Feb 29th -Shaving day

Jessie decided to take the bull by the horns and just have her head shaved. She talked it over with a few people and decided to take control over this instead of being devastated every morning when she wakes up with more and more hair in her bed. Our lovely hair dresser Bianca came to the hospital to help us. Thank you B. It's done and I must say she looks beautiful. I haven't seen that head for about 16 years, but I loved it then and I love it now! She is wearing a soft stretchy cap from my friend Teresa who has been through this already. Thank you Teresa. She said it keeps you warm when you sleep at night and it's easy to get on.
The doctors are trying to see if they can get Jessie home before this weekend. The only thing that's keeping her here is that she needs platelets and sometimes blood. If they can get her to a point where she can go a few days without needing platelets, then we can get her home. The other problem which is contributing to the platelet and blood issue is that she is on a marathon period- 10 days and counting now. Once they get that to stop things will get better faster.

Feb 26/27/28 - three steps forward, one step back

Jess has been doing well. She is still in the hospital. They are talking about trying to get her home before the weekend. They took her off one antibiotic and she had a low grade fever for an hour the other night. That next day her counts also went down for the first time since they started up. It was a little discouraging. She has been losing some hair steadily. Lots of it in her bed. She doesn't like constantly picking hair out of her bed. She still has more hair than most people. For those who know Jessie, you know she has lots and lots of hair.

Feb 24/25 - Day 20&21/30- Positive Outlook

Much of the same both these days. Her counts continue to come up. Her ANC is now 250....higher than it has probably been for a while!!! She continues to be force fed hospital food unless we bring her real food :-).She has been able to do some school work with her home/hospital teacher via online.
She is up and about today. She seems very uplifted. The doctors are talking possibly late next week for her departure of this wonderful place. They want to make sure her skin is totally healed before she leaves because the skin is the largest protective organ of your body.
The doctor faxed 7 prescriptions over to our local pharmacy to have available when Jessie gets home! (and she was looking forward to not having to take medicine at home).  They have also connected us with a home care company who will supply us with bandages and dressings for her PICC line and a nurse to change it when necessary.
I had this fantasy that she would be able to jump right back into a full 7-8 hour day when she was released. I've come to realize that she will have to take this one day at a time and slowly work her way back into a modified school routine. Reality is setting in. We are in this for the long haul and it will get better one day at a time. :-)

Feb 23 - Day 19/30 School what???

Yea! She felt well enough to do some school work today. Also, her friend Amos is picking up a packet from school for 3 subjects. Got to start working on catching up when she feels good. :-)
They are increasing one of her antibiotics to make sure that she is covered for skin infections especially. Her ANC is up to 170! Great news- see bolded explanation of ANC from yesterday.
Her white blood cells are also up to 790. Everything seems to be coming up slow, but sure. Slow and steady wins the race!
The docs and nutritionist are threatening Jessie with an appetite stimulant. She doesn't want it so she is eating what she can. I brought her a Tasty Turkey on a cheese bagel for lunch. She ate 1/2 of it. She also ate 1/2 of a spinach veggie wrap that the made especially for her down in the cafeteria. Her stomach turns when she smells the hot food on the food cart in the hallway at each meal time. Nothing smells good then.

Feb 22 -- Day 18/30 - Jessie the Vampire

"I vaannt your blood". Jessie got 2 more bags of blood last night which upped her hemoglobin (the cells that carry oxygen to everything). No more headaches or dizziness while resting in bed- apparently she's getting enough O2 to her brain now- YEAH! We need to keep those brain cells working for college!! She also got another big bag of platelets which help to prevent bleeding. She was having some break thru bleeding yesterday (girls, you know what I mean) which still continues albeit light. She was also having a small amount of bleeding in her nose which was clogging her one nostril until extracted. She feels better.
The docs feel like they discovered the cause of her infection. It's a small skin irritation. They said that some bacteria entered the skin and caused lots of problems- mostly misery that wouldn't quit for 2 days.

