!

Garrett's counts were sooooo great!! We had to look twice to see if his name was actually on top of the sheet and that these were really his counts:
WBC--4.8
RBC--3.87
HEMOGLOBIN--12.1
PLATELETS--284
NEUTROPHIS--3,672

Now all of these count are in normal kid range except his RBC, but it is close, so we aren't looking at that! I don't remember the last time his WBC count was that great! He is amazing us everyday without even trying! Way to go Garrett Jon!!!!!!!!!!

Garrett's last treatment will be May 4th and he will get to see all kinds of doctors. He will have his normal (and final) chemo run, he will have his heart tested, see the surgeon to determine when his port can be removed, and the "sleep doctor". We will then set up a time to get his port removed and celebrate! On a side note about surgery. Garrett is a little bit nervous because he heard surgeon and his friend at school just had surgery on her heart. So anyone who can send him words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated. We have explained to him the diffeneces but he is still a little scared. I'm not sure how much stems back to his 3 attempts to place his port, his stay in PICU, and what is from his friend's surgery. Please everyone pray that Garrett finds peace in his heart about this surgery. He is happy to know that he will not have to stay long at the hospital when it is done because it is an in and out surgery.

Well, I'm out of great news here and I don't think I could say anymore anyway. We are so grateful and blessed to have such a wonderful child. He is so strong, positive, loving, and a gift to our family. Thank you God for giving us this wonderful gift wrapped in a scarey, hard, questionable, unforgiving illness. Garrett you are our super hero now and always! Mom and Dad love you with everything in our hearts! We are so proud of you and this journey you are taking. You have showed us how to be positive and loving. We love you!

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Monday, February 20, 2006 9:25 AM CST

Where to start. Well the most important thing is Garrett turned 7! He is a "BIG KID REALLY now mom." He had two big parties this year too. We had our normal family/friends party and then a school friend party. Because "I'm big enough to have my friends over now." Really we said....so....we had six 7 and 8 year old boys running the house for 2 hours. And 2 boys over night! Garrett had 2 parties on the same day (on steroids!) and all went great! No melt downs while his freinds were here! What is up with that?! Go Garrett!!! (and whewww said mom and dad!)

We also had DM12 and partied up there too. Garrett and Wyatt had their best buddy Brian there too! (last years moral captain) They were so excited to see him!!! The trio ran around the whole DM and loved every minute of it! Garrett also had fun with his buddy Darrick for awhile. And were talking about camp already! Brian got the boys birthday gifts too! Thank you Brian, they love the ninja turtles!!!!!!!!!!!! They have played with them nonstop!

We also just returned from state DU. The boys love going there and seeing all our duck friends (and Grandma and Grandpa Kruse!!!!) The boys danced, swam, ate and stayed up way too late! They had a great time, got to wear their camo, cowboy boots, party beads, and hang out with all the cute girls! Thank you Tammie for the lap...from Wyatt! He is still talking about you and the winks at lunch! The boys love you guys!

Well as you can see we have been packed with activities this month and still have a big birthday party this weekend--cousin Ashlyn turns 3! Garrett will be having a sleep over at the zoo this year! He is going with Heart Connection to the zoo in March and is sooooo excited! We will update you when we find out how that goes. Also I have to update photos from DM--we'll get that on soon.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, party animal! God Bless, The Kruses'

Tuesday, January 24, 2006 8:48 AM CST

Garrett's last clinic visit went fine. No news is always good news. All is normal and we are getting to the end! We are gearing up for endless fun around here:

DM is first of course! The boys CAN'T WAIT!!!! Not just to dance but to see all the dancers and their buddy Brian too! They are sooo excited to see you Brian! We are working on Garrett's poster and deciding what to wear--costumes are you nuts I said! But the boys insist on something so we are trying to figure out what to bring.

Then it's Garrett's 7th birthday! Can't believe it myself and he is even requesting a special friend party too. They grow up so fast. We usually have a friend/family party--but this year we are having 2. (yah yah push over parents huh. Well you CK parents understand right?!) So we have been planning for that and trying to narrow down the kids list. He wants 2 to stay overnight too...what are we getting into?

Then it's Valentine's Day and we have already gotten the cards for their school friends and Wyatt has started to sign his...a few a day you know. Then the big sugar party at school and maybe a rest? No wait...

It's the BIG DU convention here in DSM. The boys must make an appearance in their camo just like dad and grandpa! They love it! Plus they get to swim in the pool...hee hee hee. Hopefully this year we can make it there with no hospital time before hand. Last year Garrett got very sick right after DM and was out just before the big DU party. What a difference a year can make.

That's the update for now and we will let you know how the next few weeks go...fun to the hilt here and the parents may be worn out by then. God Bless, The Kruses'

Tuesday, January 3, 2006 8:42 AM CST

Happy New Year everyone!! Garrett was off to school again this morning and he couldn't wait!! Yes I said HE couldn't wait. He's been asking since the middle of last week "Is it time for school tomorrow?" Mom thought the break went fast and Garrett could hardly stand the wait. Good signs I hope. Garrett's last check was all fine. He did have a LP and he did save his sickness until we were 15 miles from home and lost in all over the truck...what fun for mom. Otherwise he did great as usual. His LP took all of 2 minutes start to finish. The needle was in before Garrett even knew it and then back out again and he didn't even flinch. He was also showered with gifts from the staff and a gingerbread house which was eaten as soon as we got home. Thank you everyone!

Over the break we had strep, the flu, and an unexplained temp throughout the whole family. Garrett was the one who stood his ground and was the least sick of us all. Thank goodness. We saw Santa 3 times this year and Garrett even heard him come Christmas eve! "MOM, DAD. I heard Santa with my ear but I didn't wake up!" It was ever so cute. He even held his hand up to his ear when he told the story. How many more years of this believing do we have left? Not enough I say. Santa was way too good to the boys yet again this year. It's hard to pick things from Santa when the list is ever changing as the day drew near. Needless to say the boys are now decked out with new cowboy boots, hats and harley jackets. Oh yah and endless toys from everyone. Garrett did meet the REAL SANTA this year too, not a helper! At the Heart Connection Chirstmas party the REAL SANTA came. "Mom he came special for us cancer kids!" And since the party was at the Harley shop in Des Moines you see where the coats came into play at the last minute of shopping. Along with a race track that was a request never heard before that day with Santa.

2006 will be a new year full of new hopes, challenges, dreams, and accomplishements. This is Garrett's year to finish up treatments and a year for mom to panic all over again. We will be back to a normal life--whatever that is?! And try to relax a little more, back off the germ patrol, the temp checks, the med draws, the worrying of one type and on to the worries of a normal parent with 2 normal boys. Lord help us all.

We hope this year is happy, healthy, healing, and joyous for everyone. We miss all our friends that can't be with us this year and send love to your families and friends. Garrett wanted to say "I love you Mason! Glad you are happy and not hurting anymore. I miss you. Love Garrett."

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Monday, November 21, 2005 8:31 AM CST

Update December 2, 2005

Okay hopefully I can get this through this time. I've tried to update and I keep lossing it. Garrett's counts are back up! He has a cold but he's feeling fine. Disney on Ice was COOL! The boys loved it and bonus we had pizza first! (they love pizza!) The best part was some music started playing and Garrett jumped up and yelled "That's a herd of elephants!" And guess what...it was! I guess we watch too much Disney here! hee hee hee. One more update...Garrett made it to the 2 minute club in math and is now doing 42 problems in 2 minutes! He's buzzing along and we are sooooo proud! His goal is 60 in 2 minutes. He assures us "I will do it!" GO GARRETT! That's all for now...other than all the snow here--4 inches. The boys couldn't be more happy. God Bless, The Kruses'


Welcome winter--brrr. We are fully aware of the cold and flu season here. Garrett had clinic Thursday and his counts are down enough to make us take another trip to clinic Wednesday for a CBC. Here are his counts:

RBC--3.71
HEMOGLOBIN--11.9
PLATELETs--228 (the only count in normal range!)
WBC--1.67
NETROPHILS--990

Yes we know the last 2 are scarey with all the colds, flu, chicken pox (yes I said it, it's going around here), and just down right coughing yuckiness. He is on the borderline for cutting meds so we are praying his counts go up before Wednesday and that he doesn't come down with something before they do. We don't want to have turkey day at the hospital.

Garrett had a bloody nose Thrusday night too. And the big man he is didn't even wake us. Friday morning he announced he had a bloody nose but "I'm a big boy now and I can take care of it myself." Dad then asked him how long it lasted and he said "Oh, about an hour." So looking at his clean sheets and the few kleenex he used it must have been about a few minutes. But he took care of it himself and he didn't even trail across the floor. That's a new one for him.

We are pleased to announce that Garrett has been working HARD on math the last couple weeks and he came home with another math quiz that was 56 out of 60 done in 3 minutes!!!!!!!!! That's up from his 20 a few weeks ago. WAY TO GO GARRETT!!!!!! YOU ROCK!!!!!!!

This week we go to Disney on Ice with the Heart Connection, the same day we do CBC, so we should have a big update shorly there after.But for now that's all from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. Who by the way had his flu shot and was extremely brave UNTIL he saw the needle and then announced "I'm getting no shot today!" Well he was babying his arm and said "It hurts alot so my friends will have to be nice to me." What a doctor in the making huh!? God Bless and many happy prayers as the Thanksgiving holiday arrives. Hug your children and thank God for your family, friends and blessing each day. Please take time to say a prayer for those overseas and away from their families this holiday. God Bless, The Kruses'

Monday, November 21, 2005 8:30 AM CST

Monday, November 7, 2005 4:27 PM CST

Update in the world of Garrett (because we live in his world you know..hee hee hee):

Garrett lost tooth number 2, finally, Friday night! That's both front bottom for those keeping track. Dad actually "helped" it out. It was loose and Garrett wouldn't touch it..in fear of lossing another down the drain or in fear of swallowing it we are not sure. He was brushing his teeth with the drain pluged even!! Well his new tooth was pushing up behind the old one so we felt the need to "help" it along. He was fine with it and was all smiles with no tooth in his mouth. Showing it off to all who would look.

We went to conferences on Thursday night. Garrett is doing wonderfully in spelling/reading/writing! We were thrilled to say the least. He struggled so hard all last year and this summer understanding any of it and he is now reading...slowly with big spaces between words but reading none the less. His math is now his big struggle...so we started flash cards this weekend. Drilling him on problems adding up to 10. He actually knows a lot of them now but has trouble when he is timed. He has to do 60 problems in 2 minutes well he is at 20 in 3 minutes so...math math math it is. I'm not sure where the connection gets lost from the brain to the pencil but he is trying hard. We will be having math drills every night...he is already tired of us asking him what 7+2 is and 6+3 and 4+2...but 4+4 5+5 4+3 or 3+2 are no brainers (now).

Garrett did 100% on his spelling test again this week! And his reading test was 100% too!!!!!! GO GARRETT!!! We told him we were soo proud of him and he beamed and then said "I know mama!" It's so great to see him so happy with himself about school work.

Garrett has his next clinic on the 17th and a music concert on the 15th so there will be another update after next Thursday. And if you wanted to read some other big highlights in Garrett's life and didn't read the update before this go the the journal and read it. Stop and leave him a smile and a hi in the quest book too!

That's all for now and I will get some new photos up soon...getting the Halloween ones developed and we will share the spooks with you all! God Bless, The Kruses'

Monday, October 31, 2005 8:35 AM CST

Garrett is a wonderful little guy. I wanted to share some things that happened this week at school for him.

*Friday Garrett came home with a certificate for being a respectful student. He was beeming when he told us about it. He was outside for recess and he helped up a little boy that fell down. So he recieved this award for treating others the way you want to be treated, using good manners, and being considerate. Way to go Garrett and remembering your character counts!

*He also made a new friend at school in the lunch room. Here's what he had to say aobut it, "Mom I made a new friend today. He is blind and I talked to him and told him my name. He was quiet and didn't talk much though." So we talked about how he would feel if he couldn't see and how scarey it could be to meet new people. So he said he would try to talk to him more at school so he wouldn't be scared. How sweet huh!

*Garrett also made a big step in his math class Friday! His teacher was kind enough to send me an e-mail to let me know about it. We all know kids come home and say I worked on numbers or we didn't do anything new today. Garrett was having problems with his math and any answers that were above 10. Come to find out he thought he couldn't have any answers above 10! Learning addition you start with the small problems and no body told him straight out that you could go above 10! Oh the thinking of CK's! When he finally got going and understood, I was told he had the biggest smile lighting up the room! WAY TO GO GARRETT!!!!

*And last but certainly not least....Garrett recieved 100n his first ever spelling test!!!!!!!!!!! We were soooo proud of him! He worked so hard all week trying to learn the words and he was all set to go on Thursday but you never know what will happen when they actually take the test. But he did great! GARRETT YOU ARE SO SMART! WAY TO GO!!

As you can see Garrett had a big day on Friday and that's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Please sign the guest book Garrett misses everyone leaving notes. Thanks and Happy Halloween!

Friday, October 7, 2005 10:05 AM CDT

Long time no read here....sorry about that. Garrett had his clinic visit 2 weeks ago and all was great. He did have a hard time with the LP, 4 pokes to get spinal fluid out, he hated that. But GREAT news is he didn't get sick AT ALL!!!! What a trouper, I think it has been at least a year since he had a LP and didn't throw up afterwards.

We have been very busy with soccer, both boys are playing again this fall. Garrett is on the U-8 team and they play on a full field! It's SOOOOOOO big compared to the small one he played on last year. But we have to say he has kept up with all the other kids on the team, up and down the field! He is also learning to be goalie!!!!! He actually likes this position...shocked us since he doesn't like balls flying at him. He has blocked 8 goals this season thus far and scored one himself. He has also been the BIG MAN...being he is the smallest player on the team (shocking huh) he has been making quite a few trips to the ground and jumped right up and kept playing. He has even taken 1 ball to the chin, 1 to the face (leaving soccer ball stitch marks), and one kick to the head....all with just a brush off and off and running again. What a super soccer player he is becoming. We are very proud of him. Wyatt is starting to learn the game now. He is the secound to smallest on his team...the other boy being 3 and just turned 4 so everyone else out weighs and towers over them....this doesn't bother Wyatt at all. He is getting into the running and kicking a lot...but not always the correct direction...he is having a hard time stopping and kicking the ball without circling it to get to the correct side. It's quite funny....but cute too. Wyatt has made many trips to the ground too this season but he has never been bothered by a fall so it's no big deal. He is into the running and looking to see if anyone is watching him...smiling, waving and giving the thumbs up sign. We are also very proud of him this year...much improvements from the standing and not moving of last year.

Garrett is doing better in school with his reading...he even brings home his school work and re-reads it to us each day. He doesn't even realize he is doing more reading work but that's great! They also bring home little paper books and he can't wait to read them to us!!! Miracles do happen..he is starting to try to read other books..which is a BIG DEAL since he wouldn't read anything he hadn't already read at school because he thought he couldn't. He is getting more and more proud of himself each day with his reading it's sooooooo cute! He is having a hard time with his math now and he is going to a special class for that now too. I so hope it shows us the improvements that his reading classes have. He gets even MORE frustrated with his math than he did with his reading. It breaks our hearts to see him so mad at himself, not understanding how to add numbers together. I have to say chemo SUCKS when it comes to this side effect!!!!!! I pray for the day that we find out the cure and there will be no more hard days for CK's it's so hard on us parents and 100 times worse for them. They so want to be like everyone else and learn without extra frustrations. That will be the GREATEST DAY ON EARTH!!!!!!!

Garrett is also in a new study at the U of I. Since he has been text book throughout treatment thus far, other than a few fevers, they want to know why. They are studying his blood, charts and we answered some questions on his activity levels. We so hope they can benefit from Garrett and find the key. Garrett was extremely excited to know his blood may help other kids not get sick! He was more than willing to give up more blood than normal to help other kids like him. He's such a grown up and he's only 6. Our little man and super hero of the world. Speaking of I have to share this....Garrett's school has been collecting $$ for the hurricane victoms and he has been extremely concerned about them ever since. He came home with the most serious face and let us know that there are kids with no clothes, toys or food and "We have to help them mommy!" He is also making plans to give up some of his toys to the hospitals since he will be getting more for Christmas! He is even giving up one of his remote control trucks because "Mom I have 2 anyways." What a pure heart and a loving spirit. That's our little man.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. Sorry about the delay and the length...school and soccer are keeping up busy. God Bless, The Kruses'

Tuesday, September 6, 2005 8:46 AM CDT

We are walking in the Light the Night this year as a family plus a niece. I also was talked into being a team captain and pledging for money. I wasn't going to do this this year since I have 2 in school and a 2 year old at home I thought "When in the world would I have time for this?!" They have assured me that I don't have to have a big team that it could just be our family and we were going to walk anyway for Garrett...he loves these walks! So anyone who would like to donate something to the Leukemia Society to support blood cancer research and help in the race to find a cure please let me know...emails are fine or sending directly to Garrett is fine too. Garrett is excited because he gets to carry a lighted balloon and walk too! The walk is Sept. 24th. Think of all the children and adults alike that will someday be saved all the hurt and heartache of cancer when a cure is found. Thank you for your time and God Bless eveyone.

The Kruses'

Wednesday, August 24, 2005 8:48 AM CDT

UPDATE (Aug. 26,2005): Garrett's clinic visit yesterday went great. As normal as can be expected from a CK making his way to the finish line. He was VERY proud to share his new tooth in the front with doctors and nurses at the hospital. Steroids started and he has been pretty good, great at school, and only 1 fit thus far. (we are not holding our breath here at home...school he is always good) Mrs. Borron (his 1st grade teacher) said he was great yesterday after his chemo and acted very well, "just like himself" all day. GREAT keep it up Garrett!!!

Here's what Garrett has had to say about school (this is day 3):

"Mom I answered questions in class and I raised my hand until Mrs. Borron called on me."

"I knew all the answers today in math. It wasn't hard at all."

"We did workbooks ALL day!" This was on the first day of school and he was amazed that mom was right about working more in first grade. But he assured me it wasn't hard at all.

Everyday this week I have heard this when I picked him up..."I had a great day mom!"

We are sooo proud of him this year...he's came home and read us his school work, taken care of his bag EVERYDAY, had no problems at school (even with the decadron!), been really nice to his little brother (slightly scarey for us parents) and has been excited about learning every morning on the way to school. He is all growing up and it seems to be happening so fast. He is very mature for his age with his life intruding on his childhood and it seems more real every year as we send him off to school. He is an amazing little man and we couldn't be more proud of his drive to learn to read this year.

I have to send a thank you to all the school support we had this summer helping Garrett with his reading. We have seen improvements that amaze us. I'm not sure he would have been as ready to go for it this year if it hadn't been for his summer school teacher Mrs. Wyckoff. And thank you to Mrs. Dunn for helping us get Garrett the help he needed this summer. You have no idea how much it means to us. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

God Bless, The Kruses



First day of school today for Garrett, Wyatt has open house tomorrow for preschool and mom is thinking...should I be sad? How should I feel about my baby going to school too? Right now I'm good, but how will I feel that first day in Sept when I have to drop him off for the first time? Happy or sad or a little of both? We will see when it happens.

I'm so proud of Garrett today. He was up early, and I didn't even have to wake him! He got up and ate blueberry muffins (special request for the first day of school)...got dressed in record time and had time to play a game while he waited to go to school. Tomorrow will be another day though....clinic and steroids....dum dum dum. Hope it goes well. Last year he was very good at school with the steroids and killed mom at home, but that's the way we would rather have it. (save the teacher)

Wyatt is kind of quiet today...not sure if he is sad or confussed on what to do. He says he is happy brother is in school but he's walking around with a sad look, until you ask him what's wrong and then he gives the biggest smile and says so sweet "Nothing." I can see the joy already when we pick up big brother after school.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. I will add the results of clinic tomorrow and the results of the first day of school. Stay tunned for quotes from the big first grader! God Bless, The Kruses'

Friday, August 12, 2005 9:59 AM CDT

UPDATE:
Garrett lost his first tooth Wednesday night. He was brushing his teeth and he came out of the bathroom crying. "Mom I tried to catch it but it feel in the sink!" So we got out the pencil and paper and wrote a note for the tooth fairy! Here's his note, it's too cute not to share with you all....

DEAR TOF FARE-
MY TOF FEL IN THE SINC. PLES LEV MUNE. I DO NOT HAV A TOF FOR YOU. GARRETT

PS. Garrett's bottom front tooth is coming in and he is also getting one of his 6 year old molars. Where does the time fly to? I remember like yesterday that he was getting those baby teeth in his mouth, crying and fussing. Now he doesn't even say a thing and didn't even know his molar was coming in. "It doesn't even hurt mom!" What a little man.


BIG NEWS HERE FROM GARRETT!!! He has a loose tooth! He noticed it yesterday morning and was running all over smiling and showing everyone (multipule times--I should add). It's pretty loose and we wondered how it wasn't noticed earlier...we did have corn on the cob the day before so it must have moved it along. So soon the big show off will have a hole on the bottom of his mouth. He can't wait! It's quite funny how excited he is about it. He keeps giving us a cheesy smile so we can see the tooth. I never knew loosing a tooth was soooooo important. He has been asking about it for a year because his friends are loosing theirs. Well mom tried to be cool and told him "Mom didn't loose any teeth until she was in first grade." Thank you God he will loose one by then...I would have had many questions to answer if he didn't.

We did go to the fire in the sky night at the Balloon days and saw the balloons inflate twice. And got to YELL "1 2 3 GLOW!" The balloons all fired up then and in the dark it looked like light bulbs. Very cool and also cool to yell and NOT get into trouble. hee hee hee hee! There were some shaped ones which was also sooo cool. The purple people eater, a tree, a wine bottle, and a penquin. The boys had a great time and it was something new for them.

This is the last day of Jump Start and then we have a week and a half until the full day glory of school!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!! Pardon me while I stand and do a happy dance! Yah, ahh huh! Mom gets a break from the everyday picking on each other. Wyatt even has preschool 2 days a week so he is very excited about school...maybe more so than Garrett.

That's all from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Sunday, July 31, 2005 12:50 AM CDT

Garrett had clinic on Thursday and all is well. The GREAT NEWS is......Garrett will be done with treatment in May 2006!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know that seems like a ways off but to us it's great to just hear a date of final steroid use! Yes Garrett is is FULL SWING this weekend on the steroids. He is loveing and smothering one second and kicking and screaming the next. Oh how I will NOT miss this part of the cancer world.

His counts were right on as usual and he has gained his weight back! Back to 42 lbs! Go Garrett Go! It sounds small for 6 years old but this is the most he has ever weighed and we are thrilled! His face is a little puffy this weekend, hard to believe the steroids still affect him in that way. He had heat rash on his bottom last weekend due to the humidity...he didn't like the cornstarch in his undies but it helped and was quite funny to see the little white trails around the house.

Garrett starts Jump Start tomorrow. 2 weeks of half days of school to get him ready for the year. He will be in a class with more children so he should have fun...a little different from summer school. Then he has a week off and 1st grade here we come on the 24th of Aug. Wyatt will start Preschool the first week of Sept. and mom will be doing a happy dance that day! HEE HEE HEE! Wyatt can't wait to go to school, thank goodness. Last year he wasn't sure he could go into story hour by himself and now he tells mom to go to the other room. So Way to Go Wyatt! My babies are all growing up now. (They hate it when I call them my babies. Mom loves it. There's that embarrassing mom thing. Oh well.)


It's Balloon Days in Indianola this week and we hope to make it over to see them go up. We are lucky to see them fly over Carlilse and even a few over our house!! "How cool!" says Garrett and Wyatt as they scream from outside.

CONGRATS to our friend Connor who is now treatment free and port free we should add! LUCKY MAN!!!!!! Way to go Connor!

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Tuesday, July 19, 2005 9:16 AM CDT

Well there is sickness and strange rashs going around our house. Wyatt has had flu like symptoms since Saturday and Greg has had a rash for a week that is ???? Needless to say Garrett is at Grandmas and hopefully he won't get anything. Greg went to the doc and he recieved a shot in the _______--yikes! And now he will be taking a couple prescrips and some cream to put on it. She didn't know what is was exactly. Wyatt goes to the doc tomorrow for his preschool check up and maybe to see about his running to the bathroom problem. Hopefully he is done with that.

Garrett has done well at summer school and likes to read his homework but he is struggling with the library books he's reading for the summer read program. I'm hoping he will have read some at grandma's this week. Anyone who is NOT MOM can probally get him to read them. You mom's know how it can get....you make them do all the things they have to do for their cancer and you start adding more things and YOU are the bad guy. Life as a CK mom.

Well, we are trying to plan a 3 day camping trip coming up so I have to get busy. Hopefully everyone will be well and Garrett will be safe to come home. Pray for healthy vibes this way. That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Friday, July 1, 2005 3:02 PM CDT

Garrett had clinic yesterday in IC--LP time or back test as Garrett calls it. He did GREAT! The LP took about 5 minutes start to finish. He didn't even cry or make a sound this time and he was ready to get his vincristine and go to the mall! That's his favorite place to eat after a LP so he can sit and try to make up his mind about eating something. He almost always has mini corn dogs at A&W and almost always throws them back up as soon as he is done eating them. I'm not sure why he would still want to order them but he does. Well anyway....counts were low and he lost about 4 lbs from last month but he looked great to the doctors. He is back under 40 lbs again...dang it. We fought forever to get there and now slip back. We fought at 20 lbs and 30 lbs too. Par for the course I guess.

COUNTS:
RBC--3.75
HEMO--11.3
WBC--1.7
NEUTROPHILS--979
PLATELETS--271

Going into the holiday weekend we are a little "ify" (is that a word?) on what to do. He is under that magic 1000 number but not below the 750 number for neutrphils so we are going to try to keep the germs away...like you can see them coming anyway. Garrett is on day 2 of steroids and yikes!!!!!!!! Nothing like being screamed at every half an hour until mom loses it and lays EVERYONE down for a nap! Mom wishing herself could take one too. But now may be the ONLY time I can get on the computer and get some laundry done. Garrett's summer school is going well. He loves it! Thank goodness, one less battle to fight. Garrett HATES reading time at home though. We are trying to participate in the library's free book read but Garrett has a fit everytime he is forced to read. He reads great at school or for homework but never wants to work on anything else. Very frustrating for us. He is struggling with his reading it takes him a long time to process his thoughts into his words. Dang Cancer! Everytime I see him cry because he can't get a word figured out I silently curse it. I so wish I could make reading easier for him. What a mother wouldn't do to make the world a perfect place for their child.

Wyatt turns 4 tomorrow, July 2! Happy Birthday Big guy!!! We are having a big party next weekend--hard to get people together from all over the state on the weekend of the 4th. He will be having Scooby Doo cake and gifts of course. Our new pool just opened yesterday and we made a trip into it after clinic and it only took an hour for the boys to say there were tired...surprised it took that long. But we will be spending time over there...plus it's just around the block from our house!

A big YIPPPEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Goes out to our buddy Connor who will be finishing his treatment next Wed and getting his port out too! Way to go Connor! Garrett is sooooo jealous! We love you buddy!

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Monday, June 20, 2005 2:28 PM CDT

Wyatt and I picked Garrett up from camp Sat (and yes this is the first time I've had the chance to write). "Camp rocked mom!" Garrett's response to camp this year. Last year he talked all the way to the truck and didn't breath at all in between stories, this year I had to pry the info out of him. What a difference one year makes. He did the great horse rides. He LOVES horses!!!!!! They only went swimming once this year--I find that strange but then I unpacked his clothes and I think he painted ALL week! 2 shirts are going to the trach can heaven and he has a ton of multi colored animals that he painted. Crafts, crafts, crafts and then he said they had a dance. He couldn't tell me what costumes other kids wore until I started guessing superheros. I got quite tired of prying info out of him.

He made it all the way home awake! Shock to me and then Sunday he showed his true tired self and fought with everyone ALL day! He kicked and screamed at me on the way to bed Sunday night and gave mom a couple new bruises. Oh well, he had a great time and loved every minute of camp. He is now back to rules, chores, and school. Already having fits about reading. Back to the grind for mom. We had 5 fits in the mits of 1 Dr. Suess book. They are easy and short so you see the wind I'm walking against this week.

Garrett was glad to see his friends and play. We even have some cloths from another camper. Never fails. Well this week is school, adventureland with grandpa and grandma, and Wyatt heads off to his "camp" week at grandmas! That's all for now, have to get back to the house cleaning...how does it get so messy? We seem to never be here, it's one place or another all summer. Probally why the house gets neglected.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, Mommy Kruse

Friday, June 10, 2005 2:41 PM CDT

My goodness the summer is flying by for us and I don't have any idea where it's all gone. I guess I'll start with Garrett is now a first grader! It seems so strange to know he is going to be in first grade. I remeber Kindergarten and it seemed like no big deal to me but now I'm looking at a preschooler AND a first grader and I'm feeling so lost. Where did my little boys go to? They aren't little boys anymore they are getting older and Wyatt isn't even my "baby" anymore. He gets mad when I call him that, after all he will be 4 in July. Mixed emotions run through my head when I think of all Garrett has gone through these last 2 years. He's so "old" and knows sooo much for his age that it scares me sometimes. He uses all these grown up words, knows things only doctors should have to know, but then he is struggling with reading and grasping the smooth blending of letters to make words. It seems so unfair. He has to deal with adult and child issues all at the same time. He is such a brave and inspirational young man that I look at him and wonder how I got so lucky to be his mommy. Sorry, emotions just jump out at a CK mom at any moment and you just can't hold them back. Garrett is taking summer classes to help him stay on track with his reading. He's loving them so thank goodness for small miracles. He is doing them with one of his best buddies from school too, so that helps alot.

