Landrey's Journey Part 7 (Is it Cancer?)

This was originally posted on August 8, 2015.

Just as the door to Landrey's hospital room opened, you could hear the doctor's voice giving the long awaited for news.

A week ago Friday, Landrey started running a fever of 101. Each day grew by one degree without breaking until Monday spiked at 105.5 in our local ER. Her white blood count was 1.8 (normal is above 5). She was admitted then discharged on Tuesday to follow dropping blood counts: 1.8, 1.3 then by Wednesday 1.2 with falling platelets. Her pediatrician called pediatric hematology at Children’s and they requested transport with an IV which meant getting her back to the local ER and transported to a Children's hospital several hours away. Joshua met us there.

There her white blood count and platelets dropped even further. I knew something was up when the Pediatric Hematologist, donned in a plastic gown, gloves and mask said, "Let's sit down." She said two cells on the pathology smear are fishy. We will run a flow cytometry and based on that a bone marrow biopsy to rule out leukemia. Her eyes widened. A hush fell on the room (several doctors were in there) and I said, "Leukemia?"

She said two cells on the pathology smear are fishy. We will run a flow cytometry and based on that a bone marrow biopsy to rule out leukemia. Her eyes widened. A hush fell on the room (several doctors were in there) and I said, "Leukemia?"

Sometimes you just need the comfort of your Father's hand

Surely not. I mean, she had preemie lungs (diagnosed with chronic lung disease), open heart surgery, coding, seizures. The hospitalist pediatrician said, "Surely, no one can hit the jackpot that many times."

They didn't allow her to eat after 4:00am and called her pediatric cardiologist for cardiac clearance for general anesthesia. "I don't want you to fear. She can handle it," her cardiologist says to calm me. (Bone marrow biopsy is an invasive procedure drawing out some of your bone marrow under general anesthesia for a child). I kept looking at her. She was changing. Landrey now had eaten maybe ONE chicken nugget, a handful of blueberries and drank 20oz of water in four days. She became increasingly tired.

Landrey's platelets had hit an all-time low at 2,000. A physician came in for us to sign a consent to authorize a blood transfusion due to the concern for inadvertent brain bleeds. They wouldn't be able to start chemo until she was stable. 

At 4:15 am they drew labs. By 6:30am they came in and said her platelets have plummeted (58,000 to 2,000 with normal being 100,000) and due to that it was time sign consents. At that point, the physician said they were concerned about inadvertent brain bleeds. She needed platelets.

That was the first time I really got concerned. I'm not a physician but I know a little bit about blood counts. Based on that, I knew she was in a fight.

They repeated the labs and the platelets jumped out of danger range.

But the results of the leukemia test were still pending. They promised between 1-2pm.

Every minute, your mind comes up with a new scenario. The battle of your mind rages. Will you choose to worry and panic over things you cannot control. Will you trust and stand in faith?

Every minute, your mind comes up with a new scenario. The battle of your mind rages. Will you choose to worry and panic over things you cannot control. Will you trust and stand in faith?

4:00...nothing. 5:00 nothing.

At 6:50p, the door opens,

"No cancer. No cancer. No cancer."

They don't know exactly know the cause and they said it doesn't matter what it's called. They eliminated what they were looking for and will tweak things based on all of this blood work over the next few weeks. We will now do follow-up labs and have added a pediatric hematologist to her care team of a pediatrician, pediatric cardiologist, pediatric neurologist and pediatric pulmonologist.

Her counts are climbing but we need them to go back to normal range. She's now eating, drinking well and is so happy to be home. She was finally discharged after fighting through neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, lymphocytopenia and abnormal blood chemistry. 

Once again, God showed up. He will continue to heal this feisty little warrior. Thank you for continuing to pray!

Landrey was finally discharged after being diagnosed with neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, lymphocytopenia and abnormal blood chemistry

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:7-9, 16-18

After that hospitalization, it became apparent that Landrey has low T-lymphocytes. That causes her to be more susceptible to viruses. During that illness, her entire immune system was suppressed potentially by the medicine she was on to prevent seizures.