Her ANC (absolute Neutrophil Count) has risen since yesterday from 56 to 120. The normal range for an ANC is 1,500 to 8,000/mm3.  You poor people are getting educated right along with me! :-)
From a cancer site:
"Neutrophils are key components in the system of defense against infection. An absence or scarcity of neutrophils (a condition called neutropenia) makes a person vulnerable to infection. After chemotherapy, radiation, or a blood or marrow transplant, the ANC is usually depressed and then slowly rises, reflecting the fact that the bone marrow is recovering and new blood cells are beginning to grow and mature."  Incidentally, when she entered the hospital, her ANC was 280 which is why she was getting sick all the time catching germs a normal body would be able to fight off.

Feb 21 Day 17/30- Fever gone

Well, she has been fever free for 36 hours now. She still doesn't feel like eating. Yesterday when I was pushing the Boost drink, she drank it, but then threw it up an hour later.  She has been getting terrible headaches. She got oxycodone yesterday evening which helped the pain (Tylenol was cutting the mustard) but then she said she was wide awake and feeling funny. She didn't like it at all.  They think the headaches are due to her low hemoglobin (7.7) . Nurse is mentioning that if she is symptomatic (ie headache, tired, pale) that they would consider another blood transfusion. I'm definitely nervous about this because her last fever started around the time of the blood transfusion and it seems like we just got it under control.  We'll see what they decide.
Jessie has been feeling dizzy off and on. This could also be due to low hemoglobin. Of course. 

Jessie has decided to give up anthracyclines (the chemo poison that kicks her butt) for lent tomorrow. I don't know what I'm giving up yet.

Feb 20 - Day 16/30 - Half way there!!!!

I think the antibiotics are kicking butt! Last night after her shower, we took a victory lap around the halls of the unit. Every time I saw someone in the hallway, from nurse to janitor to bed linen man, I raised my arms to the sky with fists squeezed tight like Rocky at the top of the stairs and said, "It's alive! She's up!!"
She stayed afebrile all night long. So far this morning she is also fever free. We are just talking, laughing and waiting to see if she gets feverish today. I'll be back later...

Feb 19 Day 15/30 - Fever is vulnerable to antibiotics..

Docs are not sure that this is a chemo fever. They are looking for signs of infection, but haven't found anything definitive yet. Last night Jessie's fever bounced around from 101-102.6 depending on her Tylenol level. This morning after her Tylenol, her fever came down until her temperature was normal! As soon as the Tylenol wore off, her temperature started on the rise again, but didn't seem to go as high as last night. I am hopefully that whatever infection she has is susceptible to the antibiotics. She sat up this morning while feeling better and ate 1/2 a bagel. I forced fed her a few bites of the "scanty" shake which was ordered by the nutritionist. It is a sweet vanilla ice cream shake with extra calories, vitamins, minerals and protein. She said it was too sweet and had a funny after taste. I had to bribe her with Dr. Pepper, seeing Colin tomorrow, etc... to get her to eat a few bites. It's been a long time since I've had to play open the hanger and let the airplane in!!!

Her platelets were down to 13 last night so they gave her the max dose of platelets IV that just finished. They still have her on all four antibiotics, the anti-fungal and the zantac. Feels like we are moving in the right direction today.

8pm- update: fever came back all day today from 10am-7pm even with Tylenol every four hours. For some reason after the 6 pm dose of Tylenol, her fever came down, she drank 1/2 of her frozen mango smoothie from the other day and is now even taking a shower! Earlier she could barely get out of bed. This is crazy.
Hope the good times come for longer!!

 Thanks to everyone for prayers and support!!

Feb 18 - Day 14/30 - Tough Times

Neutropenic:  is an abnormally low level of neutrophils in the blood. Neutrophils are white blood cells (WBCs) produced in the bone marrow that ingest bacteria.

Jessie had a blood transfusion last night to bring up her hemoglobin which it did from 7.5 to 9.7.  However, she now has a fever of 101. It started right around the time of the transfusion so they did a transfusion workup which will tell us in a few days if she had a reaction to the blood. They also ordered blood and stool cultures which have come back negative. They have her on Tylenol to control the fever and 4 different antibiotics, one anti-fungal and zantac to help her stomach.
I think we jinxed ourselves the other day when Jessie told me it hadn't been too tough. She's mostly sleeping now, has a headache: is sensitive to light and noise. Fever holding steady at 100.9 degrees F.  If ever you have thought of saying a prayer, say it now please for Jess.