Garrett was also a little celeb in the Indianola Record Herald on June 1st. They did a short story about our beloved Heart Connection and asked for Garrett's story. Garrett, Wyatt, and dad were on the front page of the paper smiling away. And speaking of the Heart Connection...Garrett leaves for his favorite summer activity on Sunday...Cancer Camp!!!! We also just attended the annual Dream Night at the Blank Park Zoo. Due to the great people from Heart Conneciton, Make A Wish and other fine organizations. Garrett was able to feed an giraffe! He thought that was great and WOW are their tongues long! Garrett said "It looks like a snake tongue mom!" We rode the train, feed goats and fish, touched a baby alligator, a snake, a tortoise, and some spiney creature the size of a hamster. They all had a great time...Garrett, Wyatt and cousin Ashlyn. What a great night, and all was free for cancer kids and family and friends. Thank you so much to all who helped with this night. The kids LOVED EVERY MINUTE!!

Garrett had labs done last Thursday and his counts were all down! We went back today and they are back up so he is cleared for camp. WHEWWWW!!!!! We were worried about mid camp labs and chemo adjustments but all is well and he will have a lab free week at camp. (one less thing for mom to worry about) He had a VERY BAD steroid reaction this time around though. After day one of steroids he was screaming, hitting, pushing, and hating everyone. Mom wanted to run for the hills but that is a dream when steroids are amoung us. He is now getting back to normal...just in time for camp...lucky campers!

COUNTS:

WBC--2.3 UP FROM 2 LAST WEEK
NEUTROPHILS--1173 UP FROM 850 LAST WEEK
PLATELETS--385 AND HOLDING STRONG
HEMOGLOBIN--10.3 AND HOLDING STRONG

Garrett goes to Iowa City at the end of the month for the dreaded LP and to see if he will get his doses uped. He can't wait to see all his biddies at camp and says HI!! if you are checking in before the big day. See you there!

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Monday, May 23, 2005 8:16 AM CDT

Family camp was this past weekend....the boys and mom had a great time. First off we didn't get too wet (just a few sprinkles Sat morning), we are pretty much bug bite free, and no sunburns! Friday night when we arrived at camp Garrett was so excited that he couldn't stand still. He was all excited about "showing brother and mom the way it goes at camp". He had attitude spewing from every pore in his body. First we got to our cabin, "Thorny Locust" and Garrett insisted that we ALL sleep on top bunks! So the trio was head to foot around the room. Then it was off to the lodge to meet the other campers families. There were a couple complaints: from the kids..."sitting and talking is boring!" Sooooo, off to the camp fire and smores! YUMMY!!! I have to say that I am very proud of the boys who were able to keep up the meessy faces the rest of the night. Side note: Garrett was very upset when I told him he had to STOP eating so he could take his meds sometime before 11pm! Wyatt was also upset after marshmellow number ? was eaten and I told him to stop too.

Saturday the parents were surprised with fun activites while the children stayed behind and did crafts, basketball and nature walks. (more later on the walk) We were to relax for awhile without the children. Yay we all thought, until.....the never ending walk up up up the stairs and then up up up the path (which was a steep one for awhile) to a wire hanging above a drop off...we all were able to travel a zip line...which actually turned out to be pretty fun. There was also the chance to try high spaghetti. A wire suspended 30 feet in the air with ropes hanging down, suspended from another wire, but as you moved along the wire the ropes got further apart...well needless to say only 3 parents tried this "fear factor" stunt. And yes I was NOT one of them. But I did do the zip line! We then headed back to the lodge for lunch (which was much easier than the trip up) and to find our children....here comes the walk story. I find my wonderful, perfect little gentlemen playing on the playground equiptment thinking to myself they look like they had a great time while I was gone flying over a drop off. As I get closer I see Garrett's pants are very dark from the knees down!? I get to him and he is WET from the knees down and his boots are a muddy mess. I started to ask him what he did while I was gone and he spilled out all the fun things they saw on their walk and how they HAD TO walk through some water to get back here. What could I do but start laughing! Wyatt had some mud along the bottom of his cuffs and that was it?!? Come to find out that he wouldn't walk through the water and made someone carry him! That's my boy. After lunch we rode horses and were able to try the rock wall and repelling. The boys were not old enough to go on the trail ride so I watched them ride in the coral and then walked them to the rock wall. I then slipped out to take my turn on the trail ride (I wasn't missing a horse riding opp!) While I was gone Garrett climbed the rock wall ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP!!!!!!!!! He was soooo proud. Bigger kids didn't make it and he did so he was glowing when I got back. GO Garrett!! After supper we saw some Tae Kwon Do and Garrett's eyes were so big that I thought he was going to pop them out of his head. So NOW he thinks he wants to do that....we'll have to see. We headed to the movie and Wyatt was asleep right away. We all got to bed around 11pm and were up at 7 am for breakfast and home to get ready for soccer.

The boys weren't as fast as soccer yesterday, wonder why? Wyatt didn't even want to play...surprise surprise. Garrett did fine when he was in but complained when he was sitting out. So they were in bed at 7:30pm and asleep at 7:31pm. It was a long weekend but we had fun. That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Friday, May 6, 2005 10:09 AM CDT

Garrett had clinic yesterday and all is great! Dr. E even said he looks so healthy that out of a group of kids you would never tell he had ALL. YAY Garrett!! We have noticed a big change in him even since the fall soccer season. In the fall he was the slowest player and he was always saying he was tired of running. This year he is hanging with the pack or running ahead and has never complained about being tired! Dare I say he is starting to act like a "normal" child?!

Counts were good and he is staying on 100% meds...can I get a WWHHEWWWW WWWHHOOO!!!!! Stand up and cheer, he had been on partical meds since his stay in the hospital around Valentines day. And on May day he was up to full meds (after the next hospital stay) Pray that the holidays don't start to mean something for him. Anyway here are his counts: (normal ranges)
WBC--2.7 (4.5-13.5)
Neutrophils--7,120 (3,000-6,000)
RBC--3.43 (4.00-5.4)
Hemoglobin--10.1 (12.-15.0)
Platelets--331 (150-450)

He is now 42 lbs and growing every time we get a check up. Garrett is at the zoo today with his class and he was sooo excited this morning I didn't even have to fight with him to get ready! Moms know what a gem it is to have a morning like this. Wyatt has a make up soccer game Sat. morning and mom will be there to catch the action this time, camera in hand. We'll let you know how it goes. Wyatt said this about the game:

"Mom I'm going to kick 2 times for you."

I said, "You do your best and even if you only get 1 goal that's still okay."

"No Mom, I have to do 2 kicks for you."

"Okay you try for for 2 goals and mom will watch you."

Then he gave me the thumbs up sign.

So let's hope we get at least 1 goal Sat. Please oh please.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Sunday, May 1, 2005 10:21 AM CDT

(update at bottom of page)

Sorry about the delay...Garrett had visitors yesterday and I kind of feel asleep during the bedtime movie. So to back up...Friday night Garrett slept well until 4 am when he had a massive nose bleed. It was running out like the water out of a faucet and that threw Garrett into a panic. Which in turn made the nose bleed more. Finally after 15 minutes of hard bleedig and 10 of dripping we got it stopped and then back to sleep. I asked him why he was scared and he was upset because he remembers the nose packs he had in March of 2003--after his first port surgery failed. I think he was afraid he would be in sugery again with stuff up his nose. He hated that stuff! His counts dropped by morning but still stayed in the okay range. His platelets were fine so they put in a humitifier for him which worked well until this morning...more later. Sat morning his WBC dropped to 3.5 and his neutropils dropped to 2,500. Big drop from Friday but still good. Dad and little bro came to play Sat. afternoon through supper and then they were back home for soccer today at noon. Garrett gave them the May baskets he painted and was beaming when he did it.

Garrett slept great last night, no nose bleeds and no up and downs to go potty. He was awaken by the Dr. this morning and he didn't like that but he then realized he could eat! So chocolate chip pancakes were on the way and the nose started bleeding again. This time it was more normal...only 10 minutes and no need to panic. I say normal because we deal with them at home a lot. Counts this morning looked the same and that means we get to go home tonight! At 6 pm it will be our 72 hour stay and we will be headed home. Garrett will miss his soccer game, which he is upset about but he's happy he gets to go home for school tomorrow. So that's the weekend and I am day-dreaming of a real bed and a great night's sleep.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The mommy


Update Monday May 2, 2205

Garrett is back to school toady. He woke this morning (5:45am) with a nose bleed and has already had one at school. I'm hoping those go away fast! We have had enough of the nose bleeding here. Oh Brian, Nice try wearing out Garrett but I think all you did was wear out yourself. Garrett didn't even nap on the way home last night! He was singing and eating pretzel sticks all the way home. Thanks for stopping by though. Garrett loves to play with you!

I'm very proud of Garrett and I have to shre with you all what he did. Garrett donated some of his books, a game and part of his rescue heroes to I of U hospitals yesterday. He wanted other sick kids to have fun stuff to play with when they were there and to make them smile. All his idea, what a grown up little guy he is. God Bless Garrett.

I have to let you know about Wyatt the soccer pro! Sunday he played and scored 2 goals for his team!!! Go Wyatt!! He was so excited about telling me he had to wake up last night and yell for me to come down so he could tell me all about it! He was smiling from ear to ear. I told him he would have to do it next week for me. He said "Yes I will!"
God Bless, One VERY PROUD mommy

Wed. May 4, 2005
SSHHHH...come closer....I don't want to say this too loud. Garrett hasn't had any more bloody noses since Monday morning at school. Maybe we're over it now....SSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Friday, April 29, 2005 6:27 PM CDT

Well here we sit watching yet another movie and cartoons all day, plus the movies are cartoons. Mom is kid showed out! Please just let me see 10 minutes of a real show! Garrett is doing fine. His temp was gone after one dose of antibiotics and hasn't shown itself since. He is eating like crazy and actually slept all night without the regular "hospital sleep". That would be the up every hour to tinkle or just to wake mom and see if she's still there. And after the other night of no sleep last night was great! Garrett's counts are through the roof. WBC is at 9.2 and neutrophils are at 8,000!!!!!!! What are those counts all about? It's almost scarey to even see them so great--we are used to WBC around 2.5 and neutrophils around 1,500 so we will take it. So the fever was because of ???????????? Oh well, at least we aren't here with strep, ear infection, and pneomia again. Thank goodness. Nothing has grown in his cultures as of yet...doesn't look like anything will either. So it will probally be a 3 day stay at the I of U and 3 days of cartoons. Help me says mom!

Garrett went to the playroom to paint May baskets full of flowers--4 to be exact, one for each of our family members. How cute! He also was a photo king. A radio station was here to learn about what CMN does for these kids. They talked to Garrett and took some pictures while he showed off his artwork. He then kicked and screamed to come back to the room to eat lunch, he wanted to stay there all day. He ate and then was off to the gym for school activities. On return he told me (I wasn't allowed to go!) "Mom, I'm the best baseball player in the world!!!" We were then back to the playroom for more trains, trucks and cars. Of course there was another fight to get back for supper. Now we are watching then next movie and playing with the new lego space ship he recieved from those special gals making trips from room to room making all the kids feel at home. Thank You! He loves it!

That's all for tonight. God Bless, The uncool mommy who can't go the "school gym" with her son.

Thursday, April 28, 2005 7:54 PM CDT

Garrett is having a really tough time dealing with Mason's passing. He was very upset last night and started telling us his head hurts and then his ear hurt. "I have ear confection mom!" He was up half the night crying and fussing, so after a very long night he was up and off to school. As expected he was in the nurse's office at 9:30 am complaining of a head ache...soooooo mom came and home we went. After lunch he took a 2 hour nap!!!! Then we were getting ready to go to the visitation and Garrett's face got white and his checks were red, eyes glassy and eye lids heavy. Drum roll....yup temp of 101.9 and off to IC we went. (This being the highest temp we have ever had!)

Garrett is checked in and very upset he can't go see his buddy and say good bye. So tonight we are saying a prayer and having a "talk" with Mason the angel. Garrett loves Mason this is what he had to say..."I'm sad mommy but Mason doesn't hurt and he can do anything now!" "No more medicine, he should be happy." From the mouths of children to our hearts and the tears fall. Garrett will miss Mason very much and wants his sister to know he loves her too!

As for now we are awaiting counts and the culture. They say his lungs sound clear, throat not red and ears may have a tiny bit of fluid. So that means...........what? You tell me. Until tomorrow...God Bless, Mommy

Monday, April 25, 2005 11:11 AM CDT

Prayer Requests still please!

It is with a heavy heart that I say our little buddy Mason became an agnel last night. He will be so missed! He was a wonderful little guy and Garrett loved him with all his heart. Please stop and send them some prayers to let them know they are loved and have your prayers for support. Mason we love you buddy!
www.caringbridge.org/asia/masondbrown

Our friend Connor is now home receiving breathing treatments and doing much better. He is also one of Garrett and Mason's buddies. Please stop and see him as I don't know how these boys are going to udnerstand what has happened to thier friend Mason.

www.caringbridge.org/ia/conall

-----
Well it's about time to update this page...so Garrett tells me. So here goes....

As you can see we went to the Seasme Street Live and the boys met Ernie. That was a thrill to them both but Garrett did say "Mom my favorite is Big Bird but Ernie is cool too." Then Wyatt had to add "My favorite is the blue guy Mom!" That's Grover for all you who aren't in tune to the whole SS Gang. They danced in their seats and stood and danced in the front of their seats. They laughed, screamed, pointed and had an all around great time! They are even asking when we can go again!

The boys BOTH started soccer last weekend. Garrett was amazing!!! He was out there in the scruff of it all the whole game. Sunday he made one goal and assisted in another goal. This was inbetween the muscle flexes he was showing mom from the field! Yes showing off muscles already, at only 6! He was getting into the group and passing to his team mates. We were thinking "Who's kid is that?!" (Last year he barely ran and cried that he was tired the whole season.) He ran the length of the field back and forth without a complaint the whole game! GO GARRETT!!! Well Wyatt on the other hand, let's just say it IS his FIRST year. He got out onto the field and stood there staring at the others and not moving an inch. We would finally get him moving and then they would be out of bounds and have to stop. There was one throw in that bounced off his face and back out again....the not watching the ball reaction. He didn't start crying until all the OTHER parents started gasping, we just said "it's okay keep playing" but it was too late and the tears started falling. So he didn't want to play after that. We are now going to be painting a soccer field in our backyard to get him out and running the field...that's what Wyatt wants his daddy to do. So what the boys want they get...dad likes to run around with them too so maybe it's for dad?!

We have been fighting illness here too. Wyatt just got over a terrible ear infection in BOTH ears and mom had some kind of throat infection...couldn't talk for 2 days and the boys took FULL advantage of that time! "Mom can't yell to get us so let's GO GO GO!" Thoughts running through the boy's heads...you could see the wheels turning inside. BOYS!! Garrett on the other hand has held out okay...started coughing last night but no fever and sounds okay. We hope it's just a passing cold. Seems this year he has gotten more illnesses than any other since he was DX. That would be first time all day school boy for you I guess.


That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. (or fireman now!) God Bless, The Kruses'

Friday, April 8, 2005 9:13 AM CDT

Prayer requests!

Please pray for our little friend Mason Brown. He beat cancer once and is now battling again that scarey monster that we will never understand! He needs may prayers for strength and health, as does his family. Please stop and send them some encouraging words.
www.caringbridge.org/asia/masondbrown

Also your friend Connor is in the black hosptial with a fever. Please say a pray the he will fight off this fever and be home stronger than ever soon.

www.caringbridge.org/ia/conall

--------------
Good morning, here is try number 2 for the update on Garrett's clinic yesterday...Ashlyn just bumped the computer and erased everything I was writing. Anyway, Garrett had LP and chemo this trip and his did great! He slept the whole time! After he was looked over he laid down on the exam table and went to sleep until they came to get us for the LP then he walked to the room and laid down and back to sleep he went. Mom was jealous!!!!!!!! He only cried for a second when the needle went into his back and then back to sleep he went. His counts were WOW! I don't think we have ever seen them like this...of course that made me think "What is he coming down with?" Typical CK mom. We had a whole crew with us this time...mom, Garrett, Wyatt, and cousin Ashlyn. (Everyone kept asking where I got a girl from?!) They all did super great too! We only had one arguement and it was over in a minute and then we were good the rest of the day. Thank goodness because we were on the run...it was off to the IC clinic at 6:30am, clinic and then lunch and back on the road by 12:30pm to get back to Des Moines by 2:30pm to pick up Daddy at the airport. (He was in Florida for a business trip all week!) But everyone was good and we had no fights in the truck...can you believe that!?

COUNTS: NORMAL RANGES
RBC--3.71 (4.30 - 10.3)
HEMOGLOBIN--11.5 (11.9 - 15.0)
WBC--9.4 (4.0 - 10.3)
NEUTROPHILS--7887 (1700 - 7500)
PLATLETS--256 (150 - 400)

Can you believe the WBC and the Neutrophils? We are staying at 75eds for now...they are thinking that Garrett's body has a better handle on the counts if he is at 75or now. Seems he drops a lot when he is at 100 I'm hoping those counts don't mean illness. Colds I can handle but nothing else please. We don't want strep or pneomia again thank you.

Garrett has been helping me watch the flowers grow in the front yard this past week and with the nice weather and some rainy days they are shooting up like crazy. Thanks buddy for the great eyes! Keep looking at them and make them bigger. I love you! mom.

Soccer practice starts this Saturday...but we will be seeing Big Bird, Oscar, Burt, Ernie and the gang on Saturday morning with the Heart Connection so we will have to wait till next week to practice with the team. I think the boys are okay with this since we get to meet all the characters at the play!! What fun that will be...screaming and laughing...bring it on!

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Monday, April 4, 2005 8:35 AM CDT

We have had so much going on it's been hard to get onto the net. So here's the cliff notes version....

Garrett had a CBC on Thursday last week and his counts, although still okay, have dropped quite a bit from the week before. So they are not changing his meds we are still at 75% and have a trip to Iowa City on Thursday for the dreaded LP and chemo. His Neutrophils went from 1600 to 1000 in one week and his WBC dropped from 2.9 to 2.4, other counts stayed in check but he lost ground here so we'll see what happens on Thursday.

Aunt Cinnamon and cousin Ashlyn are here!!!!!!!!!! They got moved here on Friday night around midnight. We moved all their stuff into storage this weekend and they will be staying with us until they can find a house of their own. We are excited to play with them everyday! The boys love the extra attention and love playing with Ashlyn!! (she's 2) Cinnamon started work today and Ashlyn is staying with us, her and Wyatt are having a blast!

Greg (daddy) left for a business trip on Saturday morning in Florida! NO FAIR! What kind of business can you get done in such a nice warm and sunny place? He will gone until Thursday---yes the IC day. We will be at IC and then zooming home to pick up daddy at the airport around 2:30 pm. (that will be a long day!)

Garrett has been good--moody but good. He's geting back into the swing of the sunscreen, hat and sunglasses again. This year it hasn't been too bad....he knows he has to wear them and the last few days have been so nice we have spent it all outside. Today promises to be even nicer! Park here we come!! There was the cliff notes version (maybe on the long side, sorry)

That's all for now fromt he desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God BLess, The Kruses'

Saturday, March 12, 2005 8:39 PM CST

This has been one of those exhausting and longest days ever. It's steroid time, the boys were fighting, the "mom I hate cleaning my room" complaint was in full surround sound, etc, etc, etc. But now that the boys are in bed I have time to sit and relax and take in the moments spent over the last 2 years. Good, bad and uncertain. All of which have been the greatest and we are so blessed to have our little "peanut", Garrett. He's an angel (when he's not on steroid week) You all understand!

2 years and 1 week ago Garrett started telling us his knees hurt and he had a hard time walking. We, of course, thought he was having growing pains. Then over the weekend he got ghost white, stopped eating and took naps all day. This from a child who stopped napping at 2 and ate 24/7. Monday night he had a bath and we noticed his tummy was huge and bulging so first thing Tuesday morning we were into our doctor for a look. There was blood taken for a CBC (which wasn't a common word in our house at the time) and we were sent home to await the results. (The blood collection was a BIG TRAMA for Garrett--he had never had anything like that happen in his 4 years. They had to take it from his arm just like they would an adult...he screamed and they had to hold his little body down. Little did he know that this would be part of his life now.) Turns out that our doctor knew by looking at him that he was in risk for having leukemia by these signs and what we told her. On the way home we stopped at the store to pick up a few things and see dad at work (he then worked for WalMart). Dad then found us shopping in the store and told us we needed to get home right away. Things running through my mind we drove home and then, at home, took in the news that our little peanut had leukemia. We made the trip to Iowa City in an ambulance--everyone's first ride. Then we started the 6 weeks of learning, panic, crying, and supporting of and with each other and our family and friends.

Garrett has had a pretty smooth adventure thus far. We had a rough start spending 6 weeks in the hospital, having problems with his platelet count and getting is port placed. A stay in PICU and many sleepless nights of getting up to potty and holding our plump water retained little guy. But since then we have had only 3 other hospital stays due to illness and got to maitainance pretty much on schedule...just a couple weeks behind "text book" definition of when he should start. Garrett continued his preschool the first year, after 6 weeks off, and had one more year of preschool. Now he is in Kindergarten and doing well, with some extra help from his friend Mrs. Dunn. He played soccer in the fall and wants to play again this spring. He loves the same things all "normal" kids love and he will tell you "I'm not sick anymore!" He's been saying that since 6 months after his DX on March 11, 2003. And his favortie thing is "smile smile smile. It makes you feel better." (Although so does his spiderman doggie and love from mom and dad)

It's wierd to say but cancer is our life and it seems normal to us. We would have never thought that would be possible. What's even more odd is our 3 year old thinks this life is normal and everyone does this stuff everyday. (he was 18 months old when Garrett was DX) Some days he even shows people "his port". We are playing Dr. at our house all the time. Someone is always sick and needing to call the ambulance and head to the hospital. Our kids know what CBC, RBC, WBC, ALL, HEM OC DOC, and CHEMO mean. They understand syringes, x-rays, spinal taps, bone marrows, rubber glove days, mask days, isolation days, the differance between chemo drugs and bad drugs, that we can never take tylenol without our temp first and we need to watch out for nose bleeds--kleneex always needs to be on hand. All things a 3 1/2 year old and a 6 year old shouldn't know or have to know. They are wise beyond their years and we try VERY HARD everyday to make them be kids. We try never to treat Garrett different than before the DX--within reason, and let him know that each day is important to play, sing, love and laugh. God gave us this wonderful little angel to teach US to love every minute with our whole hearts. And gave us our second angel to keep things interesting and to give Garrett a buddy on those isolation days...we all know how they can be.

Thank the Lord everyday for you angels and your loved ones. Hug your children, love them always, give them kisses (even when they don't want them) and smile. LIVESTRONG---LOVE STRONG--SING UNTO THE LORD

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses' -- crystal, greg, garrett, wyatt, wilma and zoey

Monday, February 28, 2005 3:42 PM CST

Monday March 7, 2005
I would like to share an article I read from a friends web page, thank you Shelly this contains interesting information. Anyone interested in reading some of the possible effects on children of different cancer treatments take a moment to read this article. http://www.curesearch.org/parentsfamilies/endtreatment/article.aspx?Articled=238&StageID=4&Topicld=82&Level=1

Garrett has clinic on Thursday so I will update the results and hopefully the answer of full meds and great counts still holding strong.

WHEWWWW!!!!!!!!!!! Garrett's counts have finally recovered! He will be back on half dose chemo meds until the next check up. Which will be in 2 weeks now...yes he's in for his monthly check and chemo in 2 weeks already.

COUNTS:

WBC--4.4
HEMOGLOBIN--12.1
PLATELETS--353
NETROPHILS--1628---WHAT A JUMP!

Everything looks great and look at that WBC count! It's up there baby...I'm sure it's due to chemo in the system for 2 and a half weeks but it's a nice looking number anyway. Might not see that again for awhile. Garrett still has a cough but it seems all the kids are having a hard time fighting it off this year. Well that's really all I have to report at this time. (to us it's BIG news!)

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Friday, February 25, 2005 4:54 PM CST

Here's the quick update for Garrett's counts and condition for the week. For what I can tell you now Garrett is feeling fine, no fevers but still a slight cough. He had a CBC done today and it still looks low where it counts....

COUNTS:
WBC--3.6
HEMOGLOBIN--11.7
PLATELETS--438
NETROPHILS--860

Last week Garrett's WBC was 1.9 so it's a big (and scarey) jump. I don't think we have seen a WBC in this area for ever...he's usually in the 2.5 range. His neutrophils are still too low to start any chemo back up yet--he's been off for 2 weeks now. He needs that magic number of 1000 or higher. Well as a result of all of this we are to go back in Monday morning to do another CBC to see if it will come up some more--please please please. Otherwise we are off to Iowa City on Thursday for more tests and another CBC. Garrett is now off his bactruim too and is only taking his troches...scarey for us. We have only been off his chemo once and it was for only a week, now we are starting week three. I don't even want to think of what this means for us at this time...I'm scared to even say it. But we will have to have a bone marrow done on Thursday if his netrophils aren't back up on Monday. We have a nice weekend planned with some of the boy's friends to play with---keeping mom's mind occupied as much as possible.

Our buddy Connor is at the black hospital now, hoping to go home Sat. Please say a prayer for Connor to stay fever free and get those walking papers tomorrow. Stay strong buddy and get better soon!

Another prayer request goes out for my grandma. She has found out her cancer is back and they are currently running tests to see what actions should take place. Please take a moment to pray for her. God Bless you.

I will keep you updated on Garrett's counts as we find out more on Monday. Pray for Garrett's counts to recover fast.
That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, Mommy Kruse

Tuesday, February 22, 2005 1:37 PM CST

Sorry for the delay in updating. I have to say that I am so tired and run down that I'm not sure if I'm getting everything done or just think I am and pretending not to see it there waiting for me. ie. cleaning, laundry, mom stuff.

Garrett is home and doing well--far better than his mother and father. He had labs drawn on Friday and they were low! So we are up for more labs this coming Friday. He is still off his chemo meds until further notice, he is only taking his bactruim and troches...along with the antibiotic for his infections---whatever they still may be. He finished up his ear drops last night and may I say AMEN!!! This morinng he gave me the droupy puppy eyes until I reminded him he was done with the ear drops and then cheering broke out at 7 am in the morning. Lord almighty it was loud. He did excellent at school yesterday. I was expecting some sleepiness and a call to come get him, but what a trouper he did great all day. The teacher even said his writing was much improved...guess all the practice in writing everyone's name that came into his hospital room helped. He couldn't wait to go this morning either. He's back to himself now...school school school!

COUNTS:
WBC--1.9
NETUROPHILS--400 yes you are reading that right 400
HEMOGLOBIN--10.0
PLATLETS--425

Greg is still fighting some kind of illness. He is almost done with his antibiotics and still has swollen neck glands. The doctor assures us that he is fine and that his blood work looks great...the antibiotics should take care of the neck. We'll see how it goes at the end of the week. Wyatt is all better, slight cough once and awhile but feels great and no more runny nose. Mom is healthy but tired! I have gone back to work this week and after the days of hospital sleeping (HA HA) and then working late and getting up early for school it's been a challenge trying to get back into routine.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. I will update you on the bloodwork Friday as I hear it. God Bless, The Kruses'

Wednesday, February 16, 2005 4:52 PM CST

Day 5 and we have flown the coupe, got a get out of jail card, spilt town, or as Garrett said "I'M FREE!" We were able to go home today after lunch. Garrett still has crackles in his lungs but we are on antibiotics and ear drops still (for the next 7 days). Negative cultures and no fevers so we are home. Garrett will still be out of school the rest of the week to be sure he's fully recovered but should be back in full swing on Monday--that is if no one else is sick at school and that he stays healthy. Due to long nights and laundry to catch up on I'll say good day.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Tuesday, February 15, 2005 9:02 PM CST

Day 4 and maybe going home tomorrow? He went for a chest xray and it still showed pneumonia but it is clearing. So we will find out tomorrow what they think the plan will be. There is sill lots of crackles in his lungs but they are clearing?! I'll never understand the tests and the illness. Garrett slept better last night, only got up 2 times last night! (he was still sleepy this morning though and he gave the nurse a hard time) He was able to go to the playroom today to make crafts and to play games tonight. Brian stopped and the boys ran around the floor, with pole in tow. They were hiding below the counters and making the pole "walk by itself". Garrett had a great time and was talking about it all night. He was also free from the pole tonight from 5pm till 9 pm and then hooked back up for IV meds while he sleeps. (then free in the morning again) He also gets to go to school in the morning...lucky mom. That's all for tonight---sleeping is calling me. Pray for better lungs tomorrow and less coughing.

God Bless, Mommy

Monday, February 14, 2005 9:12 PM CST

Day 3 at Suite C

It seems like day 10 here! AAAAUUUGGGHHH!!!!!! Last night Garrett was up every hour going potty. The only time he really slept was from 6-8 am. They cut his IV intake in half so hopefully tonight will be more restful. Garrett is getting indoor craziness. He was really moody today and everything mom did was wrong or sounded good until we set to do it and then it was bad. There was resistance on meals today too, except Kix for breakfast--he ate 2 bowls! His lungs still sound the same--no change there. They took him off his nightly chemo meds and his steroids until he makes some kind of progress with his lungs. If there is no change in a couple days we will be doing another chest xray. Garrett had a slight temp tonight, just under 100, but it was back down (on it's own) about 2 hours later. Garrett has been playing cars in his room all day today. They want him to stay out of the playroom since his cough sounds so bad, it's making other parents nervous. So child life brought him 2 projects today....cookie decorating and glitter tubes. We now have 8 cookies full of frosting and candies and 1 little boys who won't eat frosting or candies. Oh well he had fun doing them and mom got a small break so YAY. That's about all for tonight. One VERY tired mom and one little boys who thinks he's never tired enough for bedtime. So off to the bedtime tuck and cry.

