Katelyn's Battle & The Scariest Time of Our Life

The last few days have literally been the scariest days of my life. We took Kate to her routine 15 month check up on Tuesday. She is slightly anemic so they check her iron levels whenever we go in. After the finger prick they said her iron levels we're incredibly low so they pricked a finger from her other hand. Again they siad the same thing. They decided to draw blood. Kate was intrigued by it, she just watched and let them stick her with the needle and everything, after they switched to the second tube she was pissed off and inpatient and started crying. Of course they still had to give her two of her immunizations... so the screaming lasted awhile. Anyway, she was over it and we were on with our day. Wednesday morning her pediatrition called & Todd answered, when he came in to the room he said we need to take Kate to the hospital, there's something wrong with her blood. He was really upset, at first I was confused and didn't really believe him. When I actually looked at him I saw how upset he was. He said we needed to get Kate to children right away. Her blood tests said her hemoglobin & platelate levels were dangerously low and they need to run tests and see whats going on. We headed right down to Childrens Hospital. The blood that the pediatriton took said her platelates were down to 15,000 (normal is around 140,000). If her platelates got down to 10,000 her body would just start bleeding on it's own, and not stop. At 15,000, if she were to fall & cut herself or hit her face or something she would start to bleed and not stop. Her blood wouldn't clot. Before the doc's ran any tests or took any blood they said that often times results like that could mean leukemia. The number one thing on their list was leukemia. This seemed unreal to us. There was nothing wrong with our healthy, perfect daughter. She's not sick, she's not hurt, there's nothing different about her, how could she have leukemia? They tried to put an IV in her and it took 3 tries, it was heartbreaking seeing my little girl suffer like that. She's yelling "please, please, please". I was pretty much sobbing behind her. Unfortunately when they finally got the IV in, they had to put it on her right hand & she sucks her right thumb to self soothe. That was only the beginning of the pokes. After they got the IV in they took blood & sent it to the lab, the results came back as 40,000 platelates & her hemoglobin levels were 7.9 (they usually transfuse in kids if it's under 8). That night they took her labs again & her platelate levels were back down to 16,000, and her hemoglobin was at 7.6. Overnight they gave her a platelate transfusion. She had a terrible time sleeping, no thumb to suck, it this strange place with people poking and touching her all the time. And, yes, that IV that took 3 tries fell out. They had to draw blood, which took two pokes, then two seperate nurses attempted to put an IV in again, this took another 3 pokes. She was miserable. So was I. They ended up putting the IV in her foot. Another unfortunate place as now she can't walk around. All day Thursday we had to carry her around and make sure she didn't accidentally pull out the IV. In fear of losing the IV the nurses decided to do two finger pokes to do labs that morning. Thursday we took her to the clinic where they put her to sleep and had to poke her twice to withdraw bone marrow, and again to do a spinal tap. These two tests were going to tell us whether she had leukemia or not. We had a good day after that, we played and went on walks & took a nap. She doesn't even seem to realize that something is wrong. Thursday afternoon they ordered a blood transfusion as her recent labs put her hemoglobin levels down to 7. The tube fell out of her IV and landed on the floor. We had to wait a couple hours and do it all over again. It's a 3 hour process. We did it Thursday night. Believe it or not, after the blood transfusion her IV came out again! They decided to leave it out and send her early in the morning to get a central line put in. Meanwhile they had to poke her again to draw blood for her labs. The Central Line was intense. They put her to sleep, put a breathing tube in, cut a small incision in her chest and run an IV like tube through her vein and let it rest just above her heart. It's really intense, and a pain, but it's much better than her being poked constantly. When she woke up she was incredibly dehydrated and hungry. We went to the room and she slept for a few hours. While she was sleeping her doctor came in with good news. The marrow & spinal test came back and were both negative for leukemia & aplastic anemia. Thank You Lord. We are so thankful that it is neither of those things. We woke her up to try and help the anestesia ware off, after about 45 minutes she was back to her old self. Walking around (with Todd or I tightly in tow with her IV cart), saying "hi" to all the nurses & blowing kisses. She started eating like the little champ she is, and drinking lots of fluids on her own. Friday afternoon they took her off the IV since she was eating and drinking so well. So, yesterday we played and walked and she was amazing. Last night they came and drew blood from her cathetor and it didn't even wake her up! It was amazing going from all the poeple and pokes and screaming and "please" 's, to them being able to take blood in her sleep. Thank you Lord. She did wake up though, we danced in the middle of the night and walked around the whole hospital a time or two. Today we we're stircrazy in the hospital, the playroom is closed on weekends, and I can only drag her around in a wagon for so long. She can't stand being in the room and demands a "walk!" at all times. We can walk for an hour and when I open the door to our room we throw quite the fit. She's eating well, drinking well, and in amazing spirits. We still don't know what is causing this. We do know that her white blood cells are perfect and in abundance. The doc's are now running tests to see if maybe her white blood cells are attacking her red blood cells and platelates. We won't know why even if that is the explanation. They still have a lot of tests to run, and until we know what is happening in her blood and have a treatment we will either be at the hospital or be treated as an outpatient. It all depends on whether her platelates & red blood cells continue to rapidly dissappear. Our goal is to find out what's happening to them, and why, then to treat it so her body will start producing them & letting them live & do their job. Until then we'll have to be careful and keep that Central Line in for transfusions, tests & treatments.
It's strange because I've never really worried about her getting hurt. Obviously I don't let her do dangerous things that could hurt her, but I never worried about her falling, or running into things or climbing off the couch. I always figured it would make her tough, and so far it has. Kate never cries, she falls, hits her head, and just eats it all the time... She gets up and goes back at it. Very rarely does she cry. Now I'm going to be that paranoid parent watching and hovering all the time in hopes to protect her from any type of fall or crash. Now it is important to make sure she doesn't bleed, because if she does, she could literally bleed out. Until we find out and fix whatever is wrong, I will be that paranoid Mom.
Thank everyone for their thoughs and prayers! We definitely feel them and I truly believe they are what's making my baby girl okay. Your prayers are the reason my Katelyn doesn't have leukemia. Thank You and please continue to pray for her.
We'll be in the hospital at least a few more days & I'll update as soon as I can.