 Bottom left is a picture from a few days ago when she was feeling a bit sassy! To the right is her graduation picture which was taken in July when she was tan from life guarding. :-)

She is still having a fever  which seems to start up when she is due for the Tylenol and comes down a little when she is on it. She is shivering now. Temp is 102.6. Tylenol is coming. Everything seems to be checking out ok. Right now, they are calling it a chemo fever which is another way of saying her body does not like getting the chemo!! Her body is reacting to this poison. Leave poison, leave!! 8:20pm

Feb 17- Day 13/30 - Ultra Sound and Champion Pill Swallower

Jessie has been NPO since midnight. Her ultra sound was supposed to be around 8 am, but of course didn't happen until 10:30am. She almost fainted in the bathroom this morning before I got there. She pulled that red cord after lowering herself to the floor. Thank goodness she knows what it feels like to be faint and got herself to a safe position. She was getting an ultra sound because she has been having abdominal pain. I think they were checking for bleeding. Everything checked out OK. We had a nice chat with the ultra sound technician, Kathy. She has a different type of Leukemia, not curable, but she can go into remission. Kathy and I decided that all the medicines that Jessie has been taking orally (ATRA, antibiotics, anti-fungal, zofran, xanax, etc....) have caused her intestinal tract rebellion. Her clotting factors have all returned to normal so it seems that the bleeding risk is greatly reduced. However, her hemoglobin has been hovering around 7.5 for six days now so they have decided to give her blood today. It will make her feel better and hopefully last until her body builds itself back up.
Every time she eats, her stomach hurts, but she tries to eat a little something before each set of pills she has to take. Before two weeks ago, she was NOT a good pill swallower. Now she's a champ.
She is down the hallway now with Colin in the playroom petting dogs! Everyone was invited on the unit. The dogs and handlers come every couple of weeks with special dogs (apparently the dogs needs to lie around a lot and like to be pet). Hey, I have a dog like that! At least she's up out of bed and enjoying herself! :-)

Feb 16 - Day 12/30 - Light Pink

Her cheeks look light pink to me today. That was my first thought as I walked into her room after an hour of traffic getting her. All the tension melted away. I knew she wasn't feeling well this morning because she canceled her home/hospital schooling today at 11am. I was worried all day until I got here. She was very pale yesterday and it crossed my mind that she looked sick. Yesterday her WBC was 670. Today her white blood cell count is 430. You and I are between 5000-15000. Of course she looks pale!  She spent most of the day resting and reading. I put up all her Valentine cards on the wall. I asked her if she ever turns on the TV....just for some noise. She says she doesn't like noise. It is very quiet in here. Mike and Jessie are both reading. I am typing. The only sound is the occasional loud continuous beep from the IV machine. Either "infusion complete" or "air in the IV line". That's not good :-(  . A whole lot of nuthin' going on here, but nuthin' is good for now.
Looks like I spoke a little too soon...they are going to do an ultrasound first thing in the morning because she had stomach pain this morning. No eating after midnight...no snacking Jessie.

Feb 15 - Day 11/30 - Belated Valentine's Day!

Wow! This was quite a day for Jessie. It started off with reading 20+ Valentine cards from Ms Sydnor's fourth grade class. They are a very creative bunch. One of them even sent her a scrambled letter puzzle that was made especially for her. The hardest word to figure out ended up being "Jessie"! Then she started her home/hospital session online with an instructor who is teaching her AP psychology and honors English. It was interrupted for 10 minutes or so for an exam by the doctors. After that, she was in the middle of eating a veg-out sandwich from Einstein bagel when a special delivery came. It was the child life specialist with a gift from the Hope for Henry Foundation. Her eyes opened wide and a huge smile came across her face. It was an ipad2 which has FaceTime. This will enable her to connect with her classes at PHS. The school decided due to liability issues that they couldn't initiate video streaming. So they have asked if any kids had unlimited data plans and FaceTime so we could connect. The counselor at school was getting a list together today of all the volunteers. She is so excited. I kissed her on the head when I had to go. Her counts are extremely low today so I'm hoping that they will begin to come up soon.