God Bless, Mommy Kruse

Sunday, February 13, 2005 9:23 PM CST

Day 2 at 3 JCW:

The big news is Garrett is out of the room!!!!!!!!! We headed to the playroom around 9:30 am and played until 1:30 pm--our friend Brian stopped by to help with the game playing and endless truck and train trips. Finally we headed back to the room for some lunch, it helped that Brian had to go home to do homework--wouldn't want to miss any play time with our buddy Brian. We sat and relaxed, waited for lunch and tried NOT to fall asleep. Well he moved around enough to keep himself awake. Oh did I mention the ear drops!! Garrett had to have drops in his ears for the infection. Last night was easier..he cried after the drops were almost all the way in. "GROSS GROSS!" Then this morning it was a whole other story...he knew what was happening and well lets say bad things happened. Garrett screamed and cried, kicked his feet up and down and yelled "I hate this stuff. It's gross, I hate it!" Well tonight was the last dose and it went a little better but still the "I hate it!"but no kicking. Fever returned today at 3:30pm--101.6 so tylenol was taken and at 5 pm the temp was 100.3 and at 6 pm back to normal. Hoping and praying that he stays normal. His lungs still sound bad and he is doing the MOVE MOVE MOVE, TALK TALK TALK thing to stay awake...kids. Well we will update more tomorrow.

That's all for now from Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. Here's hoping tomorrow we really don't have much to say. God Bless, Mommy Kruse

Saturday, February 12, 2005 9:52 PM CST

Garrett awoke with a temp of 101.2 and a call to Dr. Vibhaker and off we went to Iowa City. Let me back up a couple of days and pave you the way to this point....Thursday we went for our monthly chemo check and counts looked good but Garrett had a cough for about 10 days so after listening to the crackling paper in his lungs they sent him off for a chest xray...which turned out clear. So home we went with the instructions to call if he got worse or spiked a temp. SOOOOOOOOO...of course Friday night around 8:30 he was 100.3 and then at 10pm 101 and off to the ER. Well they swabbed his throat and you guessed it....strep...oh great we thought. Well they gave us a precription and were sent home. Well then you see we woke with the temp and here we are in 3JCW suite C or "the Black Hospital" (as Mason would say). Dad and Wyatt have some symptoms so here Garrett and mom hang out. We had a chest xray and it showed some pneumonia. So Garrett has strep, what they call walking pneumonia, inner ear infection and outer ear infection. What fun--NOT!! His blood work looks good though and his fever is gone! So he is on antibiotics and movie number 5 now. He hasn't eaten hardly anything or drank for that matter. For supper he ordered all his favs and ate 1 slice of pizza, 3 bites of banana and half of his chocolate shake. Then mom made him drink all his juice..."Bad Mother!" Garrett said. He calls me Mother when he's mad at me. Well 2 hours later he was, you guessed it, hungry! And of course the kitchen was closed so he had some crackers, which made him happy so I'll shush about it. He's drinking some water now, only when I say "Drink some water buddy." I just got a cot and Garrett finally started talking to the nurses...before he wouldn't answer anything they asked or said. I'm wondering if he thought I wasn't going to stay with him? So he's making some progress now and hopefully I can get him to go to sleep soon...we were up till 3 am with all the ER stuff and MAN is mommy tired...a 6 year old not so much.

COUNTS:
RBC--3.28
WBC--3.4
PLATELETS--345
HEMOGLOBIN--10.9

So I will update you later and that's quite enough for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD.

God Bless, Mommy Kruse

PS We love you daddy and Wyatt! Miss you too!

Sunday, February 6, 2005 6:39 PM CST

Where to start?! This weekend ROCKED!! Dance Marathon is sooooo amazing. This was our second year but it was still as amazing as last year if not more. The boys had a SUPER time! They were on the stage the WHOLE TIME! Dancing away and soaking up the love from all the dancers and morale captains. They loved spending the time with their buddy Brian, dancing, hugging and being crazy. Wyatt's saying for the weekend was "You're crazy!!!"

Friday night the boys headed up to bed at 11pm and were sleeping as the heads hit the pillows and were back up the next morning, ready to go, at 6:30am. They spent time with our dance team, Herky, every female morale captain in the building, Brian, the ice cream cooler, Garrett's buddies Connor and Darick, and mom and dad (when they had to). Did I mention ice cream cooler?! Wyatt was a camera magnet...every paper stopped to take his photo, morale captains, dancers, and the video camera for DM 11. On the highlight real at the end of the night Sat. Wyatt was on the screen about 6 times. I guess he was blessed with his mothers' good looks. He gets everyone with his cute smile and dimples (even mom has a hard time saying no).

Garrett enjoyed his attention for his birthday and Brian and his friends even brought him a birthday present and so did his buddies Connor and Darick. Thank you everyone for thinking of Garrett, how sweet. He danced and was filled with stickers from everywhere...his name tag, his family badge, his shirt, and his face! Garrett even sported a tatoo on his arm that said "DUDE". Brian let him wear his bandana around his head for awhile and he looked like a little hip hop dancer...very cute.

Wyatt loved every minute of the time there. Sat. morning we woke and turned on the TV while we got ready to watch the dancers from downstairs and he got upset. "Mom, they are dancing without us. NO FAIR!" It was hard to explain that they were dancing while we were sleeping. At one point Wyatt was running around the stage in circles shaking his head saying everyone was crazy! Brian even laid on the stage and Wyatt sat right on top of him and posed real cute for a photo opp. What a charmer. Brian also taught the boys to raise their hands in the air and shake their heads and yell then bend over and do it close to the ground and yell again...Wyatt's favorite move for the dance. He also was covered with stickers from head to toe!

The emotions and love flowing through the ballroom is unbelievable. It hits you hard as you spend the time there. It's been said that it's so hard to explain and hard for others to understand the emotion and harmony at this event and all I can say is you can never truely understand what it's all about until you are there. DM is a blessing to all of us and they go to any lengths to help out children fighting for thier lives and children's families trying to cope and understand. They are amazing to say the least. Brian was a blessing to us this year and the boys love him more than I can tell you. He spent every moment with us this year for every event and he was talked about every day at our home. He called the boys, sent them mail, e-mails, and sent joy into our lives. He is DM! Thank you Brian and we love you!

We celebrated Garrett's 6th birthday today too. He had friends and family over, we had ice cream (yes more) cake, opened gifts and played hard. Now he is laying on the chair trying to play with his brother, but he is very tired. He had a small melt down this morning and we were almost afraid to have the party, in fear of a total break down but he did okay. He got upset a few times...not opening gifts fast enough and not getting him the "Dash" piece of ice cream cake fast enough. He had a great time playing with friends we don't see that often and hiding his new toys from his brother. We had pizza for supper--Garrett's birthday dinner choice and now are winding down for bed.

This was a busy but wonderful weekend. God Bless all our friends and family and all our new friends from DM 11! The Kruses'

Monday, January 31, 2005 9:43 AM CST

Over the last week we have overcome the joys of flu through 2 boys and 1 mom. Garrett was sick for 3 days and Wyatt only 1!? There were no fevers--yay, but the tummies were hurting and the food stayed in the cupboards. We are all better now and finally sleeping through the night and....COUNTING DOWN....4 days until Dance Marathon and 5 days until the BIG 6! Garrett is a little overwhelmed this week, he has so much fun to look forward to this weekend. And on Friday, at school, they are having a fun day "snowed in day". They are having treats, watching movies, playing games and get to wear their PJ's...just like a slumber party. He is even thinking of taking birthday treats that day! So he will be all worked up for the DM that night adn should be able to go ALL NIGHT. FYI Brian and the gang!

Garrett also has quite a bit of news to share. First off Garrett and Wyatt have both signed up for Spring soccer! Garrett is all about telling his brother what to do and more than willing to pass his old stuff down to get new. They both CAN'T wait. Mom on the other hand is excited but..all the different practice schedules and game times--Mom could be running in circles. It's the true meaning of soccer mom.

Garrett is helping out the Pennies for Patients Program this year. It starts the day after his 6th birthday and he will be participating in 12 schools!! They use his photo and leukemia information to show children in the schools what others go through and encourage them to collect their spare change for the week to donate to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. This year the goal is $115,000 and with all the cute little faces of children we know how can they not make it! Of course Garrett's cute little smile couldn't hurt anything right.

Garrett's Principal is participating in a Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Rock and Roll Marathon in Garrett's name. It's in San Diego, CA on June 5th. It's 26.2 miles long and they are going to have music playing along the way. He is excited about it, not sure he understands really what it means but he loves that he is important to the marathon. WE are honored that his principal is "taking" Garrett with her on this journey. Hoping he can bring the strength to go all the way. God Bless.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. (Until after the weekend of nonstop fun!) God Bless, The Kruses'

Wednesday, January 19, 2005 8:50 AM CST

First off sigh a BIG sigh....the steroids are done!!! (for this month anyway) Garrett (or should I say mom) had a rough go this time round. The moods were flying in and out on a moments notice here. One minute he would be fine and the next screaming at himself, his brother, mom and then in the next second he was hugging and kissing everyone! What a roller coaster ride this has been for us. By day 5 I was just turning and walking the other way when he would start screaming...felt like screaming myself! Although at school he's been perfect?! Is there an on/off button I don't know about? He will be screaming at me in the truck up to the second that he opens the door to get out and then he's all sweet as sugar and "love you mom bye!" And as soon as we enter the truck after school he's back to the grumpy guy that he must leave in the truck for only CK mom's to love. I'll never understand that.

Over the weekend we saw The Incredibles and can I say LOVED IT!!! The Heart Connection had a viewing for kids and we had popcorn and only 1 kind of pop---Pepsi!! (little scared with the extra sugar and the steroids mixing?!?!) Which lead to nonstop talking and full speed ahead for all. After the movie the boys were nonstop talking about the movie and how they want to be "supers". Their favorite was Dash (the little boy) who could run so fast that you couldn't see him! So a little story here: Well having a 3 year old, that thinks he's a super anyway, running and getting hurt all the time...you see where this is going? Well he thinks he needs to run everywhere now and we have only 2 rooms in the house with carpet (the boy's room and the living room) so he has taken some falls--on the tile, on the wooden floor, on the bathroom floor, in the hall, down the stairs..you get the idea. Of course he cries for a moment and looks at his new red mark and is off again and you guessed it running. Will they ever learn? Anyway the day was great for the boys and mom even enjoyed the movie..laughing along with all the kids in the theater.

Garrett is ready for the big DM dance party coming up in Feb. It's the same weekend of his 6th birthday so he can't wait for "his big party!" We will have a huge weekend with the DM up all night party and then a birthday party at home on Sunday. (Hoping the boys will fall asleep early on Sat and be good to go on Sunday!?) Is that too much to ask for? Parents can dream right?

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Friday, January 14, 2005 10:41 AM CST

Garrett had clinic yesterday and all went well. He had a LP this time and it went right in with no problems. Thank goodness! We were floating on heavens cloud all day! Garrett never got sick this time, not even one time!!! He was very tired and slept on the table a little through lunch but then was up and at them and ready to eat ice cream. He had a small chocolate ice cream cone and it was gone in about 2 minutes...I don't even think he took a breath, just swallowed it all down and was happy as could be. On the way home both boys feel asleep and made it all the way home napping away.

COUNTS:

RBC--3.57 (4.3-5.2)
HEMOGLOBIN--12.0 (11.9-14.9)
WBC--2.2 (4.1-11)
NEUTROPHILS--1652 (above 1000 is great!!)
PLATELETS--264 (150-400)

So counts are looking great for Garrett, thank goodness! He lost 2 pounds but grew taller so he's looking good. His color is good and energy is high. He started his steroids last night and was in full swing this morning. "Mom, I'm too tired to go to school this morning!" and I also heard "I'm not kidding!" He had a small problem getting his snowpants zipped up and he started yelling at himself for not getting it done the first time. He yelled at his brother for looking at him while he got ready for school too. HELP!! I am praying all day that he is not yelling at school today. (it could be one of those days) I'm sure they won't make it outside today since it's below zero with the wind chill, so I'm not sure how he is going to wear off his frustrations.

Tomorrow we are going to see the movie "The Incredibles" with the Heart Connection. Garrett can't wait to see it!! He's thinking about his birthday, coming up on Feb. 6th, and is having an Incredibles party. He has been seeking the stores for ideas for birthday gifts. He can't wait till he gets...he has no idea what he wants yet. So we will keep you posted on the birthday process.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, THe Kruses'

Wednesday, January 5, 2005 10:54 AM CST

Happy New Year...or should I say Happy Snow Year! Well Garrett still hasn't gotten back to school yet for the new semester. We had school canceled yesterday and today. Cute story there:

Monday night Garrett started crying when he had to go to bed early for school in the morning. "I'm not going to school. I quit!" So after the crying and fights to get back to bed "on time" for the night mom hits the couch with a HUGE sigh of relief that tomorrow the boys will have time apart...FINALLY! In hopes that the fighting over who gets what and who plays with what and when and.....etc. The next morning mom's hopes are dashed with the ice and no school. Garrett and Wyatt get up at 7am to see what mom is doing as I check the news...2 hour delay. (still a small ray of sunshine for a mom break) So they are sent back to bed...ha ha ha and back up into mom's room in an hour. Check the news again and it's NO school. Garrett then starts crying!!! Yes I said crying. "I want to go to school today mom. Why don't I have school? It's not fair!" (Garrett is into the what's fair and what's not.) Big change from the night before huh. Well this morning he didn't even ask about school...We'll see what he says tonight, when (for the third night in a row) he is sent to bed early to get up for school....drum roll please. And high hopes that tomorrow (again) mom will maybe get a break. There is so much less arguements when they get a break from each other for awhile. All mom's understand this.

Today as it still is snowing the boys ran outside to play and "make a snowman". They played outside for about 20 minutes and were forced to come in by the meanest mom in the world...the red faces were scarey. They did have some fun for awhile and piled snow to make a snowman...not sticky enough to make balls yet. Garrett was working hard piling up the snow but alas the boys give up and start running around with Zoey. She LOVES the snow by the way. (Eating it mostly) The boys were playing fire dept. and using Zoey as the fire dog. Funny. The imaginations are unlimited here.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless and stay safe and warm during this winter storm. Happy New Year to all. Love, The Kruses'

Thursday, December 30, 2004 11:04 AM CST

The baking is done, the food is ate, the house is distroyed, the gifts are opened (a couple already broken), the kids are on overload, and the parents are dead tired. All and all it was a GREAT Christmas! Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and enjoyed the craziness and joy of the season. I feel the need to share a couple stories from the past week. Children are so sweet:

Christmas eve...The kids were all tucked in and "sleeping" away when Santa's mommy elf went into the children's (spotless) room to see if the coast was clear. To what did my ears hear but a little whisper coming from the oldests top bunk. "Wyatt." "Wyatt." "Wyatt get back into bed!" As a perfect elf would do...I started laughing out loud and started to fall to the floor with tears in my eyes. Garrett sat straight up and had the biggest eyes a mom has ever seen. He then laid back down as I drug myself out of the room laughing my head off. I could barely tell the daddy elf the story as I started to retreat to the family room. It was the cutest thing...Garrett was all worried that his little brother was going to get into trouble and he was trying to save him so he could get new toys from Santa. What a brave big brother.

Christmas day...Well the day was planned and the parents were set. First off the alarm didn't awake us and the boys didn't either?! The family room door was slightly closed and the boys actually didn't even go into the room to look for Santa!! Can you believe that a 3 and 5 year old, who couldn't wait for Santa to come, didn't get up at the crack of dawn and look for him?! So at 8 am we heard them in the bathroom and jumped out of bed to see what was going on and had to actually lead them to the gifts! Well they tore open the paper and dumped out the stockings and them asked "Is that all?" How sweet...is that all. We had to string them out till we got to grandmas...me me me was the tone for the day. (Of course--and it was all about them.)

We have a couple additions to the family too. Each of the boys now have their own hermit crab...cute story here too. They opened the bags and pulled out the box and stood there staring at the sand and the shells. Then realized they were moving and the excitement grew and the smiles over took each small face...but they still to this day haven't touched them at all! Scared of the crab when it pokes out of the shell they jump and move back in fear of the touch. They want to watch them crawl around but NOT TOUCH THEM!!!! Garrett's is ready to change shells and tried to last night but he couldn't get his body in there just right so back he went to his old shell. Garrett thought the crab was funny looking...and you know what he was right.

Garrett is doing good, a couple bloody noses this past week but he is getting to be good at "catching" the blood and not letting it run everywhere. He's not eating much, either is his brother, hoping he's not coming down with something. But we will keep you posted there. We will have a big change this week in meds. Our pharmacy can't get he metho injection--there is a shortage--so we will start taking the pill on Fridays...6 tiny pills to be exact. They are very small but we have never taken a pill so we will see what happens. Hope it's not a problem.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless and hope you had a great holiday and have a happy new year! Love, The Kruses'

Monday, December 6, 2004 4:09 PM CST

HO HO HO AND MERRY CHRISTMAS (coming soon anyway)!!! We had a weekend of Christmas Parties and the boys are now asking if it's Christmas Day yet?! Lord help me make it through the next few weeks!

Saturday we had a party with The Heart Connection. We had breakfast with Santa Clause, sang carols, made crafts, ate candy canes (at 10 in the morning!) and laughed with our friends from all over. The boys asked Santa for cars, trucks and Thomas the Tank Engines. They told Santa they had been VERY good by playing NICE with each other!?! Whose kids were those? After the party Garrett's school had a secret santa shop going on and we were helpers from 12-2pm. How neat to see children coming in with lists of family and what they could spend. There were lots of nice things to pick from and everything was under $13. The children had fun picking things for others and our boys had their own strategy. They each told the other what THEY wanted and then told mom they wanted to get that for the other. I'm thinking it could be trouble if they are planning sneaky things like this already...at 3 and 5 yrs?! So anyway there is no surprise there and the boys each keep asking when they can have their gifts....what a long wait it will be.

Sunday we had the DM Christams Party!!! The boys played all day with Brian and some other dancers and had a BLAST!!!! They went shopping, made "pizza", took out the ambulance and were doctors, also farmers and construction workers. We had to tear them away to make them eat lunch! Even my 3 year old who's whole life revolves around food, didn't want to eat. Too much fun was being had by all. They saw Santa (again) and we now have some new playdough to add to our collection. (of which they have been playing with nonstop since we arrived home yesterday) Garrett had a small thought to share about seeing Santa. "Mom that's not the real Santa." Wyatt's response, "YES IT IS!!!" So Garrett and I had the "Santa's helper" talk and he said "Oh yah mom, I forgot he had helpers to check the naughty and nice and to get toy ideas from kids like me." He then added "But yesterday we saw the real Santa at the zoo!" The zoo is where the Heart Connection party was located. Sweet thoughts and love filling the hearts of children makes me smile. Thank you Brain for staying so late (even with homework to do) the boys love you and can't wait to see you each time! You are a blessing for us all. Me included...it's nice to watch them wear someone else out for a change...thanks!

We have the house decorated to the hilt and the candles smelling so nice. We have been lighting fires at night and turning the house lights off and the Christmas ones on. It's a wonderful feeling to have the whole family home and healthy and to be able to celebrate this Christmas cheer. Remember the things you were just thankful for on Thanksgiving and hold your little ones tight. Leave that laundry on the floor and snuggle up with a good book, read to your children, love, laugh, and dream together. Don't get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the shopping season, stop and play with your children. Anything will do...have fun, make a mess and clean up tomorrow. Happy Holidays to all!

God Bless, The Kruses'

Friday, November 19, 2004 10:50 AM CST

***UPDATE***
Just wanted to tell all our friends and family Happy Thanksgiving! Before all the food, football, and fun please remember to Thank God for all you have. Your children, spouses, loves, siblings, moms and dads, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, friends, pets, the health of your loved ones, God's blessings and love. Take a moment to hug your children and tell them you love them and that they mean everything to you. Then don't forget to give your love a big kiss. Happy Thanksgiving everyone and God Bless!!!

It's been sickly around here the last week. Now that we are on the home stretch (hopefully) I have time to update the happenings of the last week.

Garrett came home from school last Friday with a tummy ache, a headache, and a temp of 99.4 around noonish. We watched the temp and at 3pm we where at 101.4 and off to the clinic at Blank. Garrett had blood drawn and we were sent to the Blank Children's Hospital and finally got quieted down at 5pm. Garrett started having flu symptoms in the middle of the night...poor dad. Garrett didn't quite make it to the bathroom and dad told him he had to wake him up to help. Garrett's response?! "I did dad. I whispered at you." Well those of you who know Greg, know he dosen't wake to a whisper. So after that Garrett yelled at dad to help him to the bathroom. Garrett's temp was down by morning and we were home by supper Saturday night. (yes we were a little freaked out by the 24 hr stay only?!) But they assurred us he was fine to go home. Well he had flu symptoms the rest of the day Saturday and ALL day Sunday and only a couple of times on Monday. So he didn't get to go back to school until Wednesday...following the 24 hours of sick free rule at school...which not everyone follows...which could be a reason that Garrett got sick in the first place. So frustrating for a cancer mom to deal with. I understand that normal parents don't know why it's important to keep a child home one more day but it is important for this reason. Okay I got that out now I feel better. On with the week:

Wyatt and mom came down with the flu Wednesday and are finally feeling better today...not eating much yet but feel better. Hoping Daddy won't get it too and pass it back to us all.

Garrett went for his clinic yesterday and was told he looks great. WHEWWWWW!!! He still isn't eating a lot but he is feeling good. Below I will put up the counts for Fridaya nd Saturday and yesterday so you can see how he is doing. He is holding on with weight, which is good. And we are trying to hold on to the germs and not let them reach Garrett again. Pray for that please.

COUNTS:

RBC-- (F)3.49 (S)3.21 (T)3.45
WBC-- (F)2.2 (S)1.6 (T)1.2
NEUTROPHILS--(F)1790 (S)1350 (T)820
PLATELETS--(F)202 (S)181 (T)202
HEMOGLOBIN-- (F)11.1 (S)10.6 (T)10.7

As you can see the WBC and neutrophils are dropping...because of the virus. Hopefully the counts will come back up now. If the neutropils drop below 500 we are lowering meds. Platelets, hemo and RBC are all holding on so that is a good sign. At least we won't have to worry about tragic nose bleeds. Something to be thankful for out of this yucky week.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Happy Thanksgiving to all and be thankful for the wonderful children and family and friends that you have with you.

Friday, November 5, 2004 10:58 AM CST

WOW, where do I start? There has been a lot of exciting things going on here this past week. Well to start with Halloween...trick or treat was cold but the kids had a great time. Aunt Cinnamon and Cousin Ashlyn made it here from Colorado in time to go with us too. Ashlyn and Wyatt went for a block and decided that they had enough candy and wanted to go home...so they went home and Garrett, Mom and friends kept on going. Garrett saw a lot of his school friends and soccer buddies so how cool is that! We have enough candy for a small army so anyone need any? I'll send it on over.

Saturday and Sunday Grandpa and Grandma Schulz were here to play, so that was fun for the boys and Ashlyn. Then Monday, Uncle Jason stopped by for a couple days. Now Great Grandma Ina Mae is here...boy were we over loaded with excitement and fun play time this week.

Tuesday we found out about a new additon to our family. No not a baby...a new puppy! Daddy finally got his black lab. Her name is Zoey and she is 10 weeks old...puppies are hard work!!! (says Mom!) The boys aren't sure what to think of her and neither is Wilma! Not too happy about it right now, but she's getting better with the idea. Should be interesting the next few weeks.

And the most important news of all. Wyatt is a BIG BOY now!!! He has been using the potty all week and all by himself...no "Do you have to go potty?" YAY!!!!!!!!! He has even made it through the nights dry?! He's NEVER made it through the night dry before...and he will never wear dipers again he says! "Diapers are for babies not big boys mom!" So YAY!!!!!!!!! and GO WYATT!!!!!!! Party at the Kruse house!

That's all for now from the desk of Garret Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Thursday, October 28, 2004 8:42 AM CDT

Sorry the update from last Thursday's doctor visit took so long. Garret had a great visit, blood count wise. All looks great there! He has even gained weight,up to 40 lbs now!!!!!!!!!!! I remember our first summer with ALL and we could hardly get him to stay above 25 bs, then we thought he would never stay above 30 lbs and now we are at 40 lbs!!! It's strange the little things you wait for when your child has cancer. Garrett has gotten taller too so they upped his meds. Steroids included!! YIKES for Sunday night and Monday morning...he was a wild man, crazy man, scarey screaming at you man. Otherwise he hasn't been too bad this time round. Since Tuesday night I don't think it would matter what you asked him to do he was doing it and saying "Okay mom/dad. I'll do it." He even cleaned his room without the typical "NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!" What an amazing thing! I just had to write that down...never know when that will happen again. As for his LP, doc had a hard time finding the right spot this time. I guess I'll just say it: 4 tries to get the right spot...poor guy! He did great though! He held still and cried a bit, but never made a huge fuss. What a strong guy! I'm not sure I could have done that. Garrett had NO headaches this time, Yay! He did get sick--even before we had lunch this time. But after that he was good. He napped with his little head on the table while the rest of us ate lunch. Cute. He then woke up and wanted ice cream--chocolate of course. He inhaled that in no time flat and then we were on our way home.

Thursady night we had parent teacher conferences. They went good. We saw the first day of school writing and the end of the quarter writing--WOW!!!!! He is such a good writer now and has even gotten down the tails on the ends of the letters. He will still be getting some extra help from Mrs.Dunn, which we love to hear. She has been great with Garrett and he seems to be remembering all the letters so well and writing has improved too. Mrs. Olson has also been a great help making sure Garrett is taking his time to get things done correctly. Great teachers make the differance. While we were at the doctors office we wrote some words on the board and he sounded them out!!!!! (hat and cat) Wow, I can't believe he is starting to understand words now! So cool. Garrett has been practicing his numbers too. He was having a hard time knowing which are 6, 7, 8, and 9. But he's gotten much better now, only having problems remembering 8 and that is helping him do better with his matching number sets at school. So GO GARRETT!!!

Garrett had his last soccer game this weekend and he had the BEST time!!!!! He was running and kicking and getting in the middle of things. Figures huh. Anyway he had a great time and loved every minute of the game. What a great way to end the season. Wyatt wants to play very bad now. So we will see in the spring what soccer brings to our house.

This week is Homecoming here and all the schools dress up. Garrett was for sure mom had lost it Monday when I told him he was to wear PJ's to shcool. He actually looked at me like I was lying to him and would put him through embarrassement at school by sending him in his PJ's! (Mom's go out of their way to protect their children and our honest little boy actually thought mom would lie to him about PJ's.) When he got to school and saw the other kids dreesed up too he was suddenly okay with it...go figure. Tuesday was backwards day and this is Garrett's exact reaction..."Mom, I CAN'T wear my tag in the front!" So needless to say he didn't participate Tuesday. Yesterday was sports day and soccer boy wore his soccer stuff all day long! Today is blue day and we are TOTALLY blue! Blue jeans, blue shirt, socks with blue stripes and blue tennis shoes!!! Tomorrow is red and yellow day (school colors). Mom made Garrett a sweatshirt with Carlisle Wildcats on it complete with the paw prints...he can't wait to wear it! GO CATS!!!

The boys can't wait for Halloween here...they even want to get the Halloween sugar cookies moving. We decorate sugar cookies every Halloween--in pumpkins shapes of course. So we will have to get that going here too. The costumes are hanging in the hall waiting to be worn and the pumpkin buckets are sitting in the boy's room waiting to be filled. And dad is waiting to hand out candy and scare the bigger kids as they come up our walk...poor kids. Oh what a glorious fall season this is turning out to be. Garrett is strong and healthy enough to go door to door this year and Wyatt is big enough to walk door to door this year. Such little things in life bring a smile to mom's face. Happy Halloween to all!!

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

NEW PHOTOS ON THE PHOTO PAGE!!

Friday, October 15, 2004 12:49 AM CDT

BBRRRRRRR...that's about all I have to say and the boys say that too. Well, I guess fall is really here now. The yard is full of yellow and orange leaves, pumpkins all around and signs of little ghosts and goblins starting to get ready for Halloween. This is the boy's favorite holiday! They love it. It doesn't hurt that they get candy either!!! Since mom doesn't buy it hardly ever. hee hee hee! Garrett has had a couple of events to share with you.

Garrett is now a soccer star. His team was in the Carlisle Citizen a couple of weeks ago and would like to share the story with you:
Jodi Rourke's and Marty Berg's team of FIREFLIES played a great game on Sunday, September 26. This under 6 team had a lot of energy and enthusiasm. The teamwork they displayed allowed Luke Dunalp, Kyle Barker and Travis Johnston to score goals. Dylan Berg and Abbie Molina had a couple of awesome corner kicks and both Ceora LeClairs and Lucian Galvin did excellent on their throw ins. GARRETT KRUSE HAD A POWERFUL GOAL KICK AND DID A GREAT JOB PASSING TO HIS TEAMMATE DURING THE KICKOFF. The team is learning a lot about defense, not taking the ball from their teammates, and trying to stay out of the "swarm" so they can be set up for a pass. Excellent job FIREFLIES!!

