Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Be Strong and Courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go -- Joshua 1:9

This verse has been my motto for the last couple of days. Addyson has had major bruising all over her body. We noticed this during the winter, but just thought that it was your typical toddler legs. They now look so bad that I am very self conscious about putting shorts or skirts on her. Yesterday she had to have her hearing test from getting her tubes in, so I went ahead and scheduled an appointment for her with her pediatrician. He was very concerned with all of the bruises. He said two year olds do have a lot of bruising on their legs, but hers were excessive. She also has them all over her body including in places that most people don't get bruises(her armpits for example). So he said that she could have anemia, a blood clotting disorder, or leukemia. He sent us to the Jasper Hospital for blood work. And I was to call back this morning at 8:30. Before that time came the nurse called me and said that there was abnormalities in her blood and that I need to come back at 10am this morning to talk to the doctor and for more blood work. I had been very emotional but this conversation sent me balistic. I was a wreck and that is putting it nicely. Anyways... Johnny, my mom, Addyson, and I tracked back to Jasper this morning. Addyson has a blood clotting disorder that has a really long name, but has a shortened version called ITP. Her white blood cells(the antibodies) are eating all of her blood platelets. Her platelet count should be 150, hers however is at 25. At the level of 15 she could bleed to death. They took another blood test today and the results from this test will tell us if we are looking at a long term illness or short term. There are two different types and she could have either one. Still waiting on the results from that test. There are three treatments that we could do to treat this illness, but right now the negitive side effects from each drug is too high. We are just going to moniter her very closely. We have to have blood work done every two weeks to make sure her levels are okay. If they stay okay we will then move up to every month, if they don't then we are back to square one. I love our pediatrician, Dr. Ruff, and he is also consulting with the head Hemotologists(blood doctor) from Riley's Children Hospital. When he told me this I felt 100 times better about all of this. I am still scarred to death. I am so scared that something is going to happen to my baby. Right now the only thing that we have to do is no advil, asprin, or motrin if she has to have medicine it can only be tylenol. We also can not let her be any higher off the ground than what she stands, because we don't want her to start any major bleeding. So please pray with us and for us. Pray that she gets better and that we don't have to do this for the rest of her life. Love ya all. P.S. I have added some recent pics of little Miss Addyson Rose Cummins.



5 comments:

Brittany said...

Amy
I would be scared too, but Addy is in good hands (God and Dr. R). I will be praying for you. When I first started reading this post the first thought that came to my mind was cancer. SO GLAD it isn't that!!

Amy said...

That is what everyone's first thought was. The Dr. was even worried about it. I am so thankful and blessed that it isn't. Thanks for the prayers.

Jamie said...

Amy - I will be praying for you, your family and Addy. I know that these last couple months have been tough on your family, but you will pull through. Love ya!

Jen said...

hey Amy, I just happened to click on your blog not knowing it was yours. Just wanted to let you know that we will keep Addy and your family in our prayers as well. Hang in there, I truely believe that even though we can't see it or fully understand it, there is always a silver lining in every situation.

Courtney, Jeff, Ayla & Leah said...

Definitely praying. We love Addy very much...