Our story is also very fresh in my memory as it only happened a few months ago. One coincidence with another mom's story is that Ethan had ear infections since infancy and last year had one right after the other. I believe that they pumped him up with so many antibiotics that his body eventually could not fight any infections. He ended up in the hospital with what they called "rotovirus" with no actual test confirming this. His blood work was all normal last April while in the hospital.
Fast forward to this past fall. He had his 4-yr check up and a finger prick was done, again everything was normal. About 2 weeks later we were going for flu shots and the doctor did not want to administer it until he was examined because he had some congestion and a cough. We eventually got the flu shot a few days later. He was then sick for a few weeks with everything imaginable including, fever, exhaustion (napping 3 hrs day), stomach pain, loss of weight with normal eating, pale, cough, leg pain, etc...The final straw for us was one night he cried so hard he threw up all over the hall and it was NASTY! The next morning we brought him in and were told it was yet another ear infection. I refused to leave until they did a CBC due to his pallor and lack of energy.
The counts came back low (platelets and anemia) so our ped called a pediatric hem/onc specialist immediately. They consulted over the phone and then we were immediately sent to the local hospital to draw more blood. <<This is where it gets really interesting>> It was a Friday night and the local pathologist looked at the blood slide and told our ped that it was NOT leukemia. We were sitting on pins and needles at home waiting for his call. We were told it was not leukemia but the counts were off because of the ear infection. I have been through many ear infections in the past and did not accept this answer!! We were told to come back on Tuesday to check blood work again. But all weekend I was researching anything but leukemia--they had ruled it out, remember?? We thought he had a platelet deficiency that would take care of itself over time.
Over the weekend he seemed well but tired and then he started limping. A sure sign of leukemia when combined with all the other stuff, but we did not know that then. On Tuesday counts were just as bad and we were again told it was common in children with an infection and the only thing to do was to come back to check in a few more days. I demanded more specific info on the blood and that is when we were referred to the pediatric hematology/oncology specialists to answer our questions. The next morning at 8:30 am we were already in Columbia (an hour away) and the specialist knew right away what it was. You all know what happens after that part when your world falls apart. So to answer the other question, we feel like his disease was caught fairly early since bloodwork on October 20 was normal and then diagnosis was on November 16. Also, on November 11 they did not see any blasts (not sure if this part is true though). Thanks for letting me share our sucky story.
Andrea Shaw Mom to Ethan Michael, 4 pre-b ALL dx 11/16/05 Also Ally, 2
"I wish everything was back to normal"---Ethan 2/06