The day after Henry's first birthday, you and I took him to Dr. Snyder's office for his one year check-up. That morning, when I was getting him dressed, I noticed a small rash on his body. It's called petechiae, like lots and lots of tiny bruises. I knew this was bad.
When we went to see Dr. Snyder, he was really concerned. Henry was pale, lethargic, had patechiae, and his belly was big. He sent us straight to the lab to get some blood drawn. Dad met us there. After Henry's labs were drawn, we went home. We put Henry down for a nap. You were still awake when Dr. Snyder called. Over the phone, he told me that Henry had leukemia, and that we needed to go straight to the hospital. I fell to the ground crying. You brought over a toy, gave it to me and told me that it would be OK. You gave me a hug. You were amazing through this entire journey, starting at the very beginning.
Bob-Bob came over to watch you, while dad and I took Henry to the hospital. He went into the intensive care unit, where they tried to fix his blood. His white blood cells were over 301,000 (normal is 10,000). His Hemoglobin and Hematocrit were 2.4 and 5, very very low. They didn't know if he would survive the night. Henry had a breathing tube placed and they started plasmaphoresis, a process to get ride of the extra white blood cells.
The next day, we were told that Henry had a rare form of leukemia called infant leukemia. He had a 50/50 chance of surviving. Less than 50 kids a year are diagnosed with infant leukemia. We were told that for the next two years, we would be in the hospital a lot. They told us that we would need to make the hospital a fun place for you and Henry.
This is Henry in the ICU.