Feb 14- Day 10/30 - Singing Karaoke!

Mike went to the hospital today. I was at home working and doing real estate. When Mike got there this morning, Jessie was hungry and ate some cereal. We found out that her vitamin D level was within normal limits so they decided not to give additional vitamin D because it could interact with the ATRA (retinol A) to create a problem in the kidneys. The nurse cut back her fluids and told Jessie that she needed to drink more to flush her system. The overly bubbly activities girl with the nose ring convinced Jessie to attend karaoke from 2-4 pm in the lounge and to our surprise, she went!!! Jessie sang with one of the nurses and was praised by several other patients and nurses!! Mike missed the whole thing because he was dealing with the home/hospital education tutor who was very enthusiastic about teaching Jessie and got her set up online tutoring which starts tomorrow. Still feeling well, she ate her 1/2 sandwich from yesterday from Panera. Dear dad microwaved her mango smoothie because it was rock solid in the freezer so she could enjoy it. I will be back tomorrow...

Feb 13 - Day 9/30- She's hungry!

It's always a good sign when your kids are hungry after being sick, right? I made the mistake of letting Jessie go over board and eat a whole Panera sandwich yesterday. Her eyes were so big and it tasted soooo good going down, not so good coming back up hours later. :-(  But she hasn't given up. This morning she texted me to ask for a bowl and some milk. I brought her a soup bowl from Einstein's and the nurse brought her some milk. We have had her favorite cereal (Raisin Bran Crunch) in her room (courtesy of Gram and DaddyTom) since day one waiting for that special moment. When I got here this morning at 10:30ish, she was reading in bed and happy to see the bowl. She poured herself a small amount of cereal with milk and enjoyed every bite. So far, so good. She did say 30 mins after that her stomach is unsettled. Hopefully it will stay down. Stay tuned....
4:30pm- It did stay down. She also had a half of a sandwich for lunch plus an apple and a fruit smoothie (her favorite). She seems to be holding steady. The nurse changed her PICC line dressing today as I watched. Then she brought me a manikin arm and bandages for me to practice on.  The big doc came in today. I mentioned that Jessie would really like to be able to go to her senior beach week if possible. He said the schedule is fairly set in stone and can let us know which two weeks she is scheduled to be off between rounds 2 and 3. We're working it for you Jess!!

Feb 12 - Day 8/30

Colin and I were driving down to the hospital today and found a Panera Bread close by. Since a Panera bagette is the ONLY thing Jessie has wanted to eat the past few days, we called her to see if she wanted one. "You want a sandwich?!!?"  Yeah! Amazing. She wants a sandwich!! She ate the whole thing. :-) I never thought I would be so happy to see anyone eat a sandwich. When we got there, she was out of bed and sitting in her lounge chair. This is a day of firsts. Colin is checking the bus schedule so he can stay later. I am leaving late afternoon today.  The nurse explained that her immunity will continue to go down and bottom out 7-10 days after the last chemo treatment. She is still getting anti-nausea medicines every 3 hours. I can see that she will be getting bored this week if she continues to feel better. Hopefully the school webcams will be set up soon and working so she can view her classes when she feels up to it.

Feb 11 - Day 7/30- Last Chemo Day and Long Term Plan

Today Jessie had her last dose of chemo for this round 1. It only takes 15 minutes for the poison to enter and much longer for it to leave. The doctors say Jessie is doing very well. We found out yesterday evening when the doctor was running through her "numbers" that the "blast" (which are the leukemia cells) are down to 4% in her bloodstream. They started at 15% last week when we first got here. This is good news!! Her body is responding just as it should. Now we wait for her body to recover as the white blood count comes up. They expect this process to take 2.5-3 weeks. She needs time to feel better and for her body to get stronger for the next round. Meanwhile, she has been watching lots of movies with Colin on a tablet. Round 2 will be approximately 3 months of outpatient hospital visits. She will have to go for treatments for 2 hours every day (5 days/week)  for 10 of the 12 weeks. Then she will be re-admitted to the hospital for a month during the summer to go through another round of inpatient treatment. If all goes well she will go off to college in August cured. Amen.

