Diagnosis

October/November 2020

The initial symptoms began in late October/November. Luke was really active. He was eating well, active, not showing any signs of being sick, and attending in-person school. The only thing out of the ordinary was that he began to develop a lot of bruises! *Notice the bruises on his legs in this pic*

December 1, 2020

After Thanksgiving, we scheduled an appointment with Luke's pediatrician to see why his legs were bruising so easily. The doctor ordered a Complete Blood Check (CBC) to see if there was anything more than just being a really active 6 year old boy.

December 2, 2020

Pediatrician sent us to Dell Children's Blood and Cancer Center in Austin. Pancytopenia was detected. Additional labs were taken and tested. Testing showed no signs of Cancer Cells. Chest X-ray was also ordered; it came back negative. Doctors planned to monitor the CBC levels and continue testing. Luke stopped attending in-person school and switched to virtual class. Luke was required to be in a bubble to prevent bruising, bleeding, and infections. Can you imagine how hard it is to tell a 6 year old boy that he basically cannot do anything he loves to do because he can get hurt or it could make him sick?

December 14, 2020

Follow up appointment at Dell Children's Blood and Cancer Center. CBC showed all 3 - RBC, WBC and Platelets are much lower than previous appointment. Luke receives his first red blood and platelet transfusion at the clinic. The doctor wanted to know more and scheduled a bone marrow biopsy.

December 15, 2020

Luke has his first surgery - bone marrow aspiration and biopsy to rule out any blood related diseases. No evidence of Leukemia was found, but the cellularity (ratio of hematopoietic cells to fat) was around 40%. Normal is around 80%. We celebrated that he did not have cancer. Doctors planned to keep supporting Luke with transfusions and pray that his body would kick back on and start making blood. We monitored closely and continued with virtual school and all the Christmas holiday fun. With planning and preparation, we felt that we could continue on with our planned trip to Colorado.

December 21, 2020

We traveled by car to Colorado for the holidays. Luke would not be able to ski, but he could enjoy lots of quality family time and beautiful scenery. Two days later, Luke ended up at the Children's Hospital Colorado (CHCO) in Denver for another emergency blood transfusion. This was the first time we heard the words "Aplastic Anemia".