The first clue is that for a few weeks Elliot had some type of rash on his chest. It wasn't very pronounced, so we thought it was due to heat rash. The second clue was an unexplained silver dollar sized bruise that appeared on the the inside of his arm on Thursday, April 14. We talked about how he could have gotten it, but never got concerned because, like any 21 month old, he tends to fall and/or hurt himself frequently.
On Saturday, April 16, Elliot woke up with a fever and was lethargic. Melissa noticed that his rash seemed to have spread over his body. When I got home from work I mentioned to Melissa that this rash looked like petechiae. I wasn't sure because it was still not very pronounced. Unknown to me, Melissa's mother told her the same thing earlier in the day. Melissa then began to look up petechiae on the internet and at one point even said "what if he has leukemia?" I dismissed the idea as un-necessary worry.
The next day, Sunday, April 17, Elliot still had a fever. Melissa called me at work and told me she was still concerned. I told her to call the pediatrician and set up an appointment for Monday. She told me about more research she had done on the internet and how she wanted to take Elliot to be evaluated somewhere today. She called the pediatrician and the nurse told her that if we suspected petechiae that we need to take him to the ER immediately. Melissa called me back and told me what she was told and I told her to come in and I would meet her. I honestly thought it was nothing to be worried about, and that taking him to the ER would be good to show nothing serious was going on.
When she got to the ER I came down and met her. I talked to the ER physician who agreed that the rash on his body did look petechial in nature. She listed off a few potential things that could cause it, such as a virus, TTP, ITP, etc. She said they would have a better idea what was going on after they drew some labs. Melissa asked her point blank, "could this be leukemia?" She responded that we would know when we got the labs back. Needless to say, her response was not the quick dismissal that we were hoping for.
About an hour later Melissa called me (I had gone back upstairs to work), and said that they had concerning lab results they wanted to share with us. I came down to the ER and the physician came in and said, “your son has leukemia.”
Psalm 139: 14-16 "I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them."
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| This is Elliot after he got his IV placed in the room on that first night. |
