This is stepping back in time a few weeks, but it’s something else significant that we’ve lived, and  where we have witnessed God’s faithfulness to us.  After hearing such great news that my cancer had not metastasized, we were in for a very stressful day followed by more fantastic news.

It was Friday, Feb 2^nd.  My older sister Jill had come in town to surprise me the day before.  We had a full day of appointments scheduled.  One last dentist appointment before chemo starts.  Check!

Jill surprised me by organizing a lunch with three ladies who have all walked very difficult roads, and are precious testimonies of God’s faithfulness.  Marion and Anne have battled breast cancer, and know very intimately the road I’m beginning to walk.  Elizabeth has had an equally difficult road as not one, but both of her sons,  were born prematurely.   One was only 26 weeks gestational age. Very early.  She and her husband literally did not know whether he would live…and if so, what challenges he would face.  (Praise God: years later both of her sons have no health issues at all).  Lunch with these women was the biggest dose of encouragement, wisdom, and perspective I could have asked for.

We were at Gabe’s office, Raleigh Ophthalmology, getting my prescription updated and a new pair of glasses when I got a call from our pediatrician’s office.  I had arranged an appointment for my mom to have our 8 month old son looked at, since he had a rash I’d never seen before.  It was a petechial rash on his legs.  Suddenly, I’m in a conversation with the pediatrician that had my head spinning: low platelets, ITP, and blood smears.

Here’s what happened.  When the pediatrician saw the petechial rash, she knew it was a sign of low platelets counts, and ordered blood work in the office.  A normal range for platelets is anywhere from 150,000 – 450,000.  His was 19,000.  She then called Gabe and I to let us know that she was ordering more blood work and a blood smear from Rex Hospital.  We took Kai there for the blood work.

We were at the pediatricians office having a discussion with Kai’s doctor when the results came in: his platelet reading at Rex was the same as in the office.  Very low.  Unfortunately, with it being a Friday afternoon, they were have some trouble getting the results of the blood smear quickly.

“What will that show us?” I asked naively.  I’m sure both the pediatrician and Gabe did not want to tell me.

Leukemia.

Our pediatrician sent us to Duke’s pediatric ER 30 minutes away for more testing.  Depending on the findings, Kai may need to be admitted.  It was early evening, and more than anything I wanted to go.  But I was starting chemo Monday and was advised I should not be in the hospital during flu season.  My big sister Jill became one of my first crucial “gap fillers” for me in this season.  She accompanied Gabe and baby Kai to the hospital for me.

Drained, overwhelmed, concerned, and simply wanting to be with Kai and Gabe, I went to bed a few minutes after they left for the Duke’s ER.  And laying in the dark, God met me once again.  Nothing too supernatural.  He simply gave me peace where I should have had only tremendous  stress.  And I realized that I have a choice in every situation whether to trust Him or not: with my own health, with my children, with my husband.

I physically opened my hands before my good, good Father and prayed passionately for Kai’s healing.  I told God that I trusted him regardless of what road we would be asked to walk through with Kai.  Did the leukemia word scare me?  You better believe it.  I’m no superhero.  Much  more than “dreading” what the next year would bring for me, my heart broke and quaked when I thought of my baby doing similar treatments.  But I remembered God’s sweet instruction from Matthew 6:34:

“Do not be anxious about tomorrow…”

And I went to sleep.

I woke up at 2 am to Gabe, Kai, and Jill in our room!  Kai had not been admitted to the hospital.  The blood smear seemed normal, praise God!  There were a few things that were not “normal” about Kai: platelets being too “large”, his age (ITP normally presents in children 2-3 years of age or older, not infants).  We had an appointment to follow-up at Duke on Monday.

Since Monday was my first day of chemo, I had no opportunity to go to that appointment either.  My mom became another crucial “gap filler”, while Gabe pulled double-duty.  He took me to my chemo treatment, he and my mom took Kai for his follow-up blood work at Duke, and then came back and picked me up.  What a super star, right?  My younger sister Autumn and I had a good time together on my “first day of getting better.”

The bottom line on Kai is that the doctors are calling it ITP caused by a virus (a diagnosis of exclusions).  They see nothing that indicates leukemia, praise God.  At day 3, his platelets were up to 27,000.  At 9 days out, they were within normal range at 188,000.  We follow-up in a month to ensure all continues to look good, but we are more grateful than you can imagine.