Throughout our vacation, our son, J was not his usual active self. He had a cold, and sinus infection about 2 weeks before leaving... but it had been conquered...or so we thought. Throughout our travel, we recognized symptoms appearing that led us to believe he had a viral infection.
The morning after our return home, Chief took him to the hospital where he works to get J's blood checked. When the lab tech read the values, he wouldn't even give the results. He insisted that J needed to see his primary care physician immediately, so off they went.
When I saw Chief a few hours later, I saw fear in his eyes. As soon as he shut the bedroom door, he relayed what the Dr. diagnosed, and burst into tears, sobbing like a baby. The one word summery of our conversation was:
CANCER
What?! Our healthy, active son had what?! My mind whirled...and spun out of control. It couldn't be! But wait...they had an immediate referral to see the Oncologist to verify. About half an hour later, after picking up something to do while waiting to see the Dr. they left for a second opinion.
Oh how I prayed...and cried... until I saw them later...when the kind of cancer was identified. It was definitely leukemia, but his blood would have to be analyzed by MD Anderson before knowing what type of leukemia he had. I had never known that there were 8 or more types of leukemia.
J was admitted to the hospital, and given blood and platelets while they waited for the results of the blood test. R offered to spend the night with J while Chief came home to get a few hours of sleep. That proved to be a blessing, though it was a fitful night. For the next day would be another day of trials.
