Updates

Life seems to keep us so very busy.  Lately, the busy-ness consists of managing sickness, something we have not been familiar with for a very long time.  Maggie went almost 2 years without getting a cold, but alas, we have been bitten by the cold bug several times over.  Both kids got colds Christmas Eve, and we have been fighting them ever since.  We have had a viral rash and Colin got the stomach bug along with diarrhea from an antibiotic (which caused some dehydration).  It seems like it just keeps on going...

I took Colin to a hematologist at Akron Children's a couple of weeks ago.  The test they do to determine if there is a bleeding disorder (specifically Von Willebrand disease) isn't normally given until a child is over 18 months old.  It's a test that needs to be done with the least amount of stress possible because stress on the child can alter the results.  This is a bit challenging because it's a blood test, requiring 20 mls of blood.  I don't know any children who don't cry giving blood.  It's also a test that you have to run several times because it can show false positives.  So, rather than do this test (we are to come back in 3-6 months), the doctor decided to do another CBC (to rule out leukemia AGAIN),  an epstein barr virus (mono), and an immune system test.  These tests were done because Colin had a cold/cough after 10 days and he has eczema.  I felt that we were asking for more possible "problems" by adding new blood tests.  Not only that, but I had to sit for another hour with the stress of getting another CBC and looking for leukemia.  Another hour of torture.

The tests can back with a normal CBC (no leukemia, again), normal Epstein Barr Virus, however Colin's IGG level (immunoglobulin, or antibodies which fight infection) was a little below normal.  The doctor decided to not do anything for now and have him tested in another 6 months to a year.  So, for now, we will sit and wait to have further testing until Colin is a bit older.

We went to Dayton last Monday for Maggie's clinic appointment to see Dr. French.  Her numbers all looked great, better than we've ever seen them (even given that fact that she was fighting a cold).  In two months, she will have routine tests to evaluate her heart and liver.  They will do an echo and EKG along with more extensive blood tests.  Chemotherapy can hurt these organs so they like to keep watch on them.

As we were at the appointment, I found out that Dr. French is the bleeding disorder expert in the southwest area.  How great is that?  I was able to ask Dr. French all my questions and discuss with him about the process we have gone through with Colin thus far.  It was so great talking with him.  He was able to ease my mind (after working with him for over 3 years, he has a good idea how we handle stressful situations).  Because of our previous relationship with Dr. French, we decided we will have Colin's hematology concerns transferred to Dr. French.  Though the travel is further, we feel more comfortable using Dr. French as his doctor.  Dr. French stated however, that if Colin doesn't show any further signs of a bleeding disorder, he would probably not test him for Von Willebrand's disease.  This was encouraging to me and hopefully we'll not need to look into this further.

So, that, in a nutshell is how our hem/onc issues are going.  I left Dr. French's office feeling much better and hopefully that will continue.  Now all we have to do is get rid of the "normal" viruses that are floating around our family.  I guess we always said we wanted a "normal" life and now we are getting a taste of the "normal" illnesses that most families deal with.

Thank you for your continued prayers for our family.  We greatly appreciate them as this journey veers off the road every now and again.

Photo taken 10/16/11 by Luke Lehman