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Owen’s Story
Site created on August 21, 2009
Welcome to our web site. We, Michael, myself and Owen, hope this site will help everyone to understand what we are coping with right now. We also hope this is a way for us to tell our story without repeating it many times, not that we mind..just right now we are living day by day. Owen was diagnosed with ALL Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Thanks.
So this is the background as to everything that happened these past 10 days. Everything started with a nose bleed on Wed. Aug. 12. It stopped and I thought nothing of it. Then Friday Owen got another bloody nose that would stop and start again. I was worried but Owen was also teething. However on Sat. evening he had small red freckles on his legs from his knees to his ankles. I was worried but thought I would see how the evening went. Owen slept well and played OK on Sunday. So on Monday, Aug. 17 Owen had a doctors appointment at 2:30 pm. The doctor ordered labs and had us await results. The tests came back that Owen's red count was 5.6 ( Normal is 12) and his platelets were 13,000 (Normal is 130,000). The doctor called Dayton Children's Medical Center and they sent an ambulance to pick Owen and I up.( It was the Tinker Bell ambulance not the CARS one...how sad.) Owen fell asleep on the ride. Michael ran to work, home and then met us at the hospital. Owen slept through forms and only woke when he got his right hand in a pillow sling and a IV placed in that hand. Many people came in and were very helpful. Michael arrived and we were moved to the Hematology/Oncology floor. I ran home because we were warned that we would be there for at least a few days. We were also told Owen would get a red blood and platelet transfusion. At midnight he received the red blood (taking 3 hours) and the platelet transfusion ( taking half an hour). Vitals also had to be taken every 15 to 30 minutes to ensure no reactions to the transfusions. The next morning Owen could not eat or drink because he had a bone marrow biopsy scheduled at 10 am. The doctor came in and talked with us. Then he performed the bone marrow procedure. We were allowed to go into the procedure and stay while it happened. I could not watch the needle so I knelt down by his bed rubbing his left hand and Michael stood behind me. Then the waiting game began. Around 4pm a surgery student came and spoke to us about the port being placed the next morning. At 5:30 pm Owen's doctor came in and told us he had ALL Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. It was a very hard night. Wednesday was upon us and Owen was to have surgery to have a port( a device that stays under the skin used to take blood or to give medicine or fluids). It was scheduled at 4pm, which meant that he was not allowed to eat after 7 am or drink after 9 am. It was a long day. My mom and dad made it here around noon. Rosie could not take being away. Owen had an EKG and an Echocardiogram done as baselines to measure any problems with the heart. The surgery went well. The port went the wrong direction and then went into perfect place. The surgon was very pleased. Owen's oncologist also performed a spinal tap to see if the leukemia was in the spinal cord and to also place a chemo drug there as a preventative. Owen woke up and drank a little. Thur. The port was working great and the spinal came back negative for leukemia. Owen had a pretty uneventful day. He was very sore from the port, but Tylenol helped. Dad went home and mom decided to stay. I took her home and headed back to the hospital. I hope this gives you a little insight into how this started and I will start journaling now.
A few weeks ago on the 13th of September we got great news that Owen is officially in full remission, pending a EKG. It almost seems unreal and at the same time amazing. This journey has been long and left so many influences on us and those around us. Especially for Owen and Lillian and trying to seize every moment and being grateful for what they are blessed with from God. We want to say thank you to those who have been following from the beginning and blessing us with prayer and hope, also to those who have welcomed us in and shown us love. Your amazing acts of kindness have help carry us when needed. Love to all and Whoa Who.....FULL Remission!!!!(Still feels weird to write that!)
