On February 1st, 2013 our lives were suddenly turned upside down. Our son Kaleb was diagnosed with Leukemia. From what appared to be a viral infection to a rare life threatening disease. Welcome to our CaringBridge site to keep friends and family updated on Kaleb's status. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement during this time when it matters most. Here is Kalebs journal as he battles on his road to recovery. Thanks for visiting.
In mid-January 2013 Kaleb started complaining that his arms hurt, we couldn't see any signs of bruising, but he said it hurt in the muscles. We assumed it was growing pains and gave him a children's ibuprofen. After a few days he stopped complaining about the arms and said his legs hurt. Still thought it was growing pains, but told him if it continued we would take him to the doctor. A week later he said the pain was worse in his right leg and he started favoring it. By Monday January28th, he started limping and when I picked him up from school, he asked if I was going to take him to the doctor. We scheduled an appointment for Wednesday.
On Wednesday, he visited Dr. Whetmore (his regular pediatrician Dr. Young was out) ran a few tests and ex-ray his right leg. He noted there was no swelling and measured both calves. Later that day he called and said his white blood count was elevated and thought it may be viral. He recommended Dr. Keim, a pediatric rheumatologist so we scheduled an appointment for Friday February 1st.
On Thursday evening Kaleb said he was feeling better, but by Friday morning it was worse and he couldn’t walk on his right leg. The appointment on Friday wasn’t the most pleasant. Dr. Keim and the staff were very friendly, but the poor guy had to go through a flu test and more blood work…it was a long afternoon. His right ankle/calf had also become swollen since Wednesday. The flu test came back negative, but Dr. Keim said he may have had it earlier (the previous week he had a bad cough and missed two days of school) and this could be a reaction. He also said it could be other things and wanted to schedule an MRI after more results came back.
We got home around 3:30 and Dr. Keim called and wanted to proceed with the MRI. He still though it was viral, but also indicated it could be something rare and mentioned Leukemia. His office had called Bobbi and scheduled it for 5:00 at St. Vincent. I called my dad to come up and watch Kaitlyn and when Bobbi got home from work, we set out to the Hospital (thinking we would be home in a few hours).
When we got to the Hospital, Bobbi registered and they took us to room 1022. The nurses were busy with Kaleb, asking the normal questions about allergies etc. Then I got a call from Dr. Keim. I turned to look out the window and took the call. He said that the pathology report indicated the white blood count doubled since Wednesday and that it looked more like Leukemia. He then said that Dr. Hill would be taking over. I stood there for a minute looking out the window of room 1022, fighting back the tears. I regained my composer the best I could and turned around. Bobbi was looking at me waiting to see who it was. I didn’t have to say anything, she could tell it was worse than either one of us could have possibly imagined. I could see her eyes swell up as she too fought back the tears. Neither of us wanted to add to Kaleb’s anxiety as to what was happening, or what was about to happen.
