[CNMLChat] Our Son in Hospital - Leukemia

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Need for prayers: This message was sent to the Catholic Nursing Mothers League, an organization Pam Pilch founded. She is also a Billings teacher and a member of this nfp group. Please keep her son in your prayers.

Sheila Kippley

[CNMLChat] Our Son in Hospital - Leukemia

Ladies - I need to let you know what is going on with us. This development means that CNML work will be on the back burner for a few weeks at least, until we know what is going on. I apologize for this but I promise we will get back to it. Our son , age 2 and a half, has been acting a little cranky and under-the-weather for a few days. He had been grumpy and clingy and not sleeping well, and wanting to nurse more than usual. I had chalked it up to getting his molars. He didn't seem particularly sick. But yesterday morning, after a tough night, he seemed to be feeling a little more lethargic, so I made an appointment with his regular pediatrician for 3 p.m. Before we took him in, I noticed he had a small rash (a kind I had never seen before) and had several bruises all over. With two big brothers, you expect a bruise or two but not all over.

So I took him in and the nurse commented that he looked very pale. Then the doctor walked in and she interrupted me in mid-sentence to tell me that she was calling the rescue squad immediately, that my son was very, VERY sick and that she did not know whether he would be okay or not. This in front of my two older children (who were doing a really good job sitting quietly in the office for a change). I said okay, and I walked out to call my husband, and a friend, and my mother to come get the older boys. The doctor said I was to leave my two older boys at her office - she would stay - until someone got them - I was to go in the ambulance with the baby and stay with him like glue.

My husband arrived before we left, but only just. On the way out the doc told the paramedics to wear a mask because she could not rule out meningitis. Apparently while I was out calling people, the doc did a blood test and my son's platelets and red blood cells were dangerously low and his white cells dangerously high. They started an IV in the ambulance.

Then we were in the ER all afternoon and evening. At the end of the day, it is thought most likely that he has leukemia. I spent the night at the hospital with him and now my husband is there. He has had one blood transfusion and one platelet transfusion and they will do a bone marrow biopsy this afternoon to confirm the diagnosis, figure out what type of leukemia it is and let us know what the treatment will be.

Needless to say, we are still fairly shocked and worried.

At this time, our son's vital signs are good and, to the extent that someone with leukemia or possible other lymphoma can be said to be doing well, he is doing well. There are no signs of complications at this time. We are praying that he has the most common type, which has a high cure rate.

I will update you when I can but we will certainly be at the hospital for the next week. I will know more in a few days. Meantime, please keep him and us in your prayers. Thanks.

Pam Pilch

CNML

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