Garrett was VERY excited to see his name in the paper and that his team was so "famous". There are new photos from the last few games and a team photo on the photo page so check them out.

Also, I'm not sure if I put on the site that Garrett helped out the Heart Connection last month or not but.... Garrett helped to accept a check from Variety on behalf of The Heart Connection in September. He was on steroids at the time and he ate them out of cheese and crackers and little sandwhiches. (he even stole mine off my plate!) He did a great job sitting and waiting for our turn though--which was toward the end of the list. He went up front and smiled away, being his cute self, and held the envelope...not quite sure what he was doing it for. We told him it was money to help him and his friends go to camp--that brought a HUGE smile on his face and he gladly gave the check over to Heart Connection. There is a photo on the photo page of this also. What a little celeb we have here in Carlisle.

To read about the DM Halloween party see past journal entries. I will post a photo or 2 of the day when I get them back. Happy Halloween!

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Wednesday, October 13, 2004 11:09 AM CDT

Happy Halloween--or the boys keep telling everyone! They can't wait for costumes and trick-o-treat and seeing aunt Cinnamon and cousin Ashlyn--who are going to be here with us for Halloween! YAY!!!!!!!!!

Over the weekend we made the trip to the IC area for the DM Fall party and we had a great time!!!!! They were able to wear their Halloween costumes, which they loved doing and hung out with Brian, our DM morale captain. They loved him!!!!!!!!! Brian used to play soccer too so guess what his costume was? Yup, a soccer player and he even brought the boys a soccer ball to practice with at home...which they have played with every day since. Thanks Brian!! Garrett and Wyatt loved playing in the hay piles--Wyatt's costume had felt on it and well how do I day it? We brought quite a bit home in the trunk--yes mom made him strip down before he entered the car for the trip home. There were animals to pet and a tractor and wagon to ride, a train, a haunted house (which was so dark you couldn't see where to turn), painting, running, screaming, and playing. It was great fun and the boys had the best time ever with their new friend Brian and some of the other captains too. Garrett's most popular line for the day was "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow!" He was ssssssooooooooooooo proud of his costume! Makes mom feel special to be able to make him so happy with such a little thing like sewing up a pirate jacket for him. Wyatt, of course, loves his batman costume from last year and it still fit---so easy costume fix for mom.

This week at school Garrrett has to think of some tongue twisters using the letters "r" and "s" for homework!?!? I think it's mom and dad work...any ideas send them this way. The boys have been great and are loving the fall--and leaves! We have lots of plans for things coming up so we will have to keep you informed. Soccer was fun on Sunday--still on a high from the new soccer ball--which we took with us to the game. Garrett played good and tried to keep up with the others the whole game. He even ran with the ball---in the wrong direction, but still he ran while kicking the ball! Only 2 more games left...and Garrett is finally getting the hang of the game. Figures.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Thursday, September 30, 2004 9:29 AM CDT

Hello to all!!

First off Garrett had labs this morning and all is GREAT!!! His counts didn't drop any lower, thank goodness. His netrophils jumped from 759 last week to 1.24(1240) this week and platelets are a whopping 353!! WOW!! So we won't have to decress any meds this time, yay! Garrett was about 15 minutes late for school this morning, which was the most awful thing in the world, according to Garrett. We told him he wouldn't miss any school today because our appointment was at 7:30 am and we should have had plenty of time to get back to school before it started but....the nurses had a meeting and it ran over so we got in late and so Garrett complained on the way to school...but he got over it when we arrived. Garrett had no problems getting up early either this morning?! That's unusal for him...and right after steroids too, way to go Garrett. So that's today. I tried to update a couple days ago but the compter lost my stuff so I will try to remember it all and tell you now.

The last dose of steroids was on Monday night....so lets hear the whewwwwwwwwwww. Garrett actually had the fits the first couple of days this time around and has been great the last couple days. It's usually the oter way around, I guess we will never figure out the effects and when they will hit. He had a tuff time with soccer this weekend though--due to our "friend" the steroid. Saturday moring he actually stood at he practice field and cried, "I don't want to play!" Coach Jody came over and got him and another little girl out there by asking them if they wanted to race! So that's one for the coach! He was ready to go home after practice though...we have 45 minute practices...so the walk home was slow! Sunday for the game he had his moments. One second he was upset and "tired" and the next he was running the ball down the field and even helped in kicking a goal! His first one ever in a game!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!! So we will see what happends at practice tonight.

We have some news about Garrett and school. I'm not sure if we are seeing the effects of the chemo catching us, short term memory problems, the frustration or what. Garrett is now taking a special time out of class, with a small group of other students, each day to get more one on one teaching of his letters and their sounds. We are on a 4-6 week trial period to see if he is improving and if he will need to continue with this help. At conference time (Oct. 21st) we will see how this is going. This is one of my biggest fears since Garrett started his treatments and we learned that he could have learning difficulties. He has SOOOOOO much to deal with now, I was praying he wouldn't need to deal with this too. He seems to be fine with the whole thing--being he's only had 2 days, so I hope he grows from this. He did bring home a worksheet that he was practicing the letter "m" and the writing was so much better than some of the other pages he has brought home. So only a couple of days has helped his thought process somehow.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. Please leave us a message to let us know you checked in on Garrett. God Bless, The Kruses'

Thursday, September 23, 2004 1:22 PM CDT

Good gloomy day to everyone. It's rainy here and of course that makes everyone tired...not to mention we had to get up early to get Garrett's monthly treatment. So on with that:

COUNTS:
RBC--3.5
WBC--2.2
HEMOGLOBIN--11.8
PLATELETS--251
NEUTROPHILS--759

Well the 759 number is the number to look at this week...it means we are going back to the weekly blood counts. If they drop to 750 then we are back to partial meds again too. Very frustrating!! Garrett spent ALL summer getting counts done every week and we finally had one great month of no visits and school starting and here we go again back to the clinic every week. So next Thursday we will be back in before school starts to get blood drawn and right after the end of steroids so that should be a pleasant morning. Okay CK mom moment there, sorry. I'm sure the other CK mom's understand. All his other counts are close to normal and in the safe range so we are happy for that. Garrett is feeling great and is doing well in school. I guess I should say he LOVES SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!

I have to share this with everyone. Today when we took him into school late his class all stopped and said "HI GARRETT!!" They were having their guidance special class and the teacher said the class was just asking about Garrett and wondering when he was going to get back to class. They all missed him this morning, that's sweet enough to make a mom cry. His teacher Mrs. Olson says he is a joy to have in class. I'm glad he has such a positive envoirnment in school and his ALL has no impact on his day. GO GARRETT!!! (although it is steroid week starting today?!)

Tonight Garrett is helping out the Heart Connection here in Des Moines by accepting a check on their behalf at the Blank Park Zoo!! The Heart Connection is the group that sends cancer kids and their siblings to summer camp each year, along with other activities throughout the year, so we were more than happy to help out. I will let you know how that all goes and get pictures on as soon as I can...mom is very excited...not sure Garrett understands what's going on but he loves getting his picture taken!

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Saturday, September 11, 2004 10:55 AM CDT

****Monday, September 12, 2004 Updated game plays at bottom of the page****

Listen up Soccer Fans! Garrett plays his first soccer game tomorrow afternoon. We have had 2 practices this week and he plays Sunday for the first time...he has a couple boys on his team that have played already but the rest are FIRST TIME players!!! We should have a good time!?! Garrett did much better today at practice than Thursday!! He is getting better at the dribbeling and the running. He is the slowest on his team--dang leukemia! He still tries to hang in there though. We are hoping that it doesn't get him down. Seams okay so far...other than he gets tired in practice and doesn't want to run the whole time. We keep telling him he won't have to run the whole game beacuse the players take turns...mom is going to help with the player switch out too!!! I get to tell the kids when they go in and come out...first for mom too! Never played soccer and only watched our friends kids play a few times so wish me luck too!!! (Who knows maybe I will be the soccer mom who turns into a coach!?) I'm hoping that it will make Garrett feel more at ease...hope that doesn't back fire on me. Today a boy from Garrett's preschool class last year showed up to play, so he was more excited to play today...YAY!! He's unsure about the game so we will see if he understands more after the game Sunday. Although most of the players aren't sure what to do yet. I will update after the game too so stand by for the play by play. (anyone who wants the schedule and I didn't send it to, let me know.)

God Bless, Crystal

SOCCER GAME UPDATE: (New photos too!)
The game was great!! Garrett and his team had a great game and most importantly they had a GREAT time! They played 4 on 4 and took 5 minute switch ins. (That was long enough to wear Garrett out each time) So each person was able to play each quarter. Garrett was able to kick off from the center, throw in a out-of-bounds ball, kick in a out-of-bounds from the goal area, and run run run. He didn't make any goals this game but he tried. Way to go buddy. The teams ran in a huge group of "honey bees" chasing the ball where ever it rolled. There was no spreading out...quite cute and some what funny. Of course there were MANY out-of-bounds calls. Some were right after the throw out and was kicked right back out...parents on our team were rolling in our seats. Garrett had one "mom are you watching me?" momment where his team mate kicked off to him while he was turned around and the ball went flying by him. This happened at the start of the last quarter so he was tired and didn't even mind that it went by...poor guy. He did pretty good switching directions as the ball moved from one side to the other...although he did get confussed a couple times and when he turned around the group was on its way back and scared him enough to make him flinch and let them run by. He feel down once but got right back up and started playing--no crying, way to go! Otherwise I thought he did great for his first game and without the actual idea of how the game is played. So big cheers for Garrett! YAY!!!!!!!!!

On a side note, Wyatt did great at the game too! He watched the WHOLE game and didn't get in the way once! Way to go Wyatt! Also as I am typing this I have to tell you that Wyatt has put together two 24 piece floor puzzles ALL BY HIMSELF!!! What a smart little guy. I am so proud and also stunded that he could do that already. The last time he got puzzles out he got so mad at them that he put them back. So go Wyatt!! Now my little guy is growing up too. What's a mom to do but shine and know that she has two smart little boys that can do things on their own. Mom and dad love you boys!!! And we are soooo proud of you both.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Saturday, September 4, 2004 8:36 AM CDT

Proud parents here! Garrett recieved a Character Counts Award at school on Friday! That's even right at the end of steroids week! WAY TO GO GARRETT!!! We are SOOO proud. He received the award for resposibility. (yes even right after steroids!) His teacher, Mrs. Olson, gave him the award for always remembering to brush his teeth after snacks and lunch, without reminding. And for getting his hat and sunglasses to play outside, also without reminding. Of course Garrett was excited about the fact that he had his picture taken at school! They put him in the paper here in town. COOL!!

As you can tell school has been great for Garrett and he hasn't had any problems at all. YAY!! Wyatt is still fine with no brother during the day and even gets upset when we have to stop playing to go get him. They give each other hugs and kisses every morning at drop off and each afternoon at pick up. (yes and on their own, no orders to hug from mom) It's sooooo cute to see them actually love each other. At home it's all wrestling and boy stuff, so mom loves to see the love between them.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Thursday, August 26, 2004 4:08 PM CDT

YAY!!!!!!!!! Garrett's back to normal for 2 weeks in a row!!!!! Happy dance, ready go. Okay, I'm back now, can't help it we are over-joyed here. Garrett had his monthly check and chemo this morning and all is great. Whew

Garrett started steroids this morning...hhhmmmmm. Mrs. Olsen said he was good today, yay...hope he stays that way. Otherwise school has been great for him and he's been loving it...some tuff mornings getting our feet moving fast enough to get into school but otherwise pretty good. Only had one day so far that he hasn't eaten anything at lunch-sloppy joe day. Which was no surprise to me but we old him he had to try lunchs before we would send any with him.

COUNTS:
RBC--3.81
WBC--2.2
Neutrophils 1.51 (IN NORMAL RANGE!!!!)
Hemoglobin--11.4
Platelets--267

This is the first time in I don't remember how long (all summer maybe) that Garrett's neutrophils have been IN the normal range! We are thrilled, so not as many worries about school and sick germs. Still on full meds and boy those go fast when on full doses...I fogot how many times you have to go to the pharmacy to refill...but we are healthy and getting the strongest dose of chemo to keep those bad cells away. GREAT! So I can deal.

BIG anouncement from Garrett..."I am starting soccer!!!!!!!!!!" We signed up last night and should hear from the coach first of next week about practices. He can't wait!! Hope he is still that happy when it starts and he has to run for the games. Fingers crossed here. This will be Garrett's first sport attempt...drum roll please...keep you posted. We bought new soccer shoes and shin guards...he wants to wear them NOW! Oh yah, how could I forget, a new soccer ball for him to practice kicking around...he LOVES it! The coachs at the sign up told him to practice at home kicking the ball...so since mom and dad didn't tell him to do it...he is. Stand by for updates. He starts the season on Sunday Sept. 12th and plays every Sunday through the month of October (minus Halloween Sunday).

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

PS. New photos on the photo page and leave a message if you stop by to see us. Garrett loves it when you do. Thanks.

Monday, August 23, 2004 9:25 AM CDT

MAKING TRACKS TO SCHOOL...

The first week of school is over and the second (and full week) has started! Garrett had a ruff time getting up this morning...not as excited today as last week. (no jumping out of bed with YAY!) But he got up and started moving and was ready to go on time. We did have a little feet draging walking from the car to the school so we didn't get to wait outside with his classmates this morning, we had to walk him into school. Mrs. Olsen told us today that Garrett does a great job remembering to brush his teeth everyday! Way to go Garrett. He will be starting to walk from lunch to the classroom to brush and then outside for recess all by himself. He'll love that, he thinks he's sooo big. Not many kindergarteners can be that focused and not get side tracked...especially on chemo and steroids and the whole thing. We are soooo proud of you Garrett!!

We go to treatment on Thursday and I'm a little nervous about the first time to have steroids while in school! I really hope that Garrett saves the tantrums for home and not school...crazy request but I don't want him to have bad thoughts about school. We'll see probally the first of next week when they REALLY kick in. Send good vibes this way for Garrett to be happy happy happy!! I'll keep you informed.

Over the weekend we went to the State Fair and the boys had a great time. They loved the animals...horses mostly. Garrett loved petting everything!! So there was A LOT of hand washing going on. We saw a brand new litter of pigs just born a couple of hours before we got there. That was cool..."Mom what is that stuff hanging on the baby pigs?" and "Mom why are they pushing the mommies belly?" Funny! The boys saw elk and loved that plus all the fish and ducks/geese at the pond. They love animals of all kinds!

Thanks all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

P.S. I have new photos on the photo page...yes they are from camp at the begining of the summer...but I told you I would get some on...didn't I?

Thursday, August 19, 2004 2:10 PM CDT

*********
Please send your prayers to Jordan and his family. Jordan passed away Wed. at noon after a long fight. Please send any words of encouragement you can to the family. www.caringbridge.org/ia/jordangrosclaude
**********


Garrett had labs done this morning (at 7am) and all is back to "normal". YAY!!!!!!! Counts have shot back up. We still have to go back next week, because it is time for our monthly chemo again. He is now back to 100% medication doses AND is in school all day long. What an amazing week for us. I'm so happy he is back to normal levels...it's scarey when the counts are low, anything can happen then. Right now Garrett is fighting a cold...due to mom here who is sick. (trying to stay away as much as a mom can and still be the mom) But it's amazing how he can hold those things off, with help from the Bactrim too.

Wed. morning I woke Garrett up and said it's time to get ready for school today...Garrett replied "YAY!!!!" as he jumped out of bed and ran upstairs to eat breakfast. He was more than happy to say "bye mom and dad" at school. Wyatt even had NO problems with the fact that we left Garrett at school all day. At no time did he ask about his brother during the day and didn't even want to go pick him up after school. Guess mom was way off there. After school the question was "What did you do at school today." He had this to say "We played outside!" So I asked more "What did you eat for lunch?" "PIZZA!!!! and lettuce." (of course those who know Garrett know he doesn't like lettuce...so I finally found out it was carrots out of the lettuce. So we will see what he has to say today.

Side note...he even remembered to brush his teeth at school!!!!!!! WOW!!

*******
One of our friends, Darick, has a little friend that was in an accident and needs some prayers to pull him through his surgery recovery. Triston's parents can't touch or talk to him now...there is to be no stimulation of any kind while he pulls through. Say a prayer for them please.
www.caringbridge.org/ia/tristona
*******

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses' and one happy happy mom!

Tuesday, August 17, 2004 11:15 AM CDT

Garrett goes to school tomorrow! He CAN'T wait!!!!!!!!! We went to open house last night and he didn't want to leave. He LOVES school so much! He showed his little brother all over the school and loved being the big brother and showing off. We saw his new teacher and talked to the school nurse. They are both happy to help anyway they can and didn't seem nervous about Garrett at all, which makes mom feel better. Garrett knows a few kids in his class from preschool so he's happy about that but he is also excited about making new friends. He will see his other friends at recess too so that makes him happy. Friends are very important to him. He hates when he gets sick and can't play with his friends, he still remembers missing almost 2 months of preschool when he was diagnosed in 2003. And missing school time, he hated that. Hopefully we won't have to miss too much school this year.

We go to the clinic Thursday morning for labs bright and early to make it to school on time. So I will update the first day of school and the counts all on Thursday afternoon. I'll be sure to let you know Garrett's exact words on the first day of school. Should be fun. (After all the reminders from mom on what not to do and what not to forget to do.)

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Thursday, August 12, 2004 10:58 AM CDT

Drum roll please....Well we were just into the clinic for labs and...they are still the same as the last 2 times! So that means we are still on only 75oses of our meds and we will be in next week for another check. What fun. Next week we go really early though to get labs done before school! Yes Garrett has 6 days until Kindergarten starts. Here are his coments "YAYYYY YAYYY!!!!" and add the jumping up and down to the picture at the same time. I'm so excited that he is happy to go back to school.

Not much to add from around Carlisle the last couple weeks. Garrett is going to stay the weekend at Aunt Dee Dee's house (ours friends from Fort Dodge). Then back to open house Monday night at school. Wyatt and I will be going to the State Fair Saturday, if he is okay with staying home with mommy while brother is gone. It's cold here...who ordered fall already? The boys don't care they are riding bikes like crazy and seem to want to be outside all day long now. Pray we don't get any colds from this weather.

A few prayer requests:

Jordan is still fighting hard and needs a miracle. His family has great strength and they are praying to find any light at the end. Jordan isn't moving much other than the occational opening of his eyes. Please take a moment to say a prayer for them all. See his site www.caringbridge.org/ia/jordangrosclaude

Mason is fighting hard too. He had a bone marrow test and they found 80isease there. They are continuing chemo and are hoping to find a new program to cure him. Please pray for them Mason is a wonderful little boy. See his site
www.caringbridge.org/asia/masondbrown

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Leave Garrett a message and encouragement for a great school year.

Friday, August 6, 2004 8:52 PM CDT

UPDATE***Garrett wanted everyone to know that the count down is on....1 week until school starts! YAY!!!!!!!!!!



Well the gang's all here! Both boys are home now and are back at it! Steroid boy is up and running and since the boys have taken turns at grandma's the last 2 weeks mom forgot what the fighting was like! HELP!!! Garrett had a great time this week at grandma's but I think he was happy to be home to "fight" with his brother because they no more than looked at each other and were wrestling away. Greg is working hard this weekend with his new store opening up, DSW (shoe warehouse), at the new mall at Jordan Creek Town Center and it being no tax weekend!!--So mom may not make it through the weekend alone with 2 boys that haven't seen each other for awhile and one coming off the steroids...YIKES...enough said. Stay tuned and wish me luck.

Garrett has labs next Thursday and starts school the 18th of August...he can't wait for school. We have all the supplies bought (had too early, someone couldn't wait!) and just counting the days to go. I think that first day we will have a little brother crushed and crying for his brother...we'll see. Mom is excited for some break in the boy fighting noise. Garrett learned to ride HIS bike, finally, at grandma's. No more of the fighting over little brother's bike-I hope! He figured out how COOL it was to ride fast and slam on the breaks...leaving his marks all over grandma's new cement! OPPS!! Of course that means our drive will be no good I'm sure. We have balloon races going on here in Indianola and have been watching the sky to see them go by, maybe we will have to make a trip that way tomorrow night to see them closer. Also the state fair coming up...fun! All this to do and squeeze in before school starts. Then it's to bed early and up early...no more sleeping in (like that ever really happens with 2 young boys!)

I would like to stop and send out a prayer request for a friend Jordan. He has JMML and is leukemia free but has a fungus taking over his brain and they are currently using all the drugs they can to fight it, but it continues to grow. They have told his parents that this is all they can do and it's only a matter of time. Please send them some prayers of strength they are in great need. God Bless this wonderful and strong little boy.
www.caringbridge.org/ia/jordangrosclaude


That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Friday, July 30, 2004 3:58 PM CDT

Good afternoon to all!!! Great news is Garrett's counts are up some more, finally! He is staying on 75% meds though to make sure he stays up and doesn't drop because of an increase in meds. So we are going back for labs in 2 weeks this time...finally a week off! YAY for Garrett since he is going to stay at Grandma's this week. Garrett had a LP today, they tried 3 times to get the needle in his spine and finally got it in, weird for us, we usually get right in and done. But all was clear and he checked out great. Doc said that his counts coming back slow is nothing to worry about. He is in a slow growth time and it take longer for the counts to recover. If it was a growth spirt that would be different. So all is good I guess with the slow counts and it's "normal" for kids like him. I guess I can stop worrying now...can't help it...I'm a cancer mom.

COUNTS:
RBC--3.66 (4.30-5.20)
WBC--2.0 (4.0-10.3)
Netrophils--1198 (1700-7500)
Hemoglobin--11.6 (11.9-15.0)
Platelets--293

We are grateful to all who have held us in their prayers to bless Garrett with some normal CK counts. It seems to have worked. It's nice to see the 2.0 in WBC, haven't seen that all summer! And nice to be over the 1000 mark finally in the neutrophills too, also been low all summer! Great feeling to be back in the game just before school starts up. So he won't miss as much for count checks.

This past week has been spoil city for both boys I'm sure...Wyatt is at grandma's and Garrett has had mom and dad to himself. Garrett cried when we dropped off brother (for about 20 minutes!) and kept saying "I miss brother!" Well, he got over that when he realized he could do whatever HE WANTED and didn't have to agree with anyone else. So we spent 2 days at the pool and one day shopping and getting our hair cut (Garrett likes to do that-yay for mom) and then to IC today...that wasn't so fun...but the rest of the week was good. Tonight we are going to an Iowa Cubs baseball game--if it doesn't rain?! Dad's treat for the great trip to IC and Garrrett's great temperment this week. Then tomorrow we meet brother and Sunday Garrett is off to grandma's house for his week. (I'm not sure mom can handle the 2 child thing again when they are both back at home!!!)

Please stop and sign the guest book and tell Garrett HI! That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Friday, July 23, 2004 10:00 AM CDT

Drum roll please....well Garrett's counts are still the same so still at 3/4 meds and waiting....till next week. (again-feels like a skipped record) Hemoglobin is 11.4, platlets at 245, and WBC is still 1.9 with netrophils at 960 we need 1000 to get back on full meds. Good news is Garrett did much better on his eye test yesterday. He got 20/30 in both eyes...so I guess he was nervous last week taking the test. We will see what happens next Friday at IC for our LP, chemo and counts...hope they are up finally!

This week was up and down here...we tried all week to go swimming with our friends but it rained and then they had some sore throats, but we finally got together yesterday and played, no pool but we still had fun together. We are hoping to go later this summer...not much left though. Today we are going to get some ice cream at the new ice cream shop in Indianola...it's free ice cream day today...should be fun. Then mom is back to work this weekend, not so much fun. Not sure how the boys will act with daddy since mom has been off for 2 months but we will see and I'm sure they will be fine after I go. They love having daddy time...then they can wrestle and make noise without mom saying "that's enough." Us mom's are not fun when it comes to "boy stuff", so I've been told anyway.

Well, that's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Tuesday, July 20, 2004 3:56 PM CDT

Long time no talk, I know. It seems that our summer is flying by and we have never been so busy as this year. I know, shame on me. There are lots of people wanting to know how Garrett is doing and we haven't kept up our end here. Well...

Garrett has been in for counts twice and they are coming up slowly. He is doing great though, aside from the side effects from going back on meds. Moods all over the place and he is hating us and then loving us...hard to deal with some days but we manage. We are up to 3/4 of the dosage now and waiting for counts on Thursday morning to make sure they are good, still. He had chemo 2 and 1/2 weeks ago and was fine. He had his eyes checked last Thursday for Kindergarten and they weren't so good, so we are going to have them re-tested this week to see if it was nerves or actually sight. It was his first time with an eye chart. He had his eyes photographed when he was in preschool and they were fine, so we will see. I'm not sure I am ready for another challange in Garrett's world.

The past couple weeks we have been to Adventureland twice and camping for 3 days too! Been very busy here! We had a great time with our DM friends at A-land and Garrett was excited to see his friends and some people from camp who adored him and his cabin mates. It was very touching to see all the volunteers loving Garrett and remembering who he was...tears for mom at that moment. We rode rides everywhere and were wiped out at the end of the day! We ALL slept well that night.

End of last week we went camping with some friends from Fort Dodge and the boys loved it!! Camping is like grandma's house. You can do fun stuff, forget the rules (most of them-you still have certain CK rules to follow), stay up late and have marshmellows on the fire!!! YUMMMY!! We were able to go boating for a little while and the boys played with their friends all day and night. We had 2 doggies with us for the week too (puppy sitting)...who were okay camping but also a little trouble with all the people around. They were trying to protect the camp site from others walking by...oh well. Then Sunday we were at A-land again with a ton of our close friends having fun, eating, and riding rides. Garrett loves to see his friends from far away. God Bless them all and their love for us. You guys are the best and are very close to our hearts. Love you Fors and Clarks!!!

That brings us up to this week. Tomorrow we are going swimming with friends in town, hoping it's not TOO hot with the humidity for Garrett. The boys can't wait...we haven't seen them much this summer with all our travels and activities and counts keeping us hid inside. Then Thursday we are off to get labs again...I will try to get on to let you know the outcome but we see no reason for them to be going down. Next week Wyatt is going to stay at Grandma Schulz's for his week--first time to be away that long and not having his brother in the hospital. Seems the only time he gets to stay over is when brother is sick. So he will be having fun at grandma's while we go to Iowa City on the 30th for LP and chemo for Garrett. Then Garrett will hopefully get to stay at Grandma's the next week...counts holding strong!? Then Garrett is off to start Kindergarten Aug. 18th! Can you believe summer is almost over? Where did it go?

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Monday, July 5, 2004 2:01 PM CDT

This weekend has been good for the boys. They have had fun with their cousin Ashlyn, who lives in Colorado, and played with Aunt Cinnamon too. Wyatt's birthday was Friday, 3 years old, and he is telling everyone he is 2 now. When he was 2 it was I am 3 now he is 3 and it is I am 2. funny boy. We had some time in the boat on the lake and played outside, things the boys love. We are waiting out the rain today to get back home and wouldn't you know it Garrett just got a bloody nose...again. They are seeming to come out of every where now. We go to clinic on Thursday to get treatment and see if the counts are up yet?! Hoping so...we have been off meds for 2 weeks and it's a little nerve racking. We will see at the end of the week.

For the 4th we saw a parade...lots of tractors, they loved that! Fire trucks too! We got lots of candy...oh joy! But the boys had a great day even though it was sunny and HOT! We had some homemade ice cream yummy! Watched the fireworks on Storm Lake with grandma and grandpa schulz and aunt Cinnamon and Ashlyn. It was so fun that Wyatt and Ashlyn fell asleep during the show! ha ha ha

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Monday, June 28, 2004 3:00 PM CDT

Good afternoon friends and family...before I start with Garrett's counts for the week I have some news that breaks my heart and seems so unfair. Garrett's friend Mason and his family have gotten some terrible news about his relapse. They were told that there is nothing that can be done to save his life only treatments to prolong it. They have a very difficult time ahead, 4-6 months they were told, please take time to pray for them. They need strength and love from everywhere. This hits us very hard since Mason was one of the first children we met when Garrett was sent to Iowa City in March of 2003. He is a wonderful little boy and has been very strong and brave. He is one of Garrett's favorite friends in his group of Connor, Darick, Mason and Garrett from Dance Marathon. Garrett says "Mom it gives me a tummy ache to hear Mason is sick. Can't he be better." Brings a tear to my eye and breaks my heart to hear a 5 year old say can't he just get better mom? Right now I have no idea what to tell him about his friend, it's hard enough to tell your husband and for us to understand it all. Please take time to say a prayer for them and visit their site. God Bless the Browns. www.caringbridge.org/asia/masondbrown

As for Garrett, the counts are still low but coming up a little. He will stay off his chemo meds- 6-MP and Methotrexate and also will be taken off the Bactruim until our next visit on July 8th. Hoping that this is the thing to bring up the counts and get us back to "normal". Many thoughts have crossed our minds since our friends aren't well and we try everyday to think positive and pray that Garrett can pull back up and be that "normal" CK again. Funny how you get used to the cancer life and pray to get back on track with it. It will be a long time before Garrett isn't a CK and we can get back to the real normal--whatever that is? But we are in the place now that this is our normal life and Garrett even says he wants to be back to the meds and doing the stuff he should to be doing as a CK.

