Dylan was born on April 11th, 2001. He weighed
7 pounds 3 ounces and was somewhere between 19 and 20 inches long! The first
time he was measured, he was 20 inches and somehow he shrunk to 19 the next
time he was measured- or more likely someone messed up! He made it so easy
on Mom. My water broke and less than three hours later, he was born. No
drugs and not too much pain. I was up and walking right away.
He was always such a good baby and healthy too. I never had to take him to
the doctor's much except for regular checkups. That changed in the winter of
2005/2006. It was right before Christmas when we first noticed little things
with Dylan. He started to say that his legs hurt or his back hurt. We
thought that he was probably just going through growing pains because he
seemed fine otherwise and it did look like he was getting taller. There were
times when he would say he hurt at bedtime and it kind of seemed like a ploy
to stay up later. We never really gave it a second thought.
Through January he got sick a lot. A fever here and there, headaches, a
little bit of a bloody nose. Nothing that seemed too unusual for the winter
months. The rest of the family was pretty sick too. In February he really
got sick. His color was pale and his energy level was really low. That was
when I really thought something was wrong. The preschool even noticed that
he just wasn’t himself. He started to say that his ears were hurting. He got
a quick exam at the doctor’s and was treated for ear infections and
pneumonia. He was given a course of antibiotics and was sent home. He seemed
to recover from the ear infections and the pneumonia.
Dylan went to his dad’s for the weekend and when he got back, his color was
worse. He was extremely pale and yellow looking. He also looked really
bloated around his ribs. I took him back to the doctor’s and this time the
doctor took one look at him and asked if he’d had a blood test done the last
time he was in. No, but it didn’t sound good. Why would they need to do a
blood test? The doctor did a preliminary blood test at the office and about
15 minutes later he came back with some bad news. Bad is an understatement.
Devastating would be a better term. Even that doesn’t really seem to fit. He
said he could possibly have viral Parvo, but with all the other symptoms, it
was more likely that he had Leukemia. It was like getting shot in the face
with a shot gun. I was stunned. Leukemia. Cancer. Not possible! I thought
we’d get more antibiotics, go home and he’d be fine. I was told to go home
pack a bag. He was sending us to Mary Bridge Children’s hospital in Tacoma
and that we’d probably be there for a while. How do you pack when you get
hit with news like that? I went home in a daze, made the appropriate calls
and walked in circles trying to pack. I couldn’t even think. I ended up with
all this stuff for Dylan and very little for me.
On February 22nd, 2006, Dylan was admitted into Mary Bridge Children's
hospital where after numerous tests, it was confirmed that he had Acute
Lymphoblastic Leukemia. And the whirlwind began. He immediately began
getting blood transfusions. There were lots of transfusions along the way,
which made him start feeling a bit better. The next day we met Doctor Irwin,
his oncologist, along with Cheryl his nurse, Mary the social worker, Heather
the Child Life Specialist and many other doctors and nurses.
On February 24th, they started treatment. He had a spinal tap, bone marrow
biopsies, and got his first round of chemo. They also installed a
semi-permanent "PICC" line in his arm for transfusions, drawing blood for
tests, and for IV injections.
On March 3rd, Dr. Irwin said he was doing well enough that he could go back
home, and continue treatments from there. It was nice to be home. He still
goes to the hospital or Oncology Clinic regularly for blood tests, biopsies,
shots, treatments, and chemo.
In April he got his PICC line replaced with a port-a-cath under his skin. It
has made treatments so much easier and painless. We just have to put numbing
cream on before we leave and it’s good to go when we get there.
So far everything has gone pretty well. His response and reaction to
treatment has been great. We’ve had a couple ER runs because of fevers, but
they were taken care of quickly. No infections. Just viruses that ran their
course without any problems. He has gone through most of the hard chemo and
has been delayed a few times due to low counts. Hopefully, he will continue
to do well with things. He will be starting maintenance chemo soon and will
be doing that for the next 2 ½ years. We look forward to the day that we can
put this all behind us.
Abilities:
See: Yes. Hear: Yes. Talk: Yes. Walk: Yes. Read: Yes, in process of learning. Use hands: Yes.
Siblings:
stepbrother Tyler, age 10
brother Jacob, age 9
Child's Interests:
Dylan likes Archery, Soccer, Legos, Hot Wheels, The Cars movie, motorcycles,
animals, bikes, Tom and Jerry and music-- especially Big and Rich.
Sibling's Interests:
Tyler likes baseball, basketball, Legos, cooking, spy stuff, building forts,
archery and science.
Jacob likes archery, soccer, baseball, motorcycles, quads, Legos, spy stuff
and building forts.
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