Feb 10- Day 6/30- First Night Alone

My baby spent her first night alone last night. Mike and I got to the hospital about 11:30 am to greet her. She was quietly reading her nook. Mike asked, "So how did you sleep without Mom and I snoring all night?". She said, "Pretty well, actually. I kind of liked it". She looks good today: sitting up, facebooking on her computer, texting friends. She looked at her phone. "Oh, lunch is over at school". She doesn't look sick. She is drinking fluids, but still doesn't feel like eating. The thought of food makes her cringe. She got her first dose of miralax at noon to help things get moving. Jess says that the alternating nausea medicines that are being given every three hours are really working. They keep her from really feeling sick and wanting to throw up. She is only slightly nauseous.
Colin, Missy and Laura are coming to the hospital tonight and Jessie is really looking forward to seeing them.  Oh course she is texting them worrying about the logistics of how they will get home.
I've been talking to the school IT people to try to get sykpe set up so that maybe she can "attend" some of her classes online. She would really like that and it would help to pass the time.

These are two of her pink sponge sticks that she now uses for oral care (she can't brush her teeth because it causes some bleeding). She made a  mustache!

Feb 9 - Sleep, more chemo and feeling a little better

Today started out with sleeping a lot and feeling nauseous. Jessie hasn't been able to eat today or yesterday. The doctor's wanted to make it more comfortable for her so they started alternating anti-nausea medicine every 3 hours to try to keep the nausea at bay. It is working!! She got her second round of chemo today at 2 pm. So far, so good. She is drinking, but still does not want to even talk about food. She chewed gum while the chemo was going in. Some people say they can taste the chemo and the saline so it helps to have a different taste in your mouth.  She is having a little belly pain, but that could be due to the fact the not much is moving inside. I am getting ready to leave for the night. Her first night alone!!!  We are on day 5 out of 30 for this first round of treatment. There are 4 rounds all together. Let's hope she has a quiet night. Love you Jess.

Feb 8th - Day of Sleep and Nausea

Not too much to report this day. Jessie mostly slept (Thank God) all day and was nauseous. She didn't have anything to eat. I got here at night about 7pm. She woke up about 8pm and felt better. She drank some ginger ale and we read cards together. A fourth grade class in Potomac taught by Ms. Anne Gardner-Sydnor made Jessie get well cards. This is Jessie with all the cards on her bed. :-)

Feb 7th- First Day of Chemo

Tuesday- Jessie had her first dose of chemotherapy. Drug is idirubicin. It only takes 15 minutes by IV to get into your system. She has been getting the ATRA every 12 hours for many days now. She felt OK until later in the evening. Then she started feeling nauseous. She slept through the night mostly, but was woken up to be given nausea medicine. She is also receiving anti-fungal and anti-bacterial medicine to prevent infections. I think on this particular night her blood pressure went lower than the nurses expected. 90/40.  They gave her lots of IV fluids to try to bring her blood pressure back up. She was in a deep sleep.

Feb 6 - Preparing for Battle

I get the other kids off to school in the morning and head down to the hospital. School has received Jessie's email to her teachers about her diagnosis. They are working on getting skype set up in school for her to skype into classes. Jessie gets a PIC line put in. This is a better IV access and will give her access to use of both her hands instead of trying to text one handed. We need to remember what's important here!!  Chemo will start tomorrow.

Feb 5 - First day and starting ATRA

Sunday- All is well. We didn't get to sleep last night until 12:30am or so. So much going on. It is a very quiet day. Restful. Mike and I are both here. Just some bloods drawn and starting ATRA by mouth. Basically no visible side effects from ATRA. Jess feels fine and asks if Colin can come visit. He calls his grandfather and has him drive him down to DC. Mike and I watch the super bowl while Colin and Jessie watch the rest of their movie which was so rudely interrupted by the confirmation of the diagnosis yesterday afternoon.
Colin, grandfather and I leave about 8pm to head home. Mike stays with Jessie.