COUNTS:
WBC--1.2
Netrophils--.40
Platlets--235
Hemoglobin--10.8

The WBC is going up! YAY!! Netrophils are still low but should be heading up now that the WBC is moving up. Garrett's platelets went down some, which we knew. Over the weekend we had 3 nose bleeds. One of which was very bad and lasted 20 minutes...on the verge of scaring mom to death (thinking we were making a trip to transfuse platlets). The other 2 were only about 10 minutes max, so they were okay. His color is good and he feels lots better...at least well enough to tell his little brother what to do and to fight with him. (resulting in one of the nose bleeds) We will see how the week goes and hope that the counts are on the rise. Until next time have a wonderful 4th of July and we will be celebrating Wyatt's 3rd birthday! We'll let you know about it.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Monday, June 21, 2004 3:25 PM CDT

***********
Wednesday, June 23, 2004 Update

Well Garrett is doing better now. Monday he slept and hung out on the couch the entire day. Yesterday he played in the sand box outside, with a mask on, all day long. Brothers have been side by side this whole week and hardly and fighting (with each other-with mom=another story). The diarrea has stopped, Thank the Lord. No temps, Can I get an AMEN! So we are just awaiting the count check next Monday and praying for a lift in numbers. They are thinkng he just had a virus and it has run it's course now. So we will hang out at home, the rain will make it easier to deal with than bright and sunny days (at least for today and tommrrow) Garrett has been great about wearing his mask and hasn't given me a hard time about it at all. What an amazing boy, he seems to surprise me everyday. Until next time, God Bless.
***********

First off, a couple new photos from camp...they were sent to Garrett. (on a side note, from Garrett, "Mom STILL hasn't picked up my camera yet!") So hope to get those soon for you to see...and before my son stops speaking to me.

Garrett went in for labs this morning and they aren't good. I knew right off yesterday that they were going to be VERY low. Garrett took a 2 hour nap and then got up for half and hour and was to bed for the night. (Garrett NEVER naps.) This morning I had the worst time trying to wake him...it was scarey...he couldn't get his eyes open and then he couldn't get his motor skills to work...could not walk up the steps on his own. So we got breakfast (and looked at it for 15 minutes) then went to the bathroom--diarrea!! YUCK! So we get dressed and in the car we go...and, of course, back to sleep 2 minutes down the road. So we didn't just have labs today we had to have a visit from Dr. Elliot too. He said Garrett "looks" great...good color, his ears are clear and look great, lungs clear...nose still stuffy but that seems to be it. So we sat and waited for counts to come in to see what it would say. Well, they are LOW. So no 6-MP or Methotrexate this week AT ALL!! We also have to monitor the stooling...FUN FUN. So we are on alert for "Mom, I have to go poop now!" We are praying that it runs it course soon...if still runny in 2 more days we are back to the clinic. As of now we are back on Monday anyway to check counts again. (Here we go again! We just did the count run the month before last.) We will be watching for fevers and praying they stay away. They aren't sure why his counts dropped and why he looks so good but is so run down. CK's are a mystery to all I guess, even the Doctors at times.

COUNTS:

RBC--3.03 normal is 4.0-5.4
Hemoglobin--10.0 normal is 12.0-15.0
WBC--0.9 (Yes point 9) normal is 4.5-8.4
Neutrophils--.47 (Yes point 47) normal is 1.5-8.0
Platelets--354 This is the only one in the normal range!

So we are on the waiting train, cancer moms know what I mean. Garrett's color is good so the RBC and the Hemo are low but okay. The Platelets are GREAT!!! Go for one count YAY!! WBC is low and freightening, so looks like no out on the town or playing with the neighbor kids any time soon...unless he is willing to wear the mask outside to play. We haven't had to do that since last summer at his benefit, so I'm not sure how that would go over?! The neutrophils scare me too! They are way too low to be healthy for him and I'm not sure I'm ready to do the whole hospital thing again. We are almost at a year without a stay...last stay was the last week in July--first week in August. So please say a little prayer for Garrett. We will keep you informed if anything goes on here the next few days.

Our week with our friend Cierra was fun, even though it rained a lot when she was here. The kids painted A LOT!! Put together puzzels, played outside when they could, we had a movie night with popcorn and whatever movies they wanted to watch, one day we went to the park and had a picnic and played all day on the equiptment. The kids slept on the air mattress in the family room all week, they loved it! Like camping but without the bugs and chilliness at night. It was nice to have a girl around for awhile, since mom is the only girl at this house. She helped me do all the "mom" stuff and we painted nails and curled hair while the boys played trucks. All had a fun time and Cierra will be missed...but hope to see her and her brothers again soon. Love you Fors'!!

PRAYER REQUESTS:
Also please say a prayer for our friend Jordan who is still in the hospital and needs some support from above. He has had another transplant, the donor being his little brother! What a trouper! www.caringbridge.org/ia/jordangrosclaude Their family could use some encouraging words too. Please take the time to, at least, pray for them and if you can visit his page and leave him a smile I'm sure he would love that. God Bless you Jordan.

Another friend of ours needs many prayers! Mason has relapsed with his Neuroblastoma. He is one of our friends from Iowa City too and is someone Garrett loves to play with at the Dance Marathon parties, so this is very hard for us too. www.caringbridge.org/asia/masondbrown Please say a prayer for the whole family and send them some encouragement, since this is one of the most difficult things for a family with a CK to deal with. God Bless you Mason.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Wednesday, June 16, 2004 8:10 AM CDT

Sorry it took so long to update about camp but we are on the steroids now (should be enough said there) and we had a family member go to heaven. So here goes....

Garrett LOVED camp!!! He was fine the whole time and didn't have a bit of trouble while he was there. We received a call Monday night and as the lady started talking Mom started to panic. She told me who she was and all I could say was "Okay..." She then started to go into what they did that day and that no one in Garrett's cabin cried last night and that they were the most energetic cabin there and that EVERYONE knew who they were! That actually didn't surprise me at all. After I got over the shock of them calling I was happy to hear that he was doing great. The kids rode horses, climbed a rock wall, fished, shot bows and arrows, swam (can't forget that!), had a camp fire, tie dyed a T-shirt, and made crafts. The last night they had a tornado watch and had to go to the basement for awhile. This didn't bother the campers but the adults were nervous. (nothing came out of it though) They had fireworks Friday night and the boys in Garrett's cabin went running out to watch them and left the cabin door open...so guess what was in there when they got back? A Opposumm!!! The boys laughed and Ben chased it out. That was the biggest news when I got there to pick up Garrett. Along with the non-stop talking until we were 15 miles down the road and then he was sleeping. He had a great time and wants to go back next year and then "get big and be the helper for other campers like me." Way to go Garrett!!!

Over the weekend the boys hung out at a friend's house while mom went to the family gathering. Garrett and I then drove back to Des Moines for counts on Monday morning and chemo treatment. Well, he woke up Monday morning with a stuffy nose and he has some fluid in his left ear. (Something more for us to watch-great) No fever as of yet, but the attitude is here and BOY did it come this week! I'm not sure if it's a combo of being at camp all week and doing what he wanted or the low counts or the cold or the steroids or that mom has lost her mind or what. HELP!! But yesterday was the longest day EVER! Garrett threw about 6 HUGE tantrums yesterday. Of course 2 were in the grocery store...got to love that one. People don't understand the chemo and steroids and all that goes with it, so I had eyes on me the whole time we were in there. Then at home he got angry with me for reasons I don't even know. He spent some time in his room screaming, throwing stuff, and pounding on the walls. He finally calmed down and took some meds for the night and feel asleep. WHEW!!!!!!! What a long day for mom! Today seems "normal" so far...whatever that is. Wish me luck, dad is home tonight (he has been gone on business)--YAY!!!!!!!!!!!

COUNTS:
WBC--1.4
Netrophils--880 or 55% (When we get to 750 we have to adjust doses)
Hemoglobin--10.9
Platelets--331

So the WBC and Netrophols are LOW so back next week for another check...I thought that it was supposed to be easier in maintance...we seem to be in the clinic more now than before we started maintanace. Well, we will see if we need to decrease doses next week or not. He was at 55% but said to normally go down over the next week (it's probally not done decreasing) so we will probally be changing the doses again this month and back each week for labs. Glad we can go right here in Des Moines now for labs and not driving to IC every week...long drive for just lab work.

We have a friend staying with us this week too. (scared her to death last night when Garrett was screaming but she is good today.) Not many people actually witness the fits. So we are all good this morning and hoping to have a picnic outside and play at the park...watching the rain chances here...looks like it will let go at any moment. (of course) Also hoping to play in the sprinkler sometime, but the temps are going down here--we'll see. We painted yesterday and are doing puzzles now...then we will see how the day goes.

We have one camera of photos (that Garrett took at camp) waiting to get them back, so we will see what comes out and hopefully can post some. That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless. The Kruses'

Thursday, June 3, 2004 7:44 PM CDT

For our trip to Disney please see the past journal entries.


Garrett is getting ready for camp in Boone!! He will be gone for a whole week! Only 2 more days until the big day for him and a scarey one for mom. I've been really excited about it UNTIL today. I have all his camp stuff packed except a few things I need to throw in and now I'm a little worried or nervous or just being that over protective CK mom...I want him to go and have a GREAT time but I'm a little scared that he will forget to wash before he eats or not put on sunscreen or bug spray or brush his teeth like he should. I'm not worried about the meds that's all under control but the other stuff that I usually take care of is now Garrett's to do!?! Well, I guess I should let go now and let you in on the rest of our life these past few weeks, instead of the ramblings of a CK mom. I'm sure a lot of you out there understand.

Graduation--It was very cute. The kids all sang songs for us on stage in their cap and gowns...arms around each other and swaying back and forth. LOVED IT!!! Garrett got to his turn to walk up and take his "diploma" from the teacher and he was all "shy" and looked around until he saw us smiling and waving at him then he was all smiles and waving to us. We even got a thumbs up! After the big event we took a few photos and then "Mom, you have to have some cookies and juice. Come on Come on!" That was the most important part to him. Cute.

We have been outside a lot playing and going for walks. Trying to stay away from all the BUGS! They are out of control this year and boy they make you swell up HUGE!! Tonight I sprayed the yard with Cutter bug guard...we used it last year and it works GREAT!!! So hopefully tomorrow the coast will be clear from the "bug dance". The boys got some HUGE squirt guns from daddy (Garrett's taking his to camp) so they can't wait to use those outside! But we haven't used them as of yet...we'll see if we can make it till camp or if we have to use them before Sunday. We have baby robins in a nest under our deck...the boys think it's neat but you will get into trouble if you go even cloe to the nest (not by mom but by the boys)...we watch the mommy a lot as she flies to find bugs and worms and as she sits on our fence to watch over the yard. It has been a neat experience for the boys to see...they were watching the blue eggs until they hatched too. Wyatt of course is very into the worm part of the watching...he LOVES worms!!! "They live in the dirt and grass. Mom they don't have teeth so they can't bite you." It's funny to hear him talk about them like he knows everything. Funny!!

Check the new photos...graduation ones for now and then we will put on some more from Disney. That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Friday, May 21, 2004 8:33 AM CDT

*********** May 30, 2004
Please take time to add this little boy and his family to your prayer list. They need some strength and love. Jordan has JMML and is having a difficult time right now trying to find his strength again after many many treatments of all kinds. His family has had a long road and could use some extra strength from God. Please take a moment to say a prayer for them all. God Bless You.
***************

For days 1-4 look at past journal entries....

Here it is, the last few days of our trip to Florida:

Day 5

Sea world was great!! We saw 3 shows: the doplhins, sea lions, and of course Shamu. Garrett and Wyatt were able to feed the dolphins fish and pet some stingrays. We saw manaties (SP?), penquins, sharks, fish of all kinds, pink flamingos, and lots of ducks. At the Shamu show we sat in the "soak section" and of course we got wet...well dad got soaked, Garrett's top half got wet, mom's right half was wet and Wyatt was all dry! And yes we all sat together. Greg video taped the show through a plastic bag to protect the camera and it is funny to see him get soaked by the huge wave! There were lots of whales and Shamu was showing with her baby...it was neat. Garrett didn't get to ride the water ride because he was an inch too short..darn it. So instead the boys played in some water that was randomly shooting out the the ground and they were soaked from head to toe. Which was funny since Garrett was upset that he got wet at the Shamu show, even though it was his idea to sit there. After we were able to "pull" them out of the water Garrett wanted to know "Can I change my cloths now?" Like mom has the suitcase in her pocket?! We walked through a tunnel with fish and sharks swimming all around us, it was cool! And saw an aquarium that was in the floor and ceiling so we sould "walk on" fish! the only bad part was Garrett losing his brand new Buzz sunglasses somewhere in the park and we couldn't find them...oh well. We then made the trip "home" with the two boys sleeping in the car. (must have been a great day!) Had some supper and a short swim then bath and get ready for bed. Mayor Clayton stopped by to tuck in the boys and say good night. The boys loved it and were in ahh that he was there. He tucked them in, fluffed their pillows and bounced on the beds. Then told them good night and kicked us parents out. The boys loved it!

Day 6

Getting tired here...alarm too, it didn't go off this morning?! So we were up a little late but hurried and got back on schedule for our day at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. First stop was Sherk 4-D. The seats moved with the movie and we got wet or blown on, it was fun and the boys loved it. Wyatt too!!! We of course had to get Sherk stuff too. We also went on Jimmy Neutron and Back to the Future, both simulators and lots of fun. ET and Earthquake were fun but Wyatt didn't like the shaking train on Earthquake. We saw some characters at Universal, Sherk, Sponge Bob, Scooby and Shaggy, Courious George and the Man with the Yellow Hat. One last stop for ice cream and headed to Islands of Adventure. Started off with Spiderman...actually him and some photos. Greg and Garrett went on the ride which was a 3-D rolloer coaster movie. Garrett loved it! Then on to Jurassic Park where we all rode with the Tyrodons (SP?) up in the air and waundered through a "mountain" with rope ladders and nets, slides, and even dino feet that roared when you stepped on them. Our last stop was Suess Land where we saw The Cat in the Hat, Thing 1 and 2, The Grinch and a couple other charactors out of the Suess books. The boys had a fun time playing with them for awhile but were ready to GO! "Can we go yet?" Hit a few more rides on the way out. One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish-which was a fish flying around and you could get wet by squirting fish. The Cat In The Hat ride was a mvoing couch going through the story book. And the Suess merry-go-round was animals out of his books...no horses. Back to the village for supper and playing at the Castle of Miracles, saw Mayor Clayton and danced with some dancers that came to perform. Then let me say GOOD NIGHT was in order...tired need I say more! Good night and off for home tomorrow.

Day 7

Well, this morning was making sure we were all packed up to check out of our room at 11am. We then went to breakfast. By the way it was Mothers Day today..keep that in mind while you read the rest. Wyatt was very tired and didn't seem to want to eat. So he sat on mom's lap for awhile and then downed his milk and in came racing back up all over the table and mom. What a start to the day. Well we ran back to the room to wash quick and he layed down. He felt better when we got all packed in the car and were ready to go swimming for the morning. After that he was fine?! We swam for awhile, had lunch, and one last stop to eat ice cream at the parlor and then off to the airport. There was a Harley Shop inside the airport, we just had to stop and look at the Harley in the entry. Then off to wait for the plane. We made the trip back just fine...we had a longer lay over on the way back so we made it in plenty of time to get on the second plane. Then we got back to Des Moines and flew in over Carlisle--saw the water towers. "Cool mom!" Then made it home and went right to bed..sleeping as we moved around the house getting the boys ready and it was a great trip. Glad to be home but loved the adventure.


We had a wonderful time and we are trying to plan another one! We had sooo much fun and we ALL loved the time there together. We don't get to spend that much time together as a family with work and running here and there. We enjoyed our time together and are more thankful than can be said to the Make A Wish foundation and their donors. Without them we would have never had the chance to do all we did on Garrett's wish trip. God Bless to all. The Kruses'

Monday, May 17, 2004 11:38 AM CDT

For days 1 and 2 go to the past journal entries...

Day 3

Magic Kingdom...need I say more? Okay well the BIG hit was the Buzz Lightyear ride...rode that about 6 times in a row and again later while we were waiting for the night show. It was neat, you shoot "lazars" at Emperor Zirg and save the galaxy as your space ship flies and spins through space. The boys loved that one! We saw EVERY character you can think of and had our special time with them. (Thank goodness we have photos or I would forget who we all saw) The boys each got a kiss from Cinderella and she left lipstick on their checks! CUTE!! Garrett rode spash mountain and the railroad coster with dad...Wyatt again too small. But we got over to Mickey's toon town and we all rode Goofy's roller coaster...3 times in a row! The boys loved that one too. The Pooh ride was fun, riding in honey pots and the Peter Pan ride was great. We flew over everything in a boat with magic pixie dust sprinkled on it. We had front row seats for the afternoon parade! The boys loved that too! All the charaters were there and they all said hi or waved to them. We also saw a show at Cinderlla's castle...it was good. At the end of the night we stayed for the evening fireworks and they were spectacular! Tinker bell flew by all in a glow. (ligthed person sliding down a wire) It was cool! Well, we didn't make it out to the Buzz store without a new Buzz for each of them and new Buzz sunglasses too! Wyatt feel asleep in the "herding" to the front gates after the fireworks and on the way to the fairy boats to cross the pond to get back to the car, but Garrett make it till we were only a coulpe of miles from the village and then was awake at the start when we got in the drive and turned off the car. "Can I play with my new Buzz now?" So he stayed up for a little bit to play with Buzz and take his meds. There was so much fun and "stary eyes" here today that it makes a mom want to live that day over and over.

Day 4

Wow Day 4 already! Time flies when you're having such a GREAT time!!! Today was our day to get our photos with Mickey and Pluto at the village! Goofy and Alice made the trip too so we were in character land before we even set out for MGM. We saw shows and didn't have to hurry to get it all done so it was a relaxing day. When we arrived at the park we first headed for Al's Toy Barn... Buzz and Woody you know. Well we saw Sully and Mike from Monster's Inc on the way, too cool! Then off to see the Toy Story gang, we were stopped by Kermit the Frog and then he took us over to Al's where we saw Buzz, Woody, and Jesse! We were then able to slow down and get in a few shows. Muppets 3-D Moive was very funny and even Wyatt enjoyed it. On our way to Ariel's show we saw Mickey (again) but in his magic hat! We also saw Minnie and Pluto together, Miko (from Pocohontas) and Max (goofy's son), Pooh and Piglet, Miss Piggy, Timon and Rafiki from the Lion King. Lunch was at Buzz's Pizza Planet-COOL!! (Just like in the movie!) Garrett and mom rode the Star Tours-Star Wars ride, loved it. Went to Ariels show and then Playhouse Disney. Wyatt danced the whole time!! Tower of Terror was next on the list for Dad and Garrett! YIKES says mom! Garrett got off and said "I'll never go on that ride agian!" He screamed on the ride but didn't cry. Bigger person than his mom. One more time on the Star Tour and a trip to buy "star wars guns". Then we made it back to the village to see Christmas was here! Santa and Mrs. Clause were there, Christmas dinner, and a ride in a horse and buggy. It even snowed! Last stop on the way home at the ice cream parlor, of course and then home for baths and bed.


Well only a couple more days to update next time and you have seen our trip. Garrett went to clinic Friday for his chemo and LP. YUCK! The boys and mom went this time and of course Garrett was sick from the LP. His counts were normal (for a CK) and he had his chemo and got to brag about his trip. We stopped at the mall for lunch and Garrett ate and lost it, ate and lost it, and once more ate and lost it, then ate and was fine. Brave child, after the first time I would have stopped even if I was still hungry. "Mom I'm still hungry." That's another difference between these brave kids and their parents. We are also baby sitting (puppy sitting) this week for grandma/pa's puppy while they are on a trip. The boys are very excited and running all over with the dogs...we also picked up our Wilma who was missed by all. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for doggy sitting.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Wednesday, May 12, 2004 9:50 AM CDT

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E MICKEY MOUSE!!
Disney was GREAT!!! I am going to post a few days now and in a couple days update with more and so on.

Day 1
We left this morning at 5am from our house and made the trip to the Des Moines International Airport. The boys did great, got up and got dressed and Wyatt even went poty in the potty!! Yes repeat for mom's own good here, used the potty!!! We got on the plane and the boys were thrilled! They loved the whole time in the plane...Couldn't wait to get off the ground. Wyatt even said as we entered the air and leveled out, "okay we're going down now." Because of the motions, funny! We got to Memphis and had to RUN to the next plane, if boys that little could run, it would have made it easier...but we got to the next plane as they were calling last boarding calls...whew. We made it to Orlando and it was raining, yucky. Well we got to the village and it's SOOO cool. The boys played video games endlessly. We had ice cream for lunch! Yes for lunch. And supper was at the Gingerbread house...burgers and hot dogs. They ate pretty good and then went mini golfing at the Dino Golf course...well Garrett had a GREAT time "pushing" his ball through and Wyatt got scared and wanted to "Get out of here!" When you put a ball in the hole it made dino noises. Then there were a couple of holes that shot out water at you...Wyatt again HATED that part and the tunnel that was dark until you walked into a certain area and again Wyatt hated that too. That last hole a big "Sharp Tooth" (for those Land Before Time lovers)pops up over the fence and shoots out steam. Wyatt started crying and Garrett screamed, but then he laughed. They rode the train and "drove" the engine around the village. The pool party was cancelled due to rain but there are other times to swim.."Okay boys." So we just got done planning our weeks adventures...hopefully. So off to bed for mom and dad and up to have breakfast and off to see the animals at Animal Kingdom and fun at Epcot Center. Good Night Day one...and one tired MOM!

Day 2
This was Animal Kingdom and Epcot Center day. The sun was shining and the day was great. We had our breakfast at the Gingerbread house and saw some Mickey ears baseball hats that we are just going to HAVE to find. Then we were off to the Animal Kingdom..."are we there yet?" First out by the gate was Pluto! (Before we even got into the park) It was great! We got photos and were off. We saw tons of animals around the park and a HUGE "tree of life". It is the biggest tree anyone has ever seen...the trunk was full of animal carvings. We tried the Bugs Life show called "It's tuff to be a bug" which was 3-D and SOOOO good! Garrett and us BIG kids loved it!!! Wyatt was not so happy...He started out good by trying to catch butterflies in front to him but then some things were "flying" at us and he got scared. It was a great show and it even squirted us with water, stink bug spray, and acorns. We were swatted with fly swatters and a big lizard stuck his tounge out and ate Hopper (grasshopper from the movie)! Then as we were leaving a bunch of bugs ran out from under our seats! (It made bumps under our seats and people were jumping up all over) GREAT SHOW!!! We went on a safari ride (saw tons of animals everywhere and our truck had to stop to let them cross the road) Greg and Garrett went on a rapids ride--they loved it. (Wyatt cried because he wasn't tall enough to go) Traveled to Camp Mickey to see more characters: Koda and Keni from Brother Bear (Wyatt loved it and hugged them forever...which made mom cry), Goofy and Pluto, Minnie and Mickey. We saw the Lion King show with dancers of all kinds and monkeys swinging on bars and jumping on tramps (acrobats). Great music and the boys were able to shake some music makers and run around in the "parade" with the animals. SOOO GOOD!!! We also saw Lilo and Stitch, Baloo and King Louie from the jungle book, Turk from Tarzan and Flick from Bugs Life. WOW! We also saw Simba, Pumba, and Timon at the Lion King show. We then made a quick trip to Epcot to see the Living Sea-which had tanks with fish-some like the fish in Finding Nemo, some divers were in a tank learning to dive with sharks and other fish. We also went on the ride Living with the Land..which was a boat ride to learn about plants and the land and we saw alligators. Then we made the trip back to the village for some supper and a SHORT swim...it was getting late and the air cooled down so it was cold swimming. We saw Mayor Clayton and his wife at the Gingerbred house for supper and had ice cream for a bed time snack...then off to home for bath and bed. Good Night day 2.

This was the first couple days and we have more fun to come. So check in soon to hear more...and hopefully photos will be back.

Garrett was into clinic Monday morning to double check his counts since he was low when we left and glad to say he is back to "normal" CK range and is back up to normal doses of his meds. That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Tuesday, April 27, 2004 10:12 AM CDT

UPDATE OF GARRETT'S COUNTS AT BOTTOM OF JOURNAL.

DISNEY HERE WE COME! (Almost anyway) Garrett recieved his wish last night from Make-A-Wish and he was SOOOO EXCITED!!! He was so excited he was almost too shy to talk to them! Now who's kid is that? Wyatt and Garrett recieved some stuff from Crystal (the Make-A-Wish girl...beautiful name!) and her husband Jason, who came along to meet Garrett. (Great names huh grandpa and grandma Schulz! My little brother's name is Jason..so the boys were looking at them funny...mom's name and uncle Jasn's name, how does that work?!) Garrett now has a great back pack to take with him on the plane that says M-A-W, and stuff to put in it. They both got a travel magna-doodle, some silly putty (by the way they haven't stopped playing with it since last night!), snacks!!! (very important), all of us have M-A-W T's to wear to Disney and pins too! Garrett also has a new hat to wear with the genie on it from Aladdin, how cool! Stickers to wear at Disney with the Genie on them too! It should be fun trying to get them to wait to wear those! We then watched a video that shows the Disney parks and all the fun to be had...Greg and I may have to watch it when the kids are asleep, they talked through the WHOLE thing! VERY EXCITED!!!! We also have a book to guide us through all the parks and rides. We are ready! Let's GO!!! Mom here is very excited too! I can't wait to go and play for a week!!
They have all our stuff set up us, the rental car, carseats in Florida, and a stroller, so we don't have to worry about any of that! YAY!! We will see how the trip in and out of the airport go for us with 2 small children! (and a bag full of meds and "possible weapons"--medical supplies!) Greg and I were looking at the things to do and are thinking, "How are we going to see it all!?!" Well we are willing to give it a shot. Here we go.
Garrett has a CBC on Thursday morning, hoping to have normal ranges and back to normal doses! Then Friday and Saturday the boys will see Grandpa and Grandma Kruse and maybe some turkeys! (other than themselves-hee hee hee) The gang is gong to hunt turkeys while mom is working and finishing up the packing. Then Wilma will be going home with the Grands to play with her new pal Maggie--puppy form of Wilma!--while we are away. Garrett is already ready for school, which doesn't start until 1pm, dressed in his M-A-W t-shirt! Couldn't stand it and HAD to wear it to school! Ha Ha, figures huh. So we are all set and will have a hard time waiting till next Monday but here goes. Any suggestions on what to do or the best spots in Disney let us know! Garrett knows his friends have been there and is happy to get to do it too! We already have to make the trip to the ice cream shop--we were told about that, it's at Give Kids The World! (where we will be staying) Sounds like a fun adventure. (I will update the counts after CBC on Thursday)
That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Well, I wish I could say Garrett is back to normal and good to go, but...his counts hardly changed at all over the last week. (No we don't know why and neither does anyone else) We are STILL going to Disney, he's well enough to go even with low counts. So whhheeew! That's a relief. We will have to arrive home Sunday night and then back up again in the morning for a trip to the clinic for a CBC. Oh well, we are still going to Disney that's great! So here's the counts to know:

WBC--1.9
Hemoglobin--11.1
Platelets--264
Netrophills--.85 (germ fighters-should be 1.0)

We received a map of Give Kids The World, where we are staying, today in the mail. That was GREAT for the boys to see and they are even MORE excited!! (if that is possible?!) That's all for now (and for a few days) from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless and M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!!!!! The Kruses'

Thursday, April 22, 2004 2:01 PM CDT

Good day to all. Garrett's counts are on the way up...not all the way yet but up some from last week.

Counts to watch and HOPE they come up fast...Disney is sooo close now.

WBC--1.9
Neutorphills--.84 (germ fighters should be at least 1.0
Platelets--343 but last week they were only .50)

We are at 3/4 of the regular doses of 6-MP and Methotreaxte now instead of the 1/2 dose last week so it's getting closer. We will be back to the clinic next Thursday at 8:30am for another CBC. Send good prayers to Garrett so he can still safely go to Disney and not have to worry about germs to the extreme...I guess so Mom doesn't have to worry to the extreme! Think good thoughts.

This week has been better, no run aways! hee hee hee We did have a little problem playing with the neighbor kids the other night...involved some spitting and punches on Garrett's part. He didn't get what he wanted, of course. So we are working on that some more. He's never been like that before so it's hard to remember that we have to watch him at certain times during his treatments. Hopefully he's understanding that better...we'll see.

Well, Garrett is loving preschool but can't wait for Kindergarten...we have to point out the school EVERY TIME we drive past it. Graduation is coming up the end of May and Garrett gets to wear a cap and gown so he is excited! We will post pictures after the big event. He will miss 2 days of class when we are gone for our make-a-wish trip but for some reason he doesn't mind missing school this time. Wonder why? HHHMMMM

Both boys got new haircuts for the summer...Garrett's is "spikie" Cute! He wants his hair done every morning...more time to add to the morning clock for mom. Wyatt got a hair cut too...SHORT!! (just like he wanted, mom's crying a little but dad loves it!)

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses,

Friday, April 16, 2004 10:57 AM CDT

Check past journal entries to see about Kindergarten Round up!

We have had a trying couple days. First off we went clinic yesterday for the monthly chemo and CBC. Well, Garrett's counts are down...WBC only 500. So we have cut the meds in half and are being extremely careful around others...don't need to get sick before our Make-A-Wish trip coming up in May. Otherwise he is great...gaining wieght and getting taller! Anyway, he is low in counts AND on the steroids...which may make the following sound normal to other CK parents.

