9/9/2015 The Day that Changed our Lives
Our days started like any other day with hustle and bustle getting ready - got Brodie up ready to go and then Harper. Our Nanny - Miss Allie came over I worked a little before I left. Soon it was time to go loaded Brodie up in the car and we were off.
We were going to see a new Pediatrician since my typical office could not fit me in we had about a 45 minute drive across town. I tried to not let my mind race telling myself I was overreacting and that everything was going to be fine. telling myself that I was probably overthinking things and that it was fine.
We got into the office and shorly after us being there Dr. Varga was able to see us. You know how Drs. typically are jamming on their computer keyboard while you are talking? Well Dr. Varga just sat there and listened intently and said things like tell me more... what else... and that is when I started to think my suspicions might be valid. She checked over Brodie and then shared with me that she too was concerned about what she was seeing and hearing and that she would like to get some bloodwork done. Before she put the ordered in she wanted to call a specialist to see if there was any order they would put in. So I waited while she made some calls...
About 15 minutes she came back and said that she had talked to the specialist and they too were concerned but instead of us getting the lab work done next store they would send us straight downtown to Cleveland Clinic Main Campus - ONCOLOGY & HEMATOLOGY. My heart sunk.
We were seen right away. Everything is sort of a blur. Their fear was that this was Leukemia. They took blood. I sat there with Russ and our happy baby. This is what leukemia typically looks like in children the Dr. said we will find out soon. They ran the blood. 45 minutes later we had the results.
It did not look like Leukemia. THANK GOD. BUT we cannot be 100% sure because Leukemia is sneaky and can show up in other ways. So we need more testing. They are worried about some other things too, Brodie's blood was not right especially something they called INR which was about the blood coagulation (clotting - remember Brodie's fingernail / nail fiasco from a couple days before?) The normal score should be at .8 Brodie's was 9+ (the highest you can score on the test).
The testing game was on. We flew from floor to floor from machine to machine trying for this machinery to tell me what is going on with my perfectly happy adorable little guy. What was going on? I didn't understand - he was just fine... right? This was the first night of many in the Cleveland Clinic's Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) Floor.