Feb 4th - Definitive Diagnosis

We rested on Saturday the 4th. No big plans. Colin came over in the afternoon to watch a movie with Jessie. We got the call from an attending at Children's. It is APML - Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia. We sat and listened in shock while the doctor explained everything on speaker phone. Then Mike and I went downstairs where Colin and Jessie were watching a movie. We told them we had the answer- APML. Doctor said we need to come back tonight to be monitored due to the risk of bleeding and to start treatment right away. Jessie wanted to take a shower. I told her to be careful and not fall in the tub. The doctor had asked her yesterday about bleeding gums while brushing and bruising easily. She had noticed these things lately. She had a new bruise on her thigh that she didn't know where it came from. After the shower, we picked up our overnight bags and loaded them in the car. On the way to the hospital, we dropped off Colin at home. He gave her his tablet to use in the hospital. "It has Netflix. She can watch lots of movies" he said.  "See you whenever" Jessie said. Little did she know, she would see him the next day.

We checked into the hospital by going straight up to the floor where our new home away from home will be for the next 4-6 weeks. 4East. Hematology/Oncology.  The doctor was at home putting her kids to bed and would be back to greet us. IV was started. Bloods drawn. Getting settled in her new room. Checking out the TV and games. She kept her phone by her side texting now and then. Doctor came by and went over the game plan. There is a clinical trial that she qualifies for. Less bad chemo drugs to see if we come out with same outcome- cured. After consulting with our secret contact who has lots of experience with clinical trials, we decide that it's a win-win. Less drugs, less side effects.

Treatment of acute promyelocytic (M3) leukemia

Early diagnosis and treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), the M3 subtype of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), is important because patients with APL may develop serious blood-clotting or bleeding problems. This used to be treated with blood-thinning medicines, but is less often a problem now that treatment includes drugs like all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA). Other treatments might include transfusions of platelets or other blood products.
The treatment of most cases of APL differs from usual AML treatment. Initial treatment usually involves an anthracycline chemotherapy drug (daunorubicin or idarubicin) plus the non-chemotherapy drug, all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA), which is a relative of vitamin A.
This treatment induces remission in about 80% to 90% of patients.
Patients who can't tolerate an anthracycline drug may get ATRA plus another drug called arsenic trioxide (Trisenox). The most serious possible side effect of this drug is a change in heart rhythm.
As with other subtypes of AML, patients with APL then receive post-remission treatment.
Consolidation therapy usually consists of 2 or more courses of chemotherapy (with an anthracycline), usually along with ATRA. Those who can't get an anthracycline usually get ATRA plus arsenic trioxide for several cycles.
Consolidation is often followed by maintenance therapy with ATRA for at least a year. Some doctors may also add low doses of chemotherapy, usually with the drugs 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) and methotrexate.
The possible side effects from the chemotherapy part of this treatment are generally the same as those of standard AML induction chemotherapy. But both ATRA and arsenic can cause a problem called differentiation syndrome (it used to be called retinoic acid syndrome). Symptoms include breathing problems due to fluid buildup in the lungs, low blood pressure, kidney damage, and severe fluid buildup elsewhere in the body. It can often be treated by stopping the drug for a while and giving a steroid such as dexamethasone.

About 70% to 90% of patients with APL are cured with treatment.