Garrett "ran away" Wed night. Our first experience with that...what fun...NOT! Garrett got angry because he was told to pick up all his bedding he and his brother threw all over the floor...why they think it's fun to pull off everything so mom has to re-make the beds is beyond me. Anyway, as Wyatt was picking up Garrett decided that he had had enough of the rules and "didn't want to live in this house anymore!" "I don't need anyone!" So mom got him a bag and packed his meds, he then packed some clothes...which turned out to be 3 long sleeve T's and a bunch of tank tops! He put on his shoes (of which he can't tie and didn't ask for help, because he doesn't need anyone!) and his coat and headed out the door and down the driveway. As he was walking he kept looking back to see if anyone was coming for him. (Dad and Mom were peeking out the window at him wondering how far he was going to go.) He turned onto the sidewalk and went as far as the neighbors driveway and stopped, throwing his bag on the ground. (rules are not to cross that drive--so he's running away because of the rules and is still following some?!) Well he stayed outside longer than we thought he would...it was getting dark and he started coming toward the house but we think he saw Greg's feet behind the truck and grabbed his bag and hid behind the tree in the neighbors yard for another 15 minutes, for a total of 45 minutes. Well than we had enough and went out to ask him if he wanted to come home now and he did. Mom asked him if he was cold and scared and his said "yes mom". I then said it's not so bad here is it? He agreed and got ready for bed and went right to sleep...it being 8:30pm (bed time is 8). So hope that doesn't happen again anytime soon.

Garrett got his app in for CK camp in Boone this summer and the Dr is sending in his med app. He is very excited to go...he will be at camp a whole week without mom and dad! And most importantly no little brother to share with! He wants to ride horses and swim...we will see how he does. Mom thinks he will be fine and Dad thinks we will be going to get him after a couple days. The bet is on. This weekend we are going to our friends T-ball game, Garrett is excited...he wasn't sure he wanted to play this year so we are checking out the games and maybe next year. We'll see.

Thats all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, M.D. Not that we need anymore excietment here in Carlisle. God Bless, The Kruses'

Tuesday, April 13, 2004 3:04 PM CDT

KINDERGARTEN IS THE BEST!!!!

Garrett is great. He had kindergarten round up on Friday last week and he loved it. He was all ready with his phone number and address, birthday, colors, shapes, most of his letters and counting. So Mom asked him what they did at school and he said "We played mom." He was upset when we got home because he thought he would be going directly to kindergarten this week...even though we talked to him about it many many many times. But after preschool today he was fine...they had FUN! Parents and little sibblings got a tour of the school and learned of the new additions coming next year...then we all had cookies! yummy!!
The weekend was good here too. The boys and mom went to the movies and saw "Home on the Range" by disney and they loved it! Easter dinner was Saturday night for us and Greg's parents...most family was out of town or working this year. We ate and colored eggs and then fought to go to bed...having too much fun with grandma and grandpa and the new puppy, "Maggie". Yesterday we went to Fort Dodge to "play" with the Fors kids. My friend Dee needed some angels to come and watch the children, while her mom had her surgery..all went well. Her father is also doing well and was released Monday night..to check in at Dee's house. He is now on oxygen and breathing treatments, but is strong and doing well. Thank the Lord.
Garrett goes for his check up this Thursday and we have to get our camp physical filled out so he can go to CK camp in June. He is very excited! He wants to ride horses, swim, camp and play with "Other kids like me!" He has been growing well and is getting strong...almost too strong for mom. Wyatt is about the same, still no potty...diapers is just too easy for him. Why go potty when mom will take care of the buisness. Well, we will continue to work on this.
Not much else new around Carlisle. The boys are loving the weather...it's been very nice here! They are counting the days until our trip to Disney! Coming up in May! They are excited about the plane ride...me nervous about the ears. (The boys don't chew gum.) Not too much else to say here. That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, M.D. God Bless, The Kruses'

Thursday, April 8, 2004 1:01 PM CDT

Edit to Thursday's entry...Sunday, April 11, 2004
Thank You everyone and Thank the Lord. Dee's dad is out of ICU and breathing on his own, with a little help from oxygen. His lungs are clearing up and everything looks great. Dee's mom is waiting for surgery on her elbow...Monday afternoon. Please keep her in your mind tomorrow as she undergoes surgery. God Bless everyone who added these wonderful people to their prayer list. As we know prayer is a powerful thing. The doctors are saying Emmett's speedy recovery is a miracle. Thank God for that. Have a Happy Easter everyone and I will update more Monday on our weekend. God Bless, Crystal


I'm taking this time to add a prayer to your list please. My best friend Dee is dealing with a situation that no child should have to deal with, both of her parents are in the hospital and she needs extra strength from God now. Please add Emmett and Norma Scharf to your daily prayers as their family needs strength. Emmett is in the ICU at Fort Dodge hospital with heart, kidney, and many other complications...not sure of the outcome as of now. Norma happened to become injured as she was trying frantically to go to the hospital with her husband and fell. She now has a broken elbow, which is in need of surgery. She also is having complications with her heart and may need to be sent to Iowa City. Please take a moment to say a prayer for each of them and their family.

Dee, we love you! You are in our prayers and our hearts. We are here for you whenever you need for whatever reason. Time means nothing...we are here 24 hours for you. You and your family are our family too. God Bless!

Thursday, March 18, 2004 5:10 PM CST

We have hit our 1 year mark...only 2 and a half to go! HA! March 11 was our one year date and Garrett is doing great. We have been busy with our trip and the bad weather and pretty much trying to get rested up and back to normal. So we are late updating. So we are here to tell you the news:

We made our monthly trip to the Dr. today. We saw a new Dr. in Des Moines this time and he was great. Garrett was a little shy...yes you read that right...shy. We don't know why but he was very quiet and the appt was very fast. We were in and out within an hour and a half. We were amazed. Garrett wanted to know why we were leaving already! And even asked if we could come back tomorrow!! Mom almost fainted when that was said.

COUNTS:
RBC---3.49
WBC---2.3
HEMOGLOBIN---11.0
PLATELETS---235

Looks good for a CK.

Garrett is now 35.9 lbs! YIKES!!!!! He is gaining weight like a crazy person. I guess that means he's very healthy. Dr. Elliot said he looked very healthy like he was even sick at all! YAY GARRETT!!!!

Our trip home from Colorado was LONG! This way wasn't like the way out....the boys were very irritated about everything. Uncle Jason and I couldn't get home fast enough! Uncle Jason will be at home loving the quiet! We saw tons of geese on the trip out and they were gone before we came home...which the boys were upset about. (must be future hunters!) Well we all made it in one piece and before the snow fell. Yes snow. Here in the Des Moines area we got 16.2" of snow on Monday!!! Well on the bright side (for us snow dislikers--is that a word?) the snow is all GONE!!! Yes it melted in 3 days here! It's very wet but it's nice and sunny. The boys helped "scoop" snow this week and got their snow gear all WET!! They had a great time and wore out some of the energy! (Yay for mom!) Now they want to ride bikes since the sun is out. When do I get a break?!

Garrett missed his school friends while we were gone and was VERY happy to get back. He even got the treat bucket...now Mom has to think of a treat starting with the letter "T" for "T" day. HHHMMMMMMMMMMMMM...think think think (as Pooh would say)

Check out the new photos and sign in please. Garrett misses all the messages he used to get...please take a moment to sign in and say hi. That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Tuesday, March 9, 2004 3:56 PM CST

Hello sunshine!! we are enjoying the sun here in Colorado, visiting aunt Cinnamon and cousin Ashlyn. We had a nice trip from Des Moines to Aurora, CO on Friday. The boy did GREAT! They did not even complain until we were an hour and a half away. Uncle Jason made the trip with us and is having fun too. Saturday we went to Chuck E Cheese....what a fun time and what a lot of people...well kids! The boys played games and got upset when we had to eat...we were not here to eat I guess. They both had a few bites (a few is not an understatement) and then were ready to go back and play.

The park is on the list for this afternoon, when Ashlyn wakes up, so we are all very excited and are ready to go NOW! We went for a walk yesterday and the day before...its sooooo nice here! Running the boys around...sleeping nicely! hee hee hee.

The mountains had NO impact on the boys, Garrett said Yah I see them. Look at those buildings. So pretty much got the who cares about those hills way over there with the snow on them. Jason and I were very ecited to see them and were looking for them before we even got close to Denver. Go figure.

Garrett is doing great. He has a slight sniffle but it is not slowig him down at all! Wyatt on the other hand is not liking the mom being with a baby thing. We are having some attitude problems there...oh well. Can not blame him, he is mommies baby. The boys are loving aunt Cinnamons cats!! She has 5, yes 5! Wyatt can not get enough of the petting and tails! Poor kitties.

Well that is all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless to all! The Kruses minus one daddy

PS Daddy We love you!!!

Monday, February 23, 2004 1:18 PM CST

Hi to all the angels in the world! Garrett and Wyatt would like to say they see angels everyday and those of you who send Garrett messages and pray for him are those angels. God Bless you all!

Over the weekend we were involved with the State DU (Ducks Unlimited) Convention and all the angels were thrilled to see Garrett and tell him how brave and beautiful he is, and they are right. Garrett is the bravest one in our household everday! Garrett we love you! Garrett loved all the attention and had a great time dancing with his brother and all the others who were "pulled" onto the floor to dance. The boys had unlimited energy Friday and Saturday...where does it all come from? They were up LATE both nights and up early each morning...and it didn't get ugly until Sunday night...where it all came crashing down. But we did great up 'till then. Thank you to all who took the time to give Garrett your time and love. He loved every minute of it and thinks of you all as his angels. Tammi and Ed a BIG "thank you" to you for all your love and time. The boys love you! And love that you are great friends of Connor too! He will miss you until he sees you again.

Both boys were all camo-ed out and were the little "duck hunters" for the weekend. They loved that too! We had a hard time getting the camo off Satruday when it was time to change cloths from the day before...but the Spiderman sweatshirts seemed to work just fine...still wore the camo DU hats though. They love them, the ducks and all that's invloved. We have two future DU supporters on our hands! Which makes Daddy and Grandpa Jon very proud! The boys love to point out the ducks and geese in flight everywhere we go and the calls are a big deal at our house. They "practice" duck calls all the time...sometimes TOO much, but they will make duck hunters proud in the future. Wyatt can't wait till he gets to go out with dad and Grandpa(s) like brother!

Garrett has been great since his last check-up a week ago. We even made it through "steroid" week pretty good...WOW! He did eat like a crazy man but the moods weren't that bad to deal with this time. AMEN! He is starting to get a little bit of the "fat face" and "big belly" from the steroids, but he thinks it's cool. His favorite saying is "Look at my fat belly!" He is finally growing like crazy! He has outgrown most of his fall clothes and almost growning all of his new clothes he got for Christmas! Great to see him holding his weight and growing finally but not so great for the wallet and all the new clothes we are buying. At least we can thank the Lord that his is growing and we have gotten past the weight battle. AMEN!!!!

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. Please stop and sign the guestbook...even if just to say hi, Garrett loves messages and it helps him to know everyone loves him. God Bless, The Kruses'

Saturday, February 14, 2004 4:12 PM CST

Happy Valentines Day to all!!! Sending love and happiness to all our friends and family.

Garrett had his first 12 week appointment in maintanance yesterday. Everything went well. We had a LP and he did GREAT! Didn't get sick at all and had no headaches this time. I do have to say he is very moody today though so I will make this short. And we will update as the next week goes by--steroids again! Need I say more.

COUNTS:
RBC--3.82
WBC--2.1
Hempglobin--11.5

Counts are all good for a CK. His white is a little low but is good for germ fighting. Everything else is going well...they uped his doses for all meds since he is holding good with the counts and handling it all well. So we will go from here and hope for continued strength.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. (or Firefighter--lots of Rescue Hero's going on here in Carlisle.)God Bless. The Kruses'

Monday, February 9, 2004 9:19 PM CST

Can I just say DANCE MARATHON IS AWESOME!!!!! And as Garrett said all night Friday "This is the BEST Birthday ever!" He loved the dance and was soooo excited for those 2 days! This was a very moving and emotional experience for our family and hundreds of others too. It's very moving to see all the people who care enough about all these children, just like they are a family. All the dancers loved to spend time with the children and dance and see them smile and laugh. It's a great experience and we will be counting the days until next year. It's just hard to put into words how much love you feel when you are in the room with all the dancers and families. God's love shinned bright!

Garrett celerated his 5th birthday this weekend also. I can hardly believe that 11 months ago we heard the news and now we are here to celebrate his birth and life. The dancers had a mini celebration for all the birthdays over the weekend and got everyone up on the stage...well Garrett stood tall in the front of the other birthday goers waiting for his turn to say his name and age...everyone was 19, 20, 21 and then you hear "My name is Garrett and I'm 5." And the crowd screamed!!!!! It was soooo great, Garrett smiled from ear to ear and mom cried. He had a birthday cupcake with the others and then had some pictures taken with them. What a day! Again "This is the BEST Birthday ever!!"

Garrett and Wyatt danced the night and day away! All the ladies loved dancing with them and did they ever play it up! Garrett's line to mom was "The chicks dig me!" (I'm sure dad had nothing to do with that.) The boys also had fun with their friends Connor, Mason, Derick and Georgie...plus made many more. The big highlight for both boys was spending time with Hurkie! They danced with him for the chicken dance and the hokey pokey. This was sooooooo great, dad and mom laughed like crazy!! Garrett also got to go on stage with Hurkie for a whole song...WOW!!! Wyatt's famous line for the dance was "Mom, there's Hurkie!" ("Dee Dee will be so jealous!" Garrett)

Then to end our weekend: a huge birthday celebration at home! Like the huge dance wasn't enough with aroud 2000 people we had a big celebration at home with 30 of our friends and family. Garrett was flying high, and to tell the truth so was mom. It was great to see all the love and support Garrett has and all those who were overjoyed to celebrate Garrett's life. Garrett's birthday was super hero's...which was perfect because that is what he is a superhero! (At least in my book) Garrett had a batman cake, ice cream, food galore, family, friends, and oh yah, gifts. (How could I forget that?!) Garrett loved all his gifts and was excited to open every one of them. And if this hasn't been enough tommorrow at preschool they are having another brithday party for him...when did a birthday for one 5 year old boy turn into a week of parties? I know he is special, but aren't we pushing it a little too far this year? So here's one last "Happy Birthday to you peanut! Mom and Dad love you more than you will ever know!"

Everyone please take time to say a little prayer for Connor who is in the hospital again. This time with an ear infection that won't go away. The boys had a great time this weekend together and Garrett would like him to get all better so help him in praying as you read this today. For Garrrett is praying for Connor at night before he goes to bed..."Being in the hospital is no fun mom." God Bless the little ones.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Friday, January 23, 2004 10:50 AM CST

Snow or not to snow?! Can this weather ever make up it's mind...the boys want to play in the snow. When we have snow it's too cold for Garrett to play outside and when it starts to warm up the snow melts. At least I can say that Santa brought them enough toys this year to keep them PLENTY busy! Thank you Santa! (Anyone with an extra room to store some toys please feel free to call. They are pretty cool boy toys hear that dad's out ther)

Garrett's trip to IC last week was good although the attitude was not so good. Everything went well, counts were normal and chemo went well (with all the stuff here I can't remember where I put the counts-sorry). Garrett had a down day for treatment. He threw the attitude to the nurses and told them "I'm not doing this today!" Which is very unusal for him...he loves seeing the nurses...they let him flush the line and all that good stuff. Well anyway, that played off on his little brother and he started with the "No No No" plan. Needless to say mom had a long day! Not sure what the problem was because the steroids hadn't kicked in yet but we made it through. Over the weekend we had yet more fun with the "Mom I don't want to!" And crying at the drop of a hat. Try not to lose your mind with children crying because you said it's time to eat lunch now or please put your clothes in the hamper. Now it being a week later...thank goodness Mom made it! Oh yah, Garrett and Wyatt made it fine too.

The boys are very excited because we have the family room done now and they can play in there...more importantly we can use the fireplace now! "Mom can we have a fire today?" "Is dad home yet so we can have a fire?" "Mom how come the fire is out?" All daily questions now?! Hhmmm, new things to enjoy on top of the normal daily questions. Which by the way all come in double duty...Wyatt is in the repeat mode...and he keeps repeating everything until you or ANYONE answers him. His new name is now "Repeat" so of course Garrett became "Peat". Oh the fun of two boys who can't do anything without each other. Which is a blessing for mom somedays...that gives me a break...unless the boys both want to have mom play too. That's a whole other story.

Garrett has had a great first few weeks at school. He loves it! He even goes into the school on his own...started on day 2 of school! Well, who needs mom right!? They have been learning ABC's and have brought home a new letter each day and he actually learned them! Wow he does actually listen...well to his teacher anyway. hee hee hee. Wyatt is getting used to the idea again...he got very used to brother home every day and now he gets to be home without brother. It's getting easier but Repeat loves Peat a lot! They have been telling each other that a lot lately...what's up with that? Can everyone feel the love?

Well, that's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Sunday, December 28, 2003 7:03 PM CST

Well Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! Best wishes to all and hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that you were all good enough to get presents from Santa.

To add to the never ending boxes at the Kruses' NEW house we have....tons of new toys and clothes and never ending things from Santa and the family. Santa showed up at our house on Christmas Eve morning. He was unsure of our new address so he had to come early to make sure he knew where we lived and he found it just fine! I think maybe he forgot to take some other kids' toys with him...because WOW all the toys!!! Rescue Heros have now invaded our home! The boys went to see why all the Christmas lights were on in the family room and Greg and I stayed in the kitchen upstairs to wait. We almost fell over laughing when we heard Garrett yell "I got the Rescue Command Center!!!!" It was so cute! The boys also got other figures and animals to go along with it and many other games and Learning pad books...so much to remember. We left that afternoon to see one of the grandparents and then saw the other the next day. Also more Rescue Heros and some pay dough!!! Also cars and trucks of course, what boy could live if they didn't get some trucks.

We got to stay and spend time with aunt Cinnamon and cousin Ashlyn for a few days and loved it! The boy thought Ashlyn was fun and her new toys were even better. I think I need to get rid of the boys' stuff and get back all my baby toys. They had to take over all the musical toys and "show her how to use them". We couldn't believe that the boys were playing with baby toys! They always seems to amaze us. Who knew...

We are home now and mom can't find any room to do anything. We had space before we had Chritmas...where did it all go? I guess tommorrow we will start putting things away AGAIN!

Garrett had a good week...toys helped the come down off the steroids...we had lots of mood swings this week and a couple morings where his hands shook and he had a time trying to handle his spoons of cereal. But other than that he is healthy and feels great. We are ready for another haircut though! WOW, his hair seems to be growing fast and it even has a slight wave in it now. You can really see it when his hair is wet. Very cute. He still wishes it was black but we'll slip past that. He is getting excited about school starting again...preschool only 2 days a week now instead of 4, but we will make it until next year for kindergarten.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Tuesday, December 23, 2003 10:27 AM CST

HO HO HO!!! Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year! Well we are all here in Carlisle now...settled, kind of. We had great family and friends help us with the move and even to stay and help unpack a little so we can move around in the house and use the kitchen and bathrooms! We are still packed with boxes in some rooms but we are getting by. Thank you to all who took time out of their lives to help us get the boys a "house" to have Christmas in this year. You are all angels in our book.

Garrett has been good...considering the steroids the last 5 days, during a move. His counts were lower but still good enough to carry on with the same doses of meds. We have had some screaming fits this weekend with the moods changing but we made it through. Garrett has been eating us out of house and home...for the food we can find anyway. hee hee hee. He has spent a lot of "leave me alone!" time in his room...which works for mom. I need "leave me alone!" time too when he's like that. But he is healthy and even gained 2 lbs since last month's check! 34 1/4 lbs now!

COUNTS:
RBC--3.67
WBC--1.9
HEMOGLOBIN--10.5
PLATLETS--297

His WBC looks scarey but his germ fighters are good at 1500! So we look great for the Christmas holiday.

On a side note for the holiday, Wyatt is clear for ear infection. The Dr. checked him out while we were at Garrett's check to make sure his ears were normal. She didn't want us to be stuck with ear infection out of town and on Christmas. How wonderful Dr.s are.

Garrett and Wyatt and mom got some christmas stuff out and ready for Santa yesterday. A small tree and our stockings of course...now hanging by the fireplace...which is a good thing or Santa would never get into our house. (never had a chimmeny before and he always got in.) Greg told Garrett Christmas morning we would have a fire too...Garrett got this strange look on his face and said "NO! Santa will get burned!" Well we had to explain that Santa would have already been here and gone again before we started the fire. So then everything was fine. Quite a funny expression on his face though. Just shows how children think differently than adults. The boys helped mom get the Christmas presents sorted into boxes to go off to each grandmas this week. And are VERY EXCITED to see cousin Ashlyn and Aunt Cinnamon from Colorado this week too!!! They will have fun, Ashlyn is moving about now. She will be 1 in March, so she is getting fun now too! I talked to my sister and Ashlyn is getting her 2 front teeth for Christmas this year! Now that is a new way to look at the 2 front teeth song huh.

The boys love their new room! They are sharing again, and love the room, dad put in new carpet for them and that's cool. They also are downstairs next to the fire room...Santa will have to be very quiet this year. HO HO HO
We will have to get used to the rules...no playing on the stairs though. Our house is a split level and stairs seem to be fun to drive on and then lay in the entry and drive up the next set of stairs...this will take a bit to get used to. They boys have a bathroom downstairs too...they say it's their's. Funny.

Well, everyone have a wonderful and joyous holiday season! Someone has to get back to holiday baking! Mmmm the smells of baking and the sounds of "let me help" and "I want to stir" and "It's my turn" Merry Christmas everyone!

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, M.D. God Bless, The Kruses'

Tuesday, December 9, 2003 2:19 PM CST

Dashing through the snow in a red F150 truck, over the interstate we go, whining all the way. (ohh ouch ouch) Music is playing loud, keeping people awake. Oh what fun we'll have moving all our stuff. Oh moving van, moving van, driving all the way oh what fun it is to ride in a big huge moving van OH...everybody now...

Yes, the big news around the Kruse household is that we are moving to Carlisle, IA. And even better we are moving the weekend before Christmas so we will be singing Christmas carols all the way!! HO HO HO!! Jingle bells, and all that cheer. Greg has taken a new job in Des Moines and we have found our new house in the small community of Carlisle. Garrett has found a new preschool, but will miss his school here very much! We also will have a great reunion with our doggie Wilma! Now that we have our own house we will get to bring her back home with us! But also her current guardians will miss her more than anything! A plus is we will be even closer to Iowa City now and won't have the 3am drive time to get to Garrett's appointments in Iowa City. So, Yay say the boys and Yay says the tired mom. Anyone who would like to have our new address feel free to e-mail us or call and we will hook you up.

Garrett is doing well and will get his second treatment in maintainance next Thursday, right before we start moving stuff. So we will be rather busy here in Mason City. His counts have been good and his energy is great...sometimes too great. The boys have enjoyed some time in the snow the last few days, but it is now gone...at least until tonight so they say. This is Wyatt's first real winter, last year we hardly got any snow and so this was a treat for him. Although, anyone who has an idea on how to keep his gloves on while in the snow please enlighten me. I had to force him in because his hands were sooo red from playing in the snow without his gloves. He hated that I made him come in but otherwise we may have had another very sick child. All is well with his hands today. The boys think it is funny that mom has boxes all over the house...concidering mom never lets stuff sit around long, because it drives her nuts. They are having a hard time with the fact that mom has packed some of their toys up. (there are so many I had to get started on them!) But they have been digging throught them and pulling stuff out, so I guess mom will have to start over again.

Sunday we had a great time with relatives in an early Christmas lunch. The boys got to play with cousins and eat lots of good food. It was a nice relaxing time for all, some of which needed the break from packing, wraping, and trying to figure out how to keep the Christmas presants seperate as not to lose them in the move! What a goof that would be!!!! Garrett has been worrying about whether Santa will find us or not. But also excited because our new house has a chimmney to let Santa in and this one here is no good (now) because there is no chimmney! Funny, Santa got in just fine last year!?!?! Children have great imaginations don't they. Happy Holidays to all and I will try to update next week before we move...no promises but I will try. HO HO HO to all and to all a good night!!

Please take time to say a few prayers for some wonderful little boys. Connor Muston is in the hospital with another fever...and his little brother, Cameron, is also sick. So please take time to say a prayer for this family. Also my cousin's boy Tyler is staying strong and is fighting to get better, has relapsed with ALL. I think they could use some strength from God, please take time to say a prayer for Tyler and his family. God Bless you all.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Tuesday, December 2, 2003 7:49 AM CST

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Ours was good and busy. We started off Thursday moring to Great Grandma Freddie's and had a yummy lunch with her and the family. The boys even got to sit at the big table! Wyatt was the host, I guess. He told everyone where they were to sit! Garrett ate lots...just got off the steroids. The boys got to see uncle Lance and loved every minute of that!! Then it was off to Grandma Donna's. Friday we went and got a Christmas tree to put in Grandma/pa's house. The boys each had a turn helping Grandpa Glenn saw off the bottom of the trunk...FUN!!! The tree came in and the lights went on. That night Grandpa Glenn and the boys made gingerbread cookies!! What a brave Grandpa!! There was flour and cookie dough everywhere! But they had a great time cooking and stiring and cutting out the cookies!! That evening Uncle Jason and Amy came and the boys had a hard time going to bed. They wanted to play! Well it being 10pm, mom had had enough for the day. Garrett was being difficult, due to his steroids and it was time for a rest! Saturday the boys and all helped decorate the tree and the house for Christmas! What joy and celebration! Sunday we had a big Thanksgiving dinner with the family and Great's too! The boys had a great time and loved every minute of the weekend! Great to see everyone and Bless those who could not be with us, hope to see you soon.

Garrett has been a challenge the last week but is healthy and strong. He looks great and many have commented on how he is back to his old self. He's even grown a whole cm! That's a big deal for us, he hasn't gotten any taller for almost a year and now here we go. His weight is maintaining at 33lbs, which is good as long as we can keep him there. The new meds have been okay so far with only a couple times of complaining about taking them everyday. Hope to keep smiling and taking those meds but you know how little boys can be and even more so when they are a CK. Wish us luck in keeping the meds a positive thought.

That's pretty much our weekend. We are on our way to the Dr. for Wyatt...ear infection I think...not fun here. Hope to get it all taken care of and then off to get the boys second dose of the FLU SHOT!! Well there goes the day, mom will be on the naughty list until tommorrow. That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless and happy holidays to all. The Kruses'

Tuesday, November 25, 2003 9:37 AM CST

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!!!!

We are ready to update our whole weekend of fun. Garrett went for his maintanance check on Friday and we are there!!! He had a LP and of course got sick. So the afternoon was slow but we got past that. (that eve he ate a half bag of chips!!) Garrett has a whole new array of meds to take now...something new to get used to...but we will pull through. His check was good, he lost some weight but grew taller so it all averages out there. His counts are good and he looks GREAT!!!

COUNTS:
RBC--4.03
WBC--2.5
PLATELETS--294
HEMOGLOBIN--11.6

We will get chemo every 30 days now until the end. Every 12 weeks we have to go to IC for a check and to see if we need to adjust his meds. Which means every 30 days we will take his steroid for 5 days. Just enough to get him acting up and then stop taking it...food here we come! Thanksgiving should be a great meal for Garrett!!! At every 12 week visit we will have a LP to make sure the leukemia isn't growing in his spinal fluid. Which Garrett will hate...he doesn't like back tests!

The Dance Marathon Party was GREAT!!! The boys played all kinds of things in the childrens mueseum. They had a shopping center with shelves of food, carts, registers and aprons. A big farm with a barn and slides, a house to play in, a "field" to plant veggies and a fish pond to catch plastic fish! Wyatt, needless to say, was wet and almost a fish swimming around in the pond himself. Thank goodness Greg was there to grab his pants before he took a header into the water! So that was enough of the pond for us. There was an amubulance and hospital station that we were stuck in FOREVER!!! Garrett had a GREAT time playing in there! They had an X-ray room where Garrett checked Greg's "broken" leg and a doctor table where Garrett gave Wyatt a whole check up! He even tried to pull Wyatt's pants down to check his privates! "Well that's what the doctors do to me mom." Can't argue with that. There was a dentist office with big teeth. WE ALL got a demo of how to brush teeth, by the Dr. of course. We got to see Santa and get a picture with him and then made ornaments and colored pictures in Santa's room. Both the boys got christmas tree's painted on their cheeks. And then off to lunch...the boys didn't really eat, they were to excited to go play! We went to the Iowa Men's Basketball Game and got to ride the Campbus to the game from the mall and back. Well that was the highlight of the day for the boys! They loved riding the bus! Thought they were cool. At the game the boys had a great time and got to meet Hurkie! COOL!!!! At half time the boys went to the floor and helped the cheerleaders sling shot out T-shirts to the crowd. Garrett went first and shot his way out to the second row! Hee hee hee. It was a lucky day for the people sitting close to the floor...not many made it very far. Then it was a long ride home and a quiet one too. The boys fell asleep and rested all the way home...of course that made it hard to get Wyatt back to bed when we got home. Garrett was tired and went right up to bed and slept until the next morning. All and all the day was great fun and the boys loved every minute of it. They saw some CK friends and some DM friends and had a great time.

