The Beginning

Our family of 6 has been fighting off strep since Nov.   We had all the regular symptoms and all got put on antibiotics just before Christmas.  In January, I took Lance, Jarom, and Evalette in for well checks. Of course they had RSV so we postponed shots until the end of Feb.  Back to the doc we went.  Once again to try to finish the well checks.  Well, although they had no signs or symptoms all were tested for strep and all were positive.  Once again, antibiotics all around.   We couldn't figure out why we still had the bacteria (and to set everyone at ease, nobody was contagious, just the bacteria was there).  On March 9th, we finished up the antibiotic, confident that all was well.
On Saturday, March 23 Evalette wasn't feeling well.  She had a low grade fever and wasn't eating much.  We spend the day at James' parents house and she just layed in grandma's arms.  I noticed that she wasn't breathing great.  She was grunting a little and holding her breath occasionally.  We watched her closely through the night and at 6 am on Sunday I took her to the Springville Instacare.  She had begun to pull and retract through her chest.  I knew something was wrong.  At the doctor's office she stated fine- oxygen was 96.  So Dr. Bowcott wasn't concerned.  I told him about the strep issues we had been having so he tested her although she really had no signs of strep. Positive of course.  He gave me a prescription for Amoxicillin and told me she was fine.  I was baffled.  I knew something wasn't right.  I took her home and we once again watched her closely.
On Monday, James had the impression to take Tyrell into a pediatric clinic in Springville.  He wanted to know if Tyrell still tested positive for strep.  He of course did.  The wonderful nurse practitioner, Debbie, told James to set up one more appointment and she would test all the rest of the family.  James felt strongly that he should set up the appointment for Evalette.  So we all went in.  Yes, positive again. So she gave us all, including James and I new antibiotic prescriptions- a very strong one.  Debbie was very concerned about Evalette.  She could tell that she was dehydrated, struggling with her breathing, and lethargic.  She decided to give Evalette a rocephrin shot, a quick shot of an a very strong antibiotic, to see if that would jumpstart her.  She was thinking of admitting her to Utah Valley right then, but decided to send us home, as long as we pushed fluids down her and we would see Debbie the next day.  James took Tuesday off.  He hydrated his baby like mad.  Every hour or more, he would get a syringe and give Evalette at least an ounce of pedialyte.  She seemed to perk up a bit and later Tuesday we took her back to the doctor.  Debbie was optimistic that she was feeling better and breathing better.  Another rocephrin shot, an appointment for wednesday to have her checked again set up, and we were out the door.  Something still nagged at me.  Something was wrong with my baby.  She acted like a virus had hit her hard, but there was something else.  I just knew it.  At 4:30 am Wednesday morning I almost took her to the ER, but I felt strongly to wait.  I prayed that all would be well and that she would be protected.  At 9:40 am we saw Debbie again.  We both decided that Evalette seemed worse.  Her breathing was unimproved and now Evalette was flaring her nostrils.  Debbie also noticed that there was something in her lower abdominal cavity- she wasn't sure at to what it was...stool?  She called in the regular doctor. He thought it was an enlarged spleen.  They decided we needed to admit her to Utah Valley hospital for testing and hydration.
I jumped in the car and went straight there.  They put her on an IV right away.  We had a chest X-ray, an abdominal ultrasound done, and blood drawn.  The ultrasound confirmed an enlarged spleen.  But it was the chest x-ray that blew us away.  There was a mass on top of her lungs and heart and fluid around her lungs.  But it wasn't pneumonia.  So we waited for the blood results to come back.
Around 3 pm on March 27th, my world changed forever.  We were told that my baby had cancer, Leukemia.  I will never forget that moment.  I hugged her tight, kissed her head, rocked her back and forth, and the tears started.  Everyone in the room cried.  Not only were we shocked, but so were the doctors.  We were told that her white blood count was at 432,000.  A normal person's white blood count is from 5000-18000 max.  They life lighted us to Primary Children's hospital.  I got to ride in the helicopter with her.  She didn't enjoy it.  She just wanted me close.  We arrived at Primary's at 6 pm.  What a long day.  We were met by a great team of doctors and nurses.  They put us in the ICU because of her critical condition.  We now have begun the process of fighting the leukemia and finding the silver lining through it all.