Feb 3: Bone Marrow Biopsy Day

We got up at our usual time (6:30 am) to get Sara and Drew off to school. Mike took care of that. Jessie and I, bags packed, left to pick up her boyfriend, Colin. He and Jessie talked the night before and he decided he wanted to be there. It was the best decision ever. He kept her preoccupied with games on his tablet. They were laughing, talking and just being with each other the whole time. When she was brought back to the room after the procedure and sleeping, I heard him whisper to me, "She is so beautiful when she is sleeping". When she was waking up, his face was 10 inches away from hers. He wanted to be the first thing she saw when she woke up. He was very patient and caring. He fed her crackers and held her juice for her to sip during the 1/2 hour coming out of the anesthesia. The doctor said the procedure went well (a nurse practitioner did it) and to come back in an hour after eating lunch in the cafeteria for the results. We did. When we came back up, the doctor came in almost right away to let us know the results were not definitive. No tests were positive that they could do immediately. He did tell Jessie that we could go home for the weekend, but to watch out for bad headache and bad stomach ache. It could be a sign of bleeding. They were doing more tests (he called them the finger print of the cells) and might have some results on Saturday, but most likely on Monday. They had us make an appointment in the clinic at Children's for Monday at 12:30pm and we went home with still many questions.

How did you find out that Jessie had this disease?

In November and December, Jessie was getting the usual winter germs, but they just didn't seem to be going away. She would get better temporarily and then get sick again. It felt like we had been to the pediatrician more in these two months than in the last 18 years! She had some blood work done as part of an 18 year old checkup (well visit). She had stayed home sick that day from school and was also sick the next day. Everything was totally normal except for her white blood cell count (2.6 (thousand)). The normal range is 4.5-11.5. The doctor asked if she had had a virus because they sometimes can see this drop in WBC when the body is fighting a virus. She said to feel better and get it redone in a week which we did. It was still 2.6.

Jessie continued to get better than stay out sick for a day or two from school. Antiobiotics seemed to get her better for a while. During the several visits to the doctor, they checked for all sorts of things, mono, limes disease, etc... The plan was to get blood work when she was feeling well after 10-14 days. That never happened.
When she stayed home from school again with a sore throat and feeling tired on Monday, Jan 30th, I knew we had to go back to the doctor again on Tuesday to figure this out. We went back on the 31st to the same doctor we had seen several times now and I looked him in the eye and said, "We have to figure this out! Something is not right". He ordered a repeat of lots of the blood work and he ordered new stuff also. Jessie met me at the doctor's right after school that Tuesday because she felt like she couldn't keep missing....  Little did she know. We left the doctor's office intending to go straight to LabCorp. Jessie's car wouldn't start. By the time we pushed it out of the parking spot and jump started it with my car, she had a job to go to. Blood work would be put off one more day.
Wednesday, Feb 4th she drove over herself right after school to get the blood work done (this 18 thing is hard for me to get used to :-) ).
Fast forward to THursday, Feb 5. at 4pm. I got a call from Mike. Message: "I need you to get home now. Everyone is OK, no one is hurt. I just need you home now."  I called him and he wouldn't tell me anything. I listened to my other message and it was from Dr. Dubleman, the pediatrician who said to call him right away. I knew they had found some answers. My heart dropped. I called Mike back and asked if Dr. Dubleman had talked to him. "yes". "What did he say? What is wrong with Jess?" I choked.  He told me that Dr. Dubleman suspected Leukemia. The WBC had dropped to 1.0 and the RBC had also dropped since the last blood test. There were also cells there that indicated Leukemia. He had made us an appointment at Children's National Medical Center at 8:30 am Friday, Feb 6th for a bone marrow biopsy. I needed to know more. I called the pediatrician and spent minutes waiting listening to music. I called back and hit the emergency button. I was transferred to the doctor after a few long minutes. He told me the details of what he saw. He recommended we pack a bag because he felt she would be admitted Friday after the results of the bone marrow.  Gulp. Hang up. Sob.
Jessie was hanging with friends after school and driving her boyfriend home. Mike and I were going to talk to her as soon as she got home. I texted her. Where are you? She was close. The door opened and closed. My head down. Mike said, "Jess, Mom and I need to talk to you in the living room".
Jess was hugging me on the sofa as Mike told her about what the blood work showed and the possibility of Leukemia and about the test the next morning. She shed a few tears. But not nearly as many as I did driving home. I told her the good news : the doctor said that the tests to check how her organs were doing were all fine so whatever it was had not affected her organs.
We were numb, but family members were doing lots of research on different types of Leukemia and on treatments and nutrition. We were praying and asking for prayer chains to be activated.