Everyone have a great Thanksgiving and a safe drive if you are traveling. We have a big weekend in store and I will update next week how our first week of maintanace went...and how many trips I had to take to the store for snacks.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Monday, November 10, 2003 9:27 AM CST

Just an update from our last IM visit. Garrett is great...he has made it through this arm with no setbacks and he took increased chemo every treatment. Last IM his counts keep dropping and they had to level out his chemo and we also got a fever...this time so far so good. The only thing we have had to deal with is some bloody noses. Garrett seems to be getting them at night or early in the morning, before he gets up, so mom has been washing a lot of sheets lately. We are going to set up a cool mist humidifier in his room and hope that helps out. Garrett has gained weight! He is up to 33.9 lbs now. When we started his treatments he was barely holding onto 30 lbs and this summer we were going up and down between 30 and 31 lbs. so we were very excited to see the last 3 visits his weight is going up and holding there. Garrett's getting a hair trim today! The hair over the ears and the back of his neck are getting long...what a strange thing to be excited about! It's like your baby's first hair cut all over again. He is excited too! Silly huh.

COUNTS:
RBC--3.75
WBC--3.4
HEMOGLOBIN--11.0
PLATELETS--338

Counts are all still hanging tough. GO GARRETT!!!

We have been busy around here with lots of freinds having birthday parties and lots of visitors. The boys are getting spoiled with love. But that's okay, that's what family and friends are for. And the boys love the attention, not to mention the breaks mom gets! Thank you to all who have had us over or who have made the trip to visit us. The boys love to see you all!

It's very cold here! The boys are having a hard time adjusting to that, they think they don't have to wear the heavy winter coats and that they can play outside all day long. So we have had a challenge the last couple weeks, lots of wrestling and taking toys from each other...really loud in the house. Hope we get adjusted soon! Mom is starting to wear earmuffs IN the house! The boys want S#@N!
That 4 letter word, Mom is not ready for, for she dislikes winter. They ask every day if it is going to snow and Mom says I hope not today. One day I will lose but hope it holds out until later (always later). We have had a couple snow flakes falling, but not enough to do anything...it's been on those rainy days that it changes from rain to snow and back again. So the boys think it is going to dump snow and the yard will be ready to play in. Kids!

We are getting excited about the Dance Marathon Christmas party in Iowa City! The boys want to go play with Garrett's friends and see the "Hawk-eyes" play ball. Wyatt also calls them the "Hak-eye Heads". That will be at the end of the month, right after we start Maintainance! So it will be a big party for us in 2 ways!

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Tuesday, November 4, 2003 4:05 PM CST

MAINTAINANCE IS ON THE WAY!!! We are ready to celebrate, not that we know what it feels like but we have heard it is great. Garrett will have one more treatment on the 7th and then onto the glory time Nov. 21st. I have to say that our trip hasn't been as hard as it could have been and we thank God and everyone who prays for us everyday. Garrett is getting hair back and it looks as if it will be the same as before, maybe a hair lighter. He is happy to have hair on his head but wanted it to be black. Oh well, it's hair right! And it's almost time to trim around his ears!

The boys had a great Halloween, see the costumes on the photo page, and wore their costumes 3 days in a row! The costumes are now in the laundry room...washed but hiding for a couple of days. We saw lots of friends and had fun trick o treating at aunt Kim's workplace, the Music Man square and to the neighbor's houses...that was plenty for mom...very cold night! The boys had enough fun and liked watching the other kids come to the door. We didn't carve pumpkins this year, we had bat and spider parts that we stuck into the pumpkins and that was fun enough for them. Anyone need any candy?

Over the weekend the boys got to see both sets of grandparents and our special friend Wilma! What a treat for them (grandpartents too) Wyatt had an accident and banged his check bone on some playground equiptment and now has a lovely bruise! It's not as bad as we thought it would be, no black eye. This is our child who, if there is something to fall on or off, he will! Surprised we have only had one trip to the Dr. for stitches and no broken bones yet. I'm sure it will come with time.

Garrett has had another hunting trip with his dad and Grandpa Glenn...ducks this time. (Well one anyway) He loves getting up and going to see the ducks and geese fly and to be with the big boys! I sure know he's not taking after mom...give me some sleep in time! See him on this page in his camo, if you can find him...hee hee hee.

Our last trip to IC was good, small upper respiratory infection but he has been fine. No fevers and sleeping good at night. He had a LP and it was clear. Nothing out of the ordinary counts were fine and we had no suprises.

COUNTS:
WBC--5.0
RBC--3.86
HEMOGLOBIN--11.5
PLATELETS--344

The family all made a trip to the Flu Shot Dr. What fun for us! The boys were mad until they got a sucker at the end. What will they think when we have to go back in 30 days to get the second dose...what fun for mom. But all is for Garrett and his protection. Hopefully this will keep the family healthy all winter.

I would like to add a prayer for my cousin's son, Tyler. He has ALL, which relapsed the same time Garrett was diagnosed with his and he isn't doing well. He has had many complications and is in the hospital with a collapsed lung. Please take a moment to pray for him and his family, they need a strength that only God can bring them. God Bless Tyler and his Parents, may God bring them strength in their time of need. Amen.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Thursday, October 23, 2003 9:02 AM CDT

Hello, sorry it's been so long since an update. We have been very busy here at the Kruse house. Garrett's last trip to IC went fine. Just a routine dose of chemo and a CBC. All looked good...counts went down a little but as expected with chemo every 10 days and the dosage being increased every time. We will make our next trip after the weekend and we will be getting a LP to check his spinal fluid, yet again, to make sure it is still clear from cancer, with our regular dose of chemo and CBC.

COUNTS:
RBC-3.74
WBC-2.5
HEMOGLOBIN-11.1
PLATELETS-332

Garrett has been very busy that last couple weeks, with school, some virus scares, Halloween planning, visits to friends, and some field trips in school. Garrett missed some days of school a couple weeks ago because of a trip to IC. One of the kids in his class also came down with the chicken pox! YIKES!! But all seems to be fine around here and no one else in his school got them. WHEW!! Someone else also came down with fifth's disease...just another virus right, can't stay away from them, they are everywhere! Again all is fine. Garrett's class went to an adult day care yesterday to sing and play games. They sang a few songs: 5 little pumpkins, the spooky walk, and some song about whitches. (It's hard to get them to tell you what they all do.) They played volleyball with balloons, bowling with ghosts, and bingo with the residents. It was a good time for all! Today they are going to a greenhouse in town to go through an hay bail maze and play in a pumkin blown up with air, and maybe bring home a tiny pumpkin. School is FUN!!! Next week they have a Halloween party and we are making take home treat bags...that's what we will do when he can't be at school the day after his chemo.

We have made some road trips to see friends in Fort Dodge and Omaha the last week. Garrett got to see his friends Bailey and Boston in Cresant, which is by Omaha, and they went to a hugh pumpkin patch! It was GREAT weather and we were actually hot by the middle of the day...what a change, usually we are freezing when we are there. They went through 2 haunted houses, and a story book town, rode horses and a hay rack. We got to pick out our own pumpkins from a HUGE patch, which is good so the boys will stop asking me when we are getting ours! The kids had a GREAT time and where worn out by the end of the afternoon, along with us parents! This trip has the boys even more excited about Halloween now! Can't wait until next week!!! We got to see our friends in Fort Dodge one day last week too and the kids had a GREAT time playing and playing and playing all day long. They were very upset when it was time to go home, Wyatt even told us bye...he's staying here! How the children love us...hee hee hee.


This weekend we are going to have a visit from Grandpa and Grandma Schulz from Storm Lake! The boys are very excited!! I will let you know all the fun they have and by next week I should have pictures back from the pumpkin patch and we have a new picture of Garrett goose hunting! Very Cute!! All will be seen next week.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Friday, October 3, 2003 10:18 AM CDT

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! Spooks and ghosts, ghouls and goblins, they are all here in the Kruse house. We are ready for the costumes and fun...is it time yet mom? Yes it is only the first few days of October but the boys are living it like it's Halloween everyday. Minus the candy of course. :0 We have the house spooked up and the Halloween stories are all around...black, orange, yellow, and white crafts are taking place all the time here. It's the boy's favorite holiday!!

I wanted to add an entry here for a special event that is coming up next Saturday October 11, 2003 from 1-5pm. Here in Mason City at the Woodharbor Showroom (next to Slumberland) there will be a huge oppertunity to shop for Christmas, birthdays, or just for you! We are hosting an open house including the following vendors: Pampered Chef, Longaberger, Tastefully Simple, Scrap'n Lane, Weekenders, Tupperware, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Home & Garden, Beauty Control, Partylite, Daisy Blue Lotions, and Stampin Up. They will have their lines out for display and Christmas lines out too! Come and enjoy the fun and pamper yourself with gifts. A portion of all sales will go to benefit Garrett's fight with Leukemia.

We will be going to see the Doctors again next week and an update will follow. For now Garrett is doing well and is excited to have a visitor this weekend...WILMA!!! Garrett's doggie is here to play and love, walk and collect leaves for school, and maybe jump in a few too. It seems all the leaves decided to fall the last couple days so we have a lot to work with here in Mason City.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'


Update for the week on Garrett's treatment. Chemo treatment 2 in our every 10 day stretch. Didn't get sick and we were starving by the time we got out of the office.

COUNTS:
RBC--3.6
WBC--3.6
HEMOGLOBIN--10.8
PLATELES--356

Looking good so far, and we haven't lost any hair YET. We will be watching it close--Garrett will be upset if he losses it. Each day he reaches up and pulls on the itty bitty hairs on his head making sure they are there. He has been feeling fine also, seems to have a shorter attention spand than before, but we are dealing with it.

Wyatt had his pictures taken this week and Garrett has school pictures on Tuesday next week. So look out for cute boys! It will be a few weeks before they are back but I will set them up on the site.

Garrett is getting ready for some goose hunting tomorrow morning! He loves going, and he gets to go with dad and grandpa Jon! WOW!! I guess Wyatt and mom get to sleep all morning! YAY!! Wilma is visiting again this weekend! How lucky are these boys...two weekends in a row.

We are enjoying the leaves outside...they just keep falling! Mom won't be that excited when they are finally done and has to clean them all up! We have 6 very healthy oak trees in our yard so lots of leaves AND acorns! Fun fall but not fun clean-up. The boys don't mind though...clean up and then jump in and mess it up again.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. Please sign in so Garrett can send you a message back.
God Bless, The Kruses'

Sunday, September 28, 2003 5:14 PM CDT

"Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete." (John 16:24). Be joyful always; pray continually." (1 Thessalonians 5: 16-17)

Garrett has made it out of DI!! Can you hear the rejoicing!?! Sing a song of praise. We are in our last Interuim Maintanace and then onto the GREAT PHASE of Maintanance! Prayer and God's spiritual blessing has brought us through this very tough past 6 months. God Bless all of you who have been there with us thus far and who have are still are praying for Garrett's strength and well being. Without those powerfull prayers and strong beliefs we would never have come this far. Amen.

COUNTS:
RBC--3.79
WBC--3.3
HEMOGLOBIN--11.5
PLATLETS--191

Counts are recovering! YAY!!! WBC really shot up since last week! I guess the delay of the Bactrium was a winner. We will be back on it now starting Monday.

We are back to our every 10 days of chemo until November 21st and then on to the new stage! The one we have heard so many GREAT things about. We can hardly wait!! It seems so long ago that we started this CK journey and now we are to the part of the journey everyone loves to be at. We have been very fortunate that we have not had too hard of a road. We thank God everyday for his great work and the great work from all the brothers and sisters in faith that have carried us in prayers daily. This has given Garrett's spirit a great strength and an overwhelming feeling in our hearts to carry through to the victory of a cancer free life for him. We feel in our hearts that Garrett is a strong boy and will carry on to be a great adult, thanks to God's will.

OTHER NEWS:
Garrett made a big hunting trip with dad and Grandpa Jon last weekend! What a great trip for him!!! He loved the day and thought it was great to be hanging out with the BIG boys...brother on the other hand was upset he didn't get to go, but your time will come Wyatt, just hold on. Garrett got all dressed up in his camo gear, and looked like a snowman, he could hardly bend as he wobbled to the truck that morning and back to the house that afternoon. What a cute site!

Garrett and Wyatt wore their scrubs to the IC Hosptial on Friday and they were a hit all over the clinic. The boys LOVED the attention and couldn't get enough. Garrett had a LP on Friday and it hurt this time. He cried and it tore my heart out. I'm not sure it really hurt, but scared him more, it's been a long time since we had to have one and he was unsure about what was going on. We talked about it ahead of time and Garrett kept telling me that he never had that before. Hope next time he doesn't get so upset. As soon as it was done he stopped crying and was perfectly fine. We also enjoyed a great afternoon, as Garrett didn't get sick at all and actually got to enjoy his lunch. Hair started to grow on top that cute little head of his, sorry to say it will probally be coming back out with chemo every 10 days. We had a big break from any drugs that his body thought it was time to get back to normal...well we are getting closer. Hair will come back soon! We can't wait, even though he is really cute with no hair too! What can I say he is my little boy.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Tuesday, September 16, 2003 1:41 PM CDT

(Extra added at bottom on 9-18-03)

We are almost through DI!!! Garrett's counts didn't quite make the cut this time. We were soooo close last week though and are sure we will make it this Thursday. Go Garrett! Garrett has been feeling good lately and had more energy. He has used a lot more strength the last week or so, climbing and pulling himself up on the equiptment at the park. The boys have been wrestling around a lot, so much that if you look you could forget that Garrett was even sick. So yes it has been loud at the Kruse house this week, earplugs anyone? At least it's good to see him feeling better and getting back to himself...not that I didn't enjoy some of the quiet time, but it's good to hear them now, I know he feels better. We will be going to IC this Friday to leave DI and start our next step. I'm sure the cheer will be heard around the state. This part has been hard on everyone. Garrett has held up and mom too, barely somedays but we are making it. The next step is Interium Maintanance and then on the Maintanance! The road has been long and yet seems to have gone so quickly. Strange how that works.

COUNTS:
RBC--3.28
WBC--1.4
HEMOGLOBIN--10.1
PLATELETS--536

Garrett's counts are all getting closer to normal, some so close that it should be normal...well at least they are all good for a CK. Garrett's neutrophils kept us back for last Friday moving on...they were 960 and needed to be 1000! Sooo close but no win here...We will get it this week though. Go Garrett, fight fight fight!

OUR NEWS:
Garrett started his second year of preschool yesterday and he was very excited about it! He was up and dressed, ready to go at 10 am, school this year doesn't start until 12:30 pm. (Again this morning, ready to go at 9:30am, boy it's going to be a long week!) When it was time to go to school we loaded up in the truck and the boys started crying! I was shocked to say the least. Wyatt I expected it out of but not Garrett who has been asking about school ALL summer. They started saying "I miss you!" and "I Love You brother!" It was enough to pull at a mothers heart strings! The two boys who have done nothing but fight each other all summer actually love each other and were upset to be apart?!?! Being I am a female maybe I don't understand the affection brothers show each other. Could it be that fighting means I love you!?!?! Well, when we got to the parking lot Garrett had forgotten all about his brother and was ready for school. We walked him in for his first day and Garrett started saying good-bye. I'm not sure Wyatt was thinking we were going to really leave Garrett because he was fine until we got outside and he realized brother didn't follow us! Then mom and Wyatt had to stand out in the parking lot hugging until we could get it under control (some what). After buckling up Wyatt started crying again, ALL the way home. Today was a breeze though, Wyatt was with daddy. Stay tunned for the rest of the week.

To the dentist we go! Garrett had a check up today and had all is teeth counted...yes all there 10 on top and 10 on bottom. The dentist told him how great his teeth looked and that he was an excellant brusher! Wonder how that happened? I'm sure it's not because he brushes 5-6 times a day!?!?! He got a new toothbrush, yup, Buzz Lightyear! He loves it and his new toothpaste, it sparkles. All the things they think of to get kids to brush...we had colored brushes and yucky white paste!

QUOTES FROM THE DOC:
"I love you brother and don't worry it will be okay. I will see you after school." What a big brother, trying to make little brother feel all better.

"Mom, I took my own band-aid off." Garrett has never wanted to pull his own band-aid off because of the skin pulling. Guess he is growing up.

"Legs out and legs in. Look mom, that's how to swing." Garrett is learning how to pump his own swing and was "teaching" me today at the park.

"Pick up the toys so we can have Halloween stuff!" Garrett was trying to get his brother to help pick up so he could put up Halloween decorations. Yes I have them up and it's still September. The boys love this holiday and hate taking down the decorations, so we get a couple more weeks this way. Guess it's okay, the boys are already getting their costumes on and off each day. I'm almost done with them...they can't wait!

Please take a moment to pray for you friend Dani Piper. She is having a tough time with her treatments. She has had some setbacks and needs some extra strength. She is a great young lady and is very strong. Please take time to pray for her and stop at her site to send her a message... www.caringbridge.org/ia/danisdiary.com

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Thursday Septmember 18, 2003

Well, We are still stuck in DI! I was incorrect when I thought we would get to go to IC this week. I guess I could be wrong once and awhile. Garrett's neutrophils dropped to 820 from 960. So we are still waiting for the okay, hope for next week. We are stopping the Batrium this coming week to see if that will let his counts come back up. It sometimes holds counts down, we hope that is what it is from and not a illness coming on. Everyone pray for Garrett's body to stay strong and healthy.

COUNTS:
WBC--1.7 (normal 5.5-15.5)
RBC--3.7 (normal 3.8-4.8)
HEMOGLOBIN--11.2 (normal 11.2-14.1)
PLATELETS--243 (normal 150-144)

The counts are all getting back to normal except those WBC's which is what we need to get back. So fight fight fight Garrett!! Garrett could use some inspiring words from friends and family, so please sign the book when you stop so Garrett knows you care.

God Bless, The Kruses'

Sunday, September 7, 2003 3:07 PM CDT

Just a friendly reminder that Sept. is National Childhood Cancer Awareness month. Please wear your gold ribbons to show your support for the most wonderful and amazing children. Stop and say a little prayer for all the children you know, whether they are CK's or not. Bless the ones are fighting cancer and the ones who are fighting for their sibbling, cousin, or friend. God Bless the Little Ones!

Not much new to report this week. Garrett's counts are still hovering at about the same place from last week. So we are not sure if we will be moving on Friday the 12th or waiting until the next Fri. We will see on Thursday when we go for yet another CBC. Good thing the boys are so used to going to the Cancer Center and sitting for awhile, waiting for the results to come back. They are amazing when you really need them to be...on the other hand when you are shopping and trying to get things done fast or even in a timely mannor they seem to be able to slow everything up and to complain about each item. But at least they are good and strong when we need it to be important...after all shopping isn't that important to guys now is it?!

COUNTS:
WBC--1.2
RBC--2.82
HEMOGLOBIN--8.4
PLATELETS--537

WOW platelets!!! These went way up from last week! But they are the only ones to change. Every other count may have went up a .1 or .2 but pretty much stayed the same. But seeing the platelets go up means next time we should see some improvement on the other counts. That's what has happened in the past anyway.

Today was our first day of Sunday School! Garrett had fun. He met his new teachers and some kids in his class. He didn't get in the same class as the couple of kids that go to Tugs with him but now he has time to meet new friends and he likes that. He is also excited about singing in Sunday school this year and the chance to be in a Christmas program. Mom joined the choir and this was our first Sunday to sing and we sang at both services to top the day. The boys were very good and sat nicely while we warmed up and then they got to play in the nursery...which we usually don't do but now when dad has to work and mom has to sing they will get the chance to play.

This week is also open house for preschool which starts on the 15th and Garrett can't wait!! He LOVES school! Mom can't wait too...more time with just Wyatt. He hasn't gotten as much attention since Garrett was diagnosed and mom feels bad about that. So this will be our chance to get back together. The boys are excited about Halloween (already!) They are both going to be batman and mom is busy making the costumes as we speak. Got to get busy to get them done...never know what could come up around here. We can't plan anything anymore...everything is spur of the moment here. Those with CK understand what I mean.

Well, that's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Monday, September 1, 2003 9:29 AM CDT

Counts are still low but we are hanging in there. Garrett has been tired but is still feeling good otherwise. We didn't need any transfusions on Friday but are still watching him close.

COUNTS:
RBC--2.89
WBC--1.1
HEMO--8.2
PLATELETS--111

His WBC count went down but his germs fighters are good so no masks yet. As you can see the transfusion last Monday helped the hemo go up and is in the okay range...not normal yet but safe. Platelets are low and we will have to watch him, hopefully no bad nose bleeds. Pray for Garrett please.

This weekend the whole family made a trip to the ulitmate hunting store...Cabela's!!! Garrett was outfitted with his first set of hunting clothes...he gets to go out to watch duck hunting this year and is VERY excited about it! He got a new duck call too...not sure if Greg will let him blow it while hunting...they want ducks to come in not fly out...but I'm sure he will want to try while they are hunting. He has been practicing all weekend...lucky mom! Yesterday the boys and I spent the entire day outside working on the yard...acorns like crazy here! Hopefully we can get it finished today...BIG JOB!!!

Garrett starts Sunday School next weekend and is very excited about that too! We are having a hard time waiting for Tugs to start...Sept 15th. He loves school and wants to go now...since the neighbors have all gone back he thinks his schools should start too. Well, it will be here soon and then Wyatt will start learning some stuff too. We are working on colors and he knows his animal sounds. Also been working on our names, not mom, dad, brother, but our names. Garrett learned them early and now sometimes calls us by our name instead of mom and dad...but if he ever gets lost in a store he will know we are Greg and Crystal Kruse not mom and dad. Wyatt knows brother's name and his so we are getting there. It's all a matter of time, without brother here to day all the answers first will help.

Well, that's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse,MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Friday, August 22, 2003 2:26 PM CDT

Hello to all of Garrett's Groupies. Well we are here and making it through the end of DI. Garrett's counts are back down again due to the chemo treatments given for 4 days straight, then 3 off and 4 more on. Garrett is on his second stretch of the 4 day chemo which is given at home, by mom, through his port. For those of you who really know me you should be amazed! For mom here was afraid of blood and needles. Actually, truth be told, the sight of blood made me either faint or get sick. Now here I am flushing lines, giving chemo and doing blood draws. It's amazing how much a person can change and what seems to be normal when your child depends on you. Now if I had to have this all done to myself I'm not sure I could make it but children do amazing things to you.

COUNTS:
RBC--2.73
WBC--1.3
Hemoglobin--7.7
Platelets--227

Counts are all low! We will make it through like before and Garrett keeps reminding US to smile. What a fighter! Monday we will go back into the clinic to have a CBC and look at his counts. We will have to be on the lookout for low counts since Garrett's hemo count is very close to the danger zone (anything below 7.0) and could mean a blood transfussion. Nothing new and we have had it all before,(although not since he was in the hospital in March) we will make it through and try to smile the whole way.

OTHER INFO: (actually fun stuff!)
This week has been fun! Dad was off Tues and Thurs to spend time with the family. Monday night and Tues all afternoon we were at the swimming pool. The boys had a blast! What can I say they are fish. The boys enjoyed the huge water slides with dad and they were holding their breath and going under the water. (mom was amazed!) They even started a new game of jumping off the side into the pool. Lucky mom and the next time we go the pool alone. Eyes will be open wide! Thursday we made to trip to Adventerland for Garrett. He wasn't able to go with the Dance Marathon group and his friends from IC so we made a trip just for him. The boys had a great time!!! The children in Des Moines were already back to school so the park wasn't full and there were NO lines!! Lucky us! The boys got to ride everything and even got to ride things twice without getting out and getting back in line. That was great for them. The only people there were other families with small children wanting to have fun too, without the crowds. We did have one set back though, the power went out when we were riding the Sawmill ride. (It's a water ride where you sit in a big tube and slide down an huge slide.) It stopped when we were half way up the ramp to the slide. Then the power surged on and off enough to get us to the top and then we had to slide down the slide with very little water...since the water couldn't be pumped out without power. Well we made it just fine to the bottom river (thanks to the adult weight in our tube) and then had to push ourselves along the side to the end of the river to get out. Well it was fun anyway and no one got hurt. There was a tube of children behind us that got stuck on the slide and had to be walked up the slide to get out...but they made it out fine too. We also saw the circus there and got to sit center ring. There were great shows and Garrett loved every minute. His favorite part was the horses and the people who did tricks on them...also a clown in that show who sprayed US with water and Garrett has been telling everyone about it all day today. The boys had a great time and we were happy the day was warm but a nice breeze and not crowded.

QUOTES FROM GARRETT JON KRUSE, MD:
"I'm very proud of you mom." Garrett was telling me this after I went through the lessons at the hospital with the nurses.

"Mom you are a very good nurse." He tells me this everytime I flush his port and give him his chemo.

(Just a note here, those two phrases from Garrett have made me feel like the best mom in the world! What kids say just amazes me. Okay back to Garrett.)

"Get away from me. I need time to be by myself." Garrett has been saying this lately to let his brother know to go play somewhere else. It took a long time to get to this, before it was the hitting and yelling but look where we are now. Wow children do listen sometimes.

"Mom that's not how you ride horses. We sit down." The tricks on the horse back at the circus puzzled Garrett. Since he is a horse lover he knew that was the wrong thing to do but was amazed they could do it. Hope that won't come back to get me.

Well, that's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Tuesday Aug. 26, 2003:

Just an update. Garrett went to the Cancer Center yesterday for his CBC and like we expected his counts were down and he had to have a transfusion. The day was long and slow sitting in the small room at the cancer center but the boys and I made it through. They were tired and grouchy after being stuck inside all day and the night was long...boys who can't get out and run get short. When I finally got them to bed I tried to get the mom stuff done around the house but was also tired myself and went to bed. So we now will wait until Friday for another CBC and see if Garrett's counts have gone up, gone down or hung in there. We will see and hang in there until the next step. Please keep Garrett in your prayers.

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruse's

Friday, August 15, 2003 7:18 PM CDT

Well, I know it's been a long time since we have had an update and everyone is probally waiting to hear about the benefit. Well, you would think I would be free to type on the computer with no benefit meetings or stuff to do for it, but remember we have 2 young boys...enough said. Before I update about the benefit a quick update on Garrett. We are in Iowa City for our overnight stay of Cytoxan and our new drugs for the next 2 weeks. Garrett is fine and his counts are all back up!! YAY GARRETT!!! We will be out again tommorrow sometime...morning-ish. (is that a word?) This will bring to an end the DI part of chemo. We then go back to another Interim Maintainance (our trips every 10 days) and then on to Maintainance! Getting closer to the prize here.

COUNTS:
RBC--3.57
WBC--3.7
Hemoglobin--10.1
Platelets--608

WHERE did the platlets come from? wow they are up there! Guess we won't worry about bloody noses any time soon. All his other counts are getting back to the normal range but are in the good range for a CK (cancer kid). Keep up the work Garrett. Nothing seems to keep him down. Fever last week from realy low counts ad now they rocket up there to good and on we go with our DI to get to Maintanace! GO GO GO!!

The BIG PARTY (as Garrett calls it) was fun and a BIG success. We had many many people there to support Garrett and some that wondered over from the horse show to have some food and to give something to Garrett. He was lucky enough to get to ride a horse at the show, around the barrels in the arena and the people there were very supportive for a child they didn't know and most of them were not even from Mason City. The Lord amazes me everyday...shinng through all those strangers to support a little boy and his one joy...to ride horses! He was in heaven and loving every minute of the ride. He even got a cowboy hat given to him that he wore and raised it to the crowd when he left the arena...what a character.

The kids had a wonderful time running through games and jumping in the big blown up Scooby Doo! They enjoyed Jets the Clown and her balloon animals and a magic show, which Garrett was the assistant. Great fun and pictures to follow. (as soon as I get them all back) Garrett and little brother Wyatt were going strong until midnight. They danced the night away after the auctions and supper. They were party animals! (even more than mom and dad, who were ready for bed at 11) But all and all the party was a hit and all enjoyed the fun and love shinning all night long. God brings together a community and family when it realy matters.

God Bless everyone who was there to show their support and
all those who helped with the benefit, no matter how small. Greg and are very grateful and are speechless at how many were there to show their love for Garrett. We were moved beyond words. A special thank you to Aunt Kim for all her help, with whom we would not have gotten anywhere without her guideance and love. Also a big thank you to those who spent every week at Kim's house helping with the details ad running all the errands here and there and collecting donations and support. Thank you to friends and family who went out of their way to help from far distances. THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU!

Garrett would like to thank all is friends that attended his party and those who tought of him but were unable to attend. He loves you all and can't wait to get back to school and see his friends at Tugs. Also he loved seeing his friends from afar and was excited to play with you while you were here. "I love you guys" Love, garrett jon kruse

That's all for now from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD.
God Bless, The Kruses'

Friday, August 8, 2003 2:38 PM CDT

Well, quick note that we are now home again. Garrett's counts are still low but good enough to leave the hospital. His fever came and went on Tuesday but the rest of the week he was normal. We were sure ready to go today though! Garrett was starting to climb the walls since he couldn't leave the room...too many sick kids on the peds floor. So off we go to the fair grounds to help with the set-up of the benefit, mask and all. I will update after the big event...but for now thank you for all your prayers and support for Garrett. It is the power of prayer that keeps Garrett strong and well.

God Bless to all. The Kruses'

Wednesday, August 6, 2003 9:51 AM CDT

Well everyone, we didn't make it through DI without a hitch. Monday night we were to the Mason City ER with a 101.2 temp. We are staying there until Thursday for sure and hopefully we will get to go home, depends on Garrett's counts. We could be staying until next Tues. if his counts aren't acceptable. He is doing fine and doesn't seem to mind being in the hospital at all, this time. He is playing with all the buttons on the bed and turning all the lights on and off...it's a party in Garrett's room. so all is going well otherwise and Garrett is really excited about his party Sat. So everyone please pray that we can make it with Garrett too! God Bless to all!

That's all from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'

Saturday, August 2, 2003 8:17 AM CDT

Good Morning to all! We are still in Delayed Intensification (DI). Garrett's counts are good and not so good. We are wearing the mask still this week and are missing our trip to Adventerland...no Garrett is not happy but we will try to get there later this month...hopefully the counts will be happy to go along with this plan.

