Quick Reminder....

As parents, you never ever want to think of your child sick or having something that could be life threatening. If you read my previous post you know that Carson was having issues falling asleep practically anywhere. So a couple of weeks ago, my gut was telling me to take him to the pediatrician and get him checked out. He was asleep on my lap in the Dr.'s office, and running a slight fever. After a very thorough exam, his ped told us two things that really scared the heck out of us. First she ran blood work on him and his white blood count was critically low. So low that she sent the blood to the hospital for a repeat count, and to check for abnormalities. Secondly, she mentioned that she wanted us to get Carson in to see a pediatric cardiologist, as the heart murmer that had previously been detected, now sounded very different.

Wayne was in Orlando at a week long conference, and called him and told him about the heart murmur, but waited to mention the white blood count. His ped told me that if the hospital count came back abnormal, he would need to come home, as we were looking at something critically wrong with his bone marrow. She was thinking quite possibly he had some form of blood cancer, leukemia being first on her mind. I went home and debated back and forth telling Wayne until I had a definitive answer from the hospital, but I told him and he went ahead and came on home on Saturday.

On my way home from the Dr.s office I called my mom and had her get the word out to start praying for Carson and specifically for this situation. I made an appointment with the pediatric cardiologist, and we waited. Friday night, I never heard anything from the hospital, so that indicated that they either were too busy to get the tests run, or that everything was fine. Monday morning I called the peds office back and they called me that afternoon and said that while the white blood count was critically low, he was immuno-suppressed, but his cells were NORMAL! One hurdle down, one to go. The ped, at this point was betting that he had mono, but we had to wait for that test to come back. We saw the cardio on Wednesday, and he spent about 45 minutes listening to Carson's heart and was able to settle those fears as well. Carson has two heart murmurs, in and of themselves completely normal. His Dr. was hearing the two combined, which made them appear abnormal. While what he has is very rare, it is something he most likely will outgrow, and something that should have no effect on his growth. That afternoon we also heard from the pediatricians office, that he did NOT have mono, they don't have any idea what is going on, but that his immune system is suppressed for some reason.

Today, he went back in for a blood draw, and his white blood cells were completely normal, actually they were a little on the high side. Carson is fine! Hallelujah.... no issues that we need to worry about, plus he had his second blood draw with no tears, and watched the whole thing!

Now I say all of this to remind you that not all mothers get the awesome news we got today. My friend Courtney is dealing with her little Carterman's brain tumor. Check my favorites for a link to the his blog for the latest on his condition. He has been in the hospital more than he has been out. They have had 2 steps forward and one step back weeks, but we know overall WHO is in control! WHO, she and Skip are relying on, and are praying daily for little Carter. We know that he is going to be a tremendous example of GOD's healing power and the testimony he will have will lead many to Him. Please remember to pray for Carter. Pray for his family, especially his momma!