COUNTS:
WBC--1.4
RBC--4.07
PLATELETS--331
HEMOGLOBIN--11.4

As you can see the WBC looks scarey! It does to us too, but it's expected at this part of the treatment. It's hard for us since Garrett has had good counts ever since we left the hospital April 1st. His germ fighters are .35 even lower than last week but again no surprise. All his other counts are up from last week slightly...he fights where he can! GO GARRETT!!!

We had a visitor this week, Hunter, a friend of Garrett's (his mommy is a good friend of mom's). He was a God send for Garrett...it helped him forget about the low counts and he didn't have as many fits (from the Decadron) this week as the last time. So Thank You Hunter! We love you! And thank you Dee for letting him stay. We made a trip to the park, mask and all. We did encounter our first "making fun of" problem. Garrett of course looked at them like what's your problem and Hunter stepped up and said don't worry. Garrett let it go and forgot about it right away. We also got to take a trip to feed some geese and ducks...which was a hit of course. We spent a lot of time at home but Garrett didn't seem to mind when Hunter was there to play with him. God Bless little boys (and big boys-Hunter is 7)

Well all of us now have a cold here at the Kruse house. Please pray that Garrett can fight it off this time like he has before. Pray for no fevers and no serious infections. Wyatt and Garrett now have a set of bunk beds and they were very unhappy that they had to sleep in different rooms last night...to try to protect Garrett, which he woke up this morning with a stuffy nose anyway. So off to get Sudifed Cold meds to help Garrett out anyway we can.

We are seeing cousin Ashlyn for the first time this weekend, tonite actually, if she isn't asleep when we get there. (Ashlyn is my sister's girl..5 months old, wow already!) Garrett can't wait to see her and aunt Cinnamon. He talks about them all the time and how he will help take care of her, she also has some special needs like Garrett so he feels very close to her. It will be neat to see them together for the first time. (mom is excited too!! Can't wait to see my sister and new niece.)

QUOTES FROM GARRETT JON KRUSE, MD:

"Mom my nose isn't working." This morning, darn colds.

"Mom, my belly is grawling. I haven't fed it yet today." That would be Decadron for you. Hungery all day and night.

"I'm going to help you take care of brother. He needs some medcin mom." Helpful reminder for mom to give Wyatt cold medicine. Like mom's ever forget.

That's all from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. For now anyway...God Bless to all.
Love, The Kruses'

Friday, July 25, 2003 2:15 PM CDT

DELAYED INTENSIFICATION:

Well, we are seeing the effects of the intense chemo this week. Counts are down and the nerves are short. This has been a hard week and may be this coming week too...back on the Decadron again this next week, which causes mood swings.
We will not be making trips out very much this week since the counts are low. It will be hard to keep the boys happy.
Keep us in your prayers and thoughts...especially mom!

COUNTS:
WBC--2.0
RBC--3.92
Hemoglobin--11.2
Platelets--329

Like I said, low counts. WBC is VERY low (normal range 5.5-15.5) and the germ fighters were .54 (normal range 1.3-7.0) His RBC and Hemoglobin counts are on the low edge of the normal range. Platelets are good and hanging in there!!

Nothing much else around here now...just short nerves in Garrett and everything has to be done NOW!!! So I will go and update more later. We are missing a birthday party tommorrow for his friend Martin...not happy about that but we will make it through. Aunt Cinnamon and cousin Ashlyn are coming soon and the boys can't wait! Garrett may have to wear a mask for the baptism on the 3rd but we will make it.

That's all from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless, The Kruses'


SUNDAY JULY 27th:

Well to add a little more, we have had a tough weekend here. Garrett has had 2 bloody noses-one Friday afternoon and one Sunday afternoon...we stopped them fast and the platelets were good on Friday morning so we will keep watching. Saterday afternoon and evening were tough for Garrett...everything seemed to make him mad! Looking at him or even him remembering something that happened before that made him mad...it was a long night and Mom finally had to put him to bed and try to not listen to him yell at me. Finally he feel asleep and the morning was better...only a couple of mad seconds and they passed fast.

Wyatt doesn't quite know what to think, he tries to play with brother and one minute Garrett wants him and the next he tells him to "GET AWAY from me!" Today Garrett and Greg went to pick sweet corn (in his mask of course) and it seemed to be good for him, and Wyatt. Wyatt had mommy time and all the attention for awhile...he needed that. (so did mommy) We'll see what tommorrow brings. Keep good thoughts and prayers for Garrett.

God Bless, The Kruses'

Monday, July 21, 2003 9:23 AM CDT

DELAYED INTENSIFICATION--WEEK 2!!

So far so good...Garrett is going strong and his counts are hanging in there, not hardly a change from last week...this week will be the test though. Two weeks of intense chemo will have to take a toll on him. We have been told that his hair may all fall out this time?!?!? If so we may have another crisis on our hands (of which I will warn everyone ahead of time). Friday, with dose 2, Garrett didn't get sick!!! YAY!!! He took everything in stride and it was like another day.
We have one more week of intense chemo then a break for a week and then we will be waiting on counts...tick tock tick tock. Hopefully his counts don't fall too far but could happen so keep Garrett in your prayers.

COUNTS:
WBC--3.6
RBC--4.19
Hemoglobin--11.9
Platelets--321

His white cell count is low if you look at the ranges (normal 5.5-15.5) but the inportant part is the germ fighters which are good- 77.7%. So we are hanging in there.

OTHER INFO:
Garrett's benefit is fast aproaching, Aug 9th. So if you haven't, take a look at his benefit page please. (click on the link at the bottom of this page.) Many many wonderful people have been helping with this event to make it very fun and hopefully Garrett will have good counts and be able to attend. Thank you to all who are involved and who have contributed to making this event a success.
The big Dance Marathon event to Andventure Land it coming up fast too! Aug. 2nd. Garrett can't wait to see his friends from the hospital and the rides of course. Pray our counts are good to make the trip, at least safe to go with a mask...we'll see when it gets here.
CONGRATS to our friend Mason Brown who is now home after a long stay at the U of I hospital from a stem cell transplant!! Glad they are home and everyone please keep them in your pryaers!
Also keep in your prayers a new friend we have met over the computer...Dani Piper. She is a 16 year old with ALL and has had a tough road with her chemo. She is hanging in there and in my heart I know she can make it. We hope to meet her at Garrett's benefit, all counts considered. She also see's Dr. Mcquire in Clear Lake, the same Dr. would found Garrett's ALL. What a small world.

QUOTE'S FROM THE DOCTOR:

"Mom, I feel okay today, you don't have to ask me." I guess I ask that too much around here...over protective mom.

"When do I get to see Connor and Mason? Is it time for Venerland?" Can't wait to go!!

"Look at all my pretty balloons! Everyone loves me." We have hung all Garrett's balloons from his trip to the hospital all over his walls. It helps him remember that there are a lot of people who love and pray for him each day.

"I am the bravest boy!" Smiling after his chemo treatment on Friday...and he is right what a brave boy!

Well, that's all from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD.
Tune in next week and see...

God Bless to all, Love the Kruses'

Tuesday, July 15, 2003 9:55 PM CDT

DELAYED INTENSIFICATION!!!

Sorry it took so long to update but I have been having trouble connecting the last couple days...darn dial up.

Here we go, our next and very intensive step of Garrett's treatment. We will have 3 weeks of Chemo, counting last Friday. And we will get counts each week but will be receiving chemo no matter the outcome of his counts. This is to knock out whatever leukemia is left in the body and any that may be thinking of coming back. He will be on a new drug and today got 2 shots in his legs.

Starting with the chemo drugs: Vincristine like always and our new chemo drug, also given through his port is Doxorubicin. It is pink and Garrett got a kick out of the first time he went to the bathroom his urine was pink too! It scared him at first but then he remembered, thanks to mom, that it was his new meds. Our shots were PEG Asparaginase given in a big dose so they have to give one shot in each leg to get them in and done...GREAT GALS at U of I Hospitals and Clinics!!! They get both shots in at one time so we only have to have one pain and then we are done. Also GREAT GALS for pushing us in today at the clinic...we were to get our shots here and the meds didn't get here today like they were, for one reason or another, so they said come on over and we will get you done. Well, thanks to them for keeping Garrett on his schedule even though we had to run out of the house at 12:45pm to get to the clinic (3 hours away) before they closed. But all turned out fine and we are home and sleeping now.

The next few months will be by ear. After the 3 weeks of chemo we get 1 week off with just counts and then the next week we go in to see if his counts have recovered yet, (which most childrens aren't and take another week or 2). Which is what we are hoping for this time since that week would put us at the 8-9 of Aug...benefit weekend. When his counts recover we go into the hospital for an overnight stay of cytoxan which has to be watch closely after being given so Garrett's liver doesn't shut down. Then back home for some more drugs through the port, which they will leave the tub in so mom can give them at home for 3-4 days. So back to the cleaning lines like when we had the PIC line in his arm. Nothing new for mom and no big deal for Garrett. Just another regular day for us now. This process will be about 3 weeks if all goes right away, depending when his counts return to normal. Then we go back to the Interim Maintainance..the every 10 days for a month and hopefully into Maintainance and onto the road home.

COUNTS:
WBC--2.7
Platlets--242
Hemoglobin--11.8

OTHER INFO:
Well, if an unexpected trip to Iowa City wasn't enough excitement for you. A week and a half ago we were at the pool and Wyatt slipped and cut his toe open and we made a trip to the Dr. for 4 stitches...FUN!! This was our first encounter with stitches at the Kruse household...What fun there. I will save you all the shuttering details on the event. He's fine now and still thinks his toe is broken whenever he thinks about his stitches, which were taken out last Thurs.
Last night the boys were thrilled to get a trip through the fire station here in Mason!! Garrett got to sit in the drivers seat and turn on the lights! If that wasn't enough he even got to wear the fire helmet and tried on the face mask...to keep out smoke mom! They had a great time and thank you Anna and her mom and dad! (Who happened to be our ambulance driver that first day to the U of I Hospital in Iowa City. Garrett loved seeing him again and remembered him from school...where he got to jump on the fireman's boots!)
Now tomorrow Garrett will be getting his picture taken for the newspaper. They are doing a story on Garrett and the benefit so he gets his picture in the paper. What a lucky guy. Glad to know everyone loves him...he's such a special boy and is very happy to hear from everyone on the computer, by mail and by phone. Please keep bringing him smiles and love.

QUOTES:
"Mom the mask keeps the smoke out of the fireman's face so he can save the people and carry them down the ladder."

"I'm very brave Mom." As he is waiting to get his shots today.

"It's okay brother. It'll be alright." Big brother comforting Wyatt when he got his stitches removed. What a great big brother!!

"My legs are feeling better now." On the way home from Iowa City tonight.

"Mom look it's my Doritos." The pink color in his urine after his chemo Friday. It was very funny!

That's all from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless to all. Love, The Kruses'

Wednesday, July 2, 2003 4:48 PM CDT

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!! Hope everyone is having a great holiday...the Kruses' have been busy and just wanted to update everyone on our activites the last couple weeks. No treatments until July 11th so no updates that way...this is just for FUN!!

The family had a vacation, that's right I said vacation. We took a camping trip with some friends and we had a GREAT time!! Garrett loved camping and sleeping in a tent...yes a tent. We had a fire and marshmellows and outside fun with balls and tennis rackets and dirt...the whole nine yards. It was great and Garrett didn't even mind taking meds while we were gone...no complaints! YAY!! We did get a couple of rains showered on us while we were camping but we all stayed dry as we could and made it out fine. After our friends left we spent a couple days at the Okoboji lake cabin. (thank you grandma and grandpa Kruse!) We boated one whole afternoon and Garrett and Wyatt had a blast...they even slept for awhile under the nose! Garrett enjoyed some fishing with dad and grandpa Jon! He loved it and can't wait to go again! We also had the pleasure of keeping Wilma, our doggie, for the week and then were sad to send her back home with grandpa and grandma Kruse. I think the time with her did wonders for Garrett and his angry fits we sometimes encounter...he was happy and content the entire trip.

We are home now and HAPPY BIRTHDAY WYATT!!! He is 2 today and acts like it too! Mom's with or who have had a 2 year old understand what I'm saying. We are getting ready for a Bob the Builder Party this Saturday and the boys, yes both of them, are really excited! Garrett more so to see all his family and friends, Wyatt for CAKE AND ICE CREAM!!!

Garrett and Wyatt got to ride horses today! Blessing for Garrett, he LOVES horses!!! It was only for a short ride but he loved every minute and is asking already when he can go back! Thank you to all who were responsible for getting Garrett this oppurtunity to ride...it's greatly appreciated!
We took lots of pictures so I will post some on the site when we get them developed. Swimming is in the future for the boys and mom...can't get enough of the water around here. And more summer fun to come. Keep looking in for Garrett updates and keep us in your prayers.

We would like to say congrats to our friend Mason Brown and his white cell count! Keep up the great work Mason! He is one of the friends Garrett met at the U of I hospital when we stayed there and Mason had a stem cell transplant...please keep him in your prayers too. Also our friend Connor Muston, who also has ALL, is doing great and just had a trip to Disney for fun and sun. Way to go Connor, keep up the spirits and you are in our prayers. Please keep him in your daily prayer too. These kids are wonders and endure so much each day that they amaze us! God Bless each one and thank God for bright strong children who teach us how to be strong!

Happy 4th to all and God Bless!
Love, The Kruses'

Friday, June 20, 2003 4:03 PM CDT

Another great day for Garrett!!! Everything is good and counts are good and Garrett is good. Not really much to say but that's fine with mom...nothing to say means good news...a lot to say isn't always good news.

INTERUM MAINTAINANCE:
We visitied Dr. Vibhakar today and all is well. Garrett is feeling great (other than the mouth care stuff of course)...and his check up was clear. The LP from last time was clear and the bone marrow draw was still below the 5% or normal range!! YAY GARRETT!!! Today Garrett got to help set up his chemo machine to despense his methotrexate...he loved that! And he also was able to clear is own port out. The nurse let him push the syringe and he thought that was cool...so watch out all nurses he will be expecting to do it himself from now on...the Dr. is growing more every time we go in.

COUNTS:
WBCS--3.7
RBCS--4.00
Hemoglobin--11.7
Platelets--383

They all look great! What else can I say! GO GARRETT!! FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!

OTHER INFO:
Sorry no quotes this week, we have been having so much fun outside and around town that mom forgets to write them down and then can't remember any when the time comes to tell everyone. All is good here and Wyatt is getting ready to turn 2...although he acts like it now...terrible 2's. I guess both my boys can't skip that stage huh...well here we go. Dad and Mom will jump in with both feet...like we have another choice.
Not much else new for now. Thank you to all who have kept in touch thus far and for all the lovely notes for Garrett, HE LOVES THEM!! We keep you all in our prayers and our hearts. Happy summer to all and hope your 4th is fun and relaxing. Until next trip stay happy and safe.

That's all from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless. The Kruses'

Monday, June 16, 2003 3:35 PM CDT

Hello to all the Garrett Groupies on the web today!!! Well we have been very busy here lately and it was hard to get back on here to say hi and send out the good news about Garrett...once again all is well!

INTERIM MAINTENANCE:
We had our visit and are still waiting for the bone marrow result. Last trip was the hardest thus far for Garrett...we had a LP, bone marrow, chemo, methotrexate in our port and in the spine, and our CBC. So Garrett was very tired and felt sick all day long. He slept in the office while we waited, then at the mall (instead of lunch), and in the truck all the way home...and back to bed about 1 1/2 hours later. (he even slept all night! We thought he would be up in the middle of the night.) He did get sick when we got home and had a head ache too, but we were up and running the next day like nothing happened. That's the great thing about our children, they keep going even when they are down and especially when us adults would have given in!

COUNTS:
RBCs--3.86
Hemoglobin--11.2
WBCs--5.6
Platelets--324

WOW WBC!!!! Looks great there! What a difference 10 days makes...of course we all know it dosen't even take 10 days to make a change in our lives now. All his counts are hanging in there, just like Garrett.

GARRETT JON KRUSE, MD QUOTED:
"This is my super star!" Garrett recieved a gold star at the Relay for Life last week and it's now his super star! WAY TO GO GARRETT!!!

"Why are the bugs biting me in the leg?" Darn bugs...that's all I can say to him. At least he lets me spray him before he goes out and when he's out and again when he's out and then later and...you get the idea!

OTHER INFO:
Okay, hold onto your hats and here we go with our last couple weeks....The parade was great! Garrett had a blast riding the float and made a ton of new friends! The kids all gave him hugs good-bye and told them they loved him as he left...it's wonderful to see children caring so unconditonally for one another. We then had a rain out for the Relay for Life...well, we had to camp inside the mall for the event...which was fun for Garrett anyway...and I didn't have to go through the spraying ordeal from above.
We had a great time and we were all exhausted the next day. Garrett recieved a gold star necklace for being a survior!!! GO GARRETT!!! It's now his super star...positive all the time it seems. Him and his cousin Gabby slept in a tent in the mall and had a grand time, while the rest of us didn't sleep, we walked and talked. (Who can sleep on a mall floor anyway?) The boys and I were at Adventureland yesterday and had a blast! Garrett rode endless rides and Wyatt thought rides were a new invention...his first trip to the park and he loved every minute of it!! We can't wait to go in Aug. with the Dance Marathon group from UI Hospitals. Garrett's counting days already! Camping will be fun as long as the bugs stay away...and the weather stays nice..we'll see when the time comes. Wyatt's birthday is on the way and mom better get busy...number 2...could be a Bob the Builder Party!

That's all from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless to all! The Kruses'

Friday, May 30, 2003 10:08 AM CDT

INTERIM MAINTENANCE...
Good morning, afternoon, or evening, whichever it may be. Garrett is feeling GREAT!! His trip to Iowa City this week was a long day...many people in the clinic and we had to wait for counts to come in and had our Echo test done. Well, Garrett's WBC count has dropped and took us out for the Methotrexate dose this time. Next trip, June 9th, we will continue with the dose but it will remain at the dosage rate we had last trip, May 19th. This is common for the counts to drop, so no surprise there and Garrett was thrilled to only get 1 med in his port! Our Transthoracic Echo was a breeze and Garrett handled it like a pro. The lady was so impressed and told Garrett he could come back every week to get one done. He holds so still and makes the test go so smoothly. Of course he was able to watch a movie while he was tested, and it was Buzz Lightyear!!! VERY IMPORTANT MOVIE!!! His Echo was an ultrasound that recorded pictures of his heart from every angle, the mass, and beats. He has to have this test done for the next step which is Delayed Intensification so they can watch his effects from a new med we will recieve. His heart was GREAT!! And Garrett was thrilled to see his heart on "TV" and he got to listen to it over the machine. Our next visit will be June 9th and Garrett will have an LP and a bone marrow draw...Garrett's not happy to hear that because he won't get to eat breakfast.

COUNTS:
RBCs--4.00
Hemoglobin--11.1
WBCs--2.5
Platelets--492

Looking back to last visit Garrett's count were all UP except that darn WBC. Which by the way looks really scarey, but I was reassured that the virus fighting entities (lymphocytes) are the highest part of his WBC count and he should be fine fighting off any colds or common viruses. He's not in any greater danger of getting sick than he has been thus far. All his other counts look GREAT!!! Keep up the good work Garrett!

GARRETT JON KRUSE, MD QUOTED...
"Look at my heart it's on TV, I have to go home and tell Daddy!" Garrett's best part of the day was looking at his heart on the monitor and listening to the heart pump.

"Is it parade day yet? Mom, you can sit and watch me go by." Garrett is riding in the Band Festival Parade this Saturday and is very excited about it! And of course, Mom isn't needed for this and has to let him "Go by myself!"
Which Mom is very excited about! Garrett is getting back to his independant self already. That has been one of the hardest parts for me, since Garrett has been doing everything for himself for so long, it's hard to fall back into doing stuff for him. Go Garrett, YOU'RE THE BIG BOY!

"I want to ride my bike!" Garrett is unhappy because the bugs where out bad last night and we wouldn't let him go out with his new bike helmet and pads. I don't think he cares about the bike he just wants to wear his pads and helmet!

OTHER INFO...
This is going to be a busy summer! Every time I look at the calander we have something else to add to it. This weekend Garrett rides in the parade with the Mason City Youth Task Force and they are handing out flyers for his benefit and will have a bannor flying on the side of their bus. Next weekend (June 6 & 7) is Relay for Life, which the Mason City Jaceeys are promoting Garrett's benefit and will be handing out flyers and letting Garrett partake in the fun of walking and camping overnight! They are also helping out with his benefit in Aug. The 15th the boys and I are going to Adventerland with good friends and will have fun eating and riding and probally eating some more. Then the last week in June we are off for a camping trip with some of our other good friends and some more eating and outdoor fun...plus lots more to come in July and Aug.
WOW! Summer's here and sun keep on shinning!

That's all from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. Stay tunned for more summer fun and more meds to go along with it. God Bless to all! The Kruses'

Thursday, May 22, 2003 1:56 PM CDT

INTERIM MAINTENANCE...
Good day to all! Garrett is doing GREAT!! He actually keeps mom way to busy at the moment. (well him and Wyatt) Monday we were at Iowa City again and everything went fine. We recieved our next treatment of chemo and increased the Methotrexate dose. All is fine with that so far, his counts are still hanging in great! WAY TO GO GARRETT!!! We will go back again on May 29th and will also be having an Echo done. More to come after the procedure.

COUNTS:
RBCs--3.52
Hemoglobin--10.5
WBCs--4.1
Platelets--422

WOW WBCs!!! Garrett's counts all increased this trip except his platelets which only changed slightly (was 424)
Keep up the good work Garrett!

GARRETT JON KRUSE, MD QUOTED:
"Mom, Gorgie has a tube in her boob too!" one of his friends he met in the hospital was at the clinic the same day as us! He was very excited to see her!

"Why do we have to go to the Dr. mom? I'm not sick anymore." What a great outlook on life!

OTHER INFO:
The boys have been playing outside and fighting inside! So please keep the rain away! Garrett's last day of school was Tuesday and his whole class and siblings went to the park to play. The kids had a great time running around and playing on all the equiptment. Garrett fell as soon as we got there, of course. He scraped his hand up but it seems to be healing just fine. Wyatt also fell as soon as he got out of the truck. (no surpise there, he falls all the time. In too much of a hurry to get where he's going)
Mom and Dad are doing fine and trying to live with the daily complaints about mouth care and brushing teeth. I guess that's something new to live with now...we'll get there. Otherwise we are looking forward to good weather and fun outdoors. Camping, swimming, park picnics and more. Happy Spring to all and God Bless!

That's all from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. Tune in next week for more quotes and aches and pains. God Bless, The Kruses'

Sunday, May 11, 2003 4:15 PM CDT

INTERIM MAINTENANCE IS HERE!
Friday Greg and Garrett went to Iowa City for the check up and hoping to move on and here we go! The doctor is in...

Well we are now on the next track, interim maintenance, we are on the 3rd arm. which includes our meds by port and an increasing amount of methotrexate each visit for the next 2 months. Garrett will be going to Iowa City every 10 days to get his vincristine (chemo drug) and his methotrexate (also a cancer fighter) both given through his port. Which means no more fighting meds before bed time!! Well, except M, T, W, when we have our Bactrium. (but it all helps..less meds, less fights. and Garrett loves his bactrium) Each visit we will have to check Garrett's counts before he receives treatments. As long as his counts are steady he will get his increased dose. If they go down they will be giving him the dose from the last visit. We are hoping all will be great since Garrett's counts have stayed steady since we left the hospital April 1, 2003! KEEP PRAYING!! His visit was great on Friday. No problems and his counts were great! Garrett hasn't seemed to slow a bit this week, actually mom here thinks maybe we could do something to change that...I'm tired!

COUNTS:
RBCs--3.42
Hemoglobin--10.2
WBCs--3.7
Platlets--424

GARRETT JON KRUSE, MD QUOTED:
"I don't have to take medicine anymore Mom!" He's really excited about the port meds!

"NO!!" and he strats crying. He does still have to take his mouth care troches! He hates those.

"Mom, my name is fuzzy head and dad's is bald head." this was a talk I missed out on when the boys went to Iowa City.

OTHER INFO:
Well, Garrett has been doing great!! And he keeps mom busy, again...just like before he started down his long road. So GREAT for Garrett...not so great for mom. I guess I have been so busy doing whatever needs to be done to spread the awarness and to help out everywhere that I wore myself out. Last note Wyatt and I had a cold and then Mom got worse...Thursday and Friday I had the flu and missed Garrett's visit to the doctor (which I hated by the way) but I am feeling much better now and am back on the go.
If anyone hasn't noticed Garrett's link at the bottom of the page here...we (Aunt Kim) started a page for Garrett's benefit in Aug. Any updates will be posted there for all who are interestd or who want to help. Anyone wanting to help can feel free to e-mail or call me personally also. We are off to a great start and are very excited about all who are willing to help and show their love an support for Garrett. Thank You.

That's all from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. God Bless to all. The Kruses'

"He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:29-31 (thank you Robin)

Tuesday, May 6, 2003 2:06 PM CDT

Good day of sunshine to all!
Garrett has loved all the messages in his guestbook, Thank you to all who have visited and left their love!

As everyone knows we were at the UIHC again on Friday May 2, 2003. We went in for our regular CBC workup and for a LP (spinal tap). Everything looks good and Garrett seems to be doing fine. We did have some trouble after our LP this week...he got sick to his stomach and lost his juice and his lunch later that day. After that he seemed fine and ate supper with no problems. This Friday we will start our Interim Maintenance and Intensification Phases, if our counts stay good. We will know more about our course of treatment after Friday and we will let everyone know then.

COUNTS:
RBCs--3.52
Hemoglobin--10.3
Platelets--560
WBCs--5.0

Garrett, Wyatt, and Mom have a cold and have been hanging out on the couch the last few days...watching movies and napping together. Garrett seems to be handling the bug just fine, no fevers or count complications. He actually is the one with the least amount of problems with his cold. GO GARRETT!!! Mom and Wyatt on the other hand have runny noses during the day and stuffy noses at night.
Dad, of course, is just fine. Those dad's never seem to get sick.
Garrett has been enjoying his last few weeks of school and has a park day on May 20th, their last day this year. I know he will miss his friends this summer and will have a hard time waiting until next fall. He will be in the early 5's class which meets M-TH afternoons so he will be with his friends more. (and mom will get to spend more time with Wyatt, alone)

Enough for today, I could ramble on all day about my wonderful angel boys. God Bless everyone and we send our love. That's all from the desk of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD.
Love, The Kruses'

Sunday, May 4, 2003 10:38 AM CDT

This is a newsletter, from the Doctor himself, to let everyone know how everything is going. Some news will be good and some not so good, but all is to let our friends, family, and new friends know how Garrett is doing and what is to come.


Garrett's Diagnosis:
For some of you who aren't totally filled in on the details I will explain it all to you. Garrett was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia or ALL on March 11, 2003. We were on a routine visit to the doctor for "a cold" and lead to the first visit of a long road ahead. We were sent to Iowa City's UI Hospital that afternoon by ambulance (which was Garrett and my first ride in one!)We stayed there for the first 3 weeks of our treatments, a fever, a nose packing and a port placement operation. A port is a device placed under Garrett's chest skin to give him his chemo and to take blood for CBC's so we do not have to keep poking his arms or hands. Garrett is handling it very well!! He knows he has leukemia and that it makes bad cells in his blood that we have to give medicine to, through his port, to get better. He takes lots of meds every day and has to brush his teeth a lot! Every week we are getting treatments to kill all bad cells. Garrett is a wonder!!! He is strong and he asks questions each day as he feels more comfortable.

Counts:
I will try to send out our counts for those who are interested. I will be reporting the following counts which I will explain today. RED BLOOD CELLS (RBCs)contain HEMOGLOBIN which pick up oxygen and carry to the lungs and transport it through the body. The RBCs give the blood it's red color. PLATELETS are disc shaped cells that help form clots to stop bleeding. WHITE BLOOD CELLS (WBCs) destroy foreign substances in the body like viruses, bacteria, and fungi. They are produced and stored in the bone marrow and released when needed.
COUNTS NORMAL RANGES---okay ranges
RBCs--- (3.8-4.8)
Hemoglobin--- (11.9-14.9)--above 8.0
Platelets--- (150-400)--above 50
WBCs--- (4.1-11.0)


Thank you to all who have sent things for Garrett and who are praying for us each day. I hope Garrett continues to be on your prayer list each day for years to come. An update for Garrett's visit Friday will be following shortly.

That's all from the office of Garrett Jon Kruse, MD. Thank you and God Bless. The Kruses'

Thursday, May 1, 2003 3:53 PM CDT

Good afternoon to all of the doctor gang. Or are we Garrett Jon Kruse, MD groupies? Anyway, we are getting ready to go to the UIHC again for another treatment. LP number who knows now, and another CBC workup. Garrett has been doing fine, other than the whining to get his way...how did that happen?!?!! Well we are trying to get back to normal, best we can anyway. Today he has a cold, cough and slight runny nose...hoping to keep it that way. No temp, so hopefully not moving into pnemoinia. (PRAY PRAY)
Well, not too much to say now but we will update soon...

Garrett's quotes:
"NO! don't take my bandaid off dad, it hurts!" greg tried
to get his bandaid off his port.
"Now there is air on my boobie." dad got it off his port!

Doctor signing out for today...good day and God Bless you all! Love, Crystal

Thursday, May 1, 2003 3:07 PM CDT

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