I received a text message from my wife early the next morning saying she had taken my son, Kyle, into the hospital because he was sick. This in itself was not all that alarming as we have had some nights there before with his asthma which seems to affect him when he gets a bad cold. So, I called right away and Aly told me it was not in fact Asthma, but something a lot more alarming.
A few days before Kyle had shown Aly a huge bruise on his hip that he had discovered when he went to take a bath. It was massive! Aly asked him what he had done and he said he had no idea, he did not remember falling or hitting himself. Aly chalked it up to just the usual rough and tumble life of a 7 year old and did not pay it much mind. The next day they went to Edmonton for the day so Aly could work and Thomas and Kyle could visit their Aunt Jill. On the way home that evening Kyle got very ill – he began to throw up and did it about 7 times in the 3 hour trip. When they got home Aly noticed he had a lot of blisters in his mouth and that is when she decided it was time to take him to the Children’s Hospital.
At the hospital they checked him out and noticed that he had started to ‘spontaneously bruise’ – he had a tonne of small nickel sized bruises all over his legs and arms. This coupled with the mouth blisters got the doctors moving very quickly. They ran a few quick tests and discovered his blood platelet level was at 1 (normal is 150 to 400). Essentially his blood had lost the ability to clot. So, the next text I received as I was getting on the plane was ‘they are doing a CAT scan to check for bleeding in the brain and running a bone marrow test as well’. Essentially, they are checking for brain damage and to see if he has Leukemia. Needless to say I lose my mind. Thank God my team mate Melissa was sitting beside me and not some stranger as I sit there bawling and terrified with nothing I can do and a 3 hour plane trip ahead of me.
I went directly to the hospital after landing in Calgary and by the time I arrived Kyle’s problem had been diagnosed – no brain damage, no leukemia, and a relatively ‘simple’ problem to solve. A week earlier Kyle had gotten the flu and naturally his body began to make anti-bodies to fight the virus. Evidently in 1 out of 20,000 cases of the flu (so, relatively common) what happens is that the anti-bodies begin to recognize the blood platelets as the flu virus and begin to kill them as well. The treatment is an 8 hour IV drip of medication which stops the Platelets from being affected. Normally within 48 hours the patients are at least back to over a platelet count of 20 and they can go home. Everyone was praying for Kyle and that the medicine would do its job. A blood test the next day after only 18 hours showed his levels at 24 and we were actually released and able to go home! Probably the most horrible 36 hours of my life, but thankfully it all worked out for the best. Kyle did have to suffer through 48 more hours of medication side effects (massive headaches and stomach aches), but after that he quickly returned to normal.
This condition is a ‘one time deal’ according to the doctors and can affect anyone from 5 to 50 years old. Kyle went in for a blood test a week later and his platelet levels were over 200! The next big hurdle is March 20th when he gets another test to make sure his body is naturally producing the platelets again without the aid of the medicine (it takes about 3 weeks for the medicine to ‘wear off’). He is back to normal, eating well again, and seems to be very healthy so we are not at all concerned.
It was a very very good reminder about what is really important in life. Sure I had not done as well as I wanted in Park City, but at the end of the day my son is well and my family is strong. What more can I ask for?
Nothing, but I know what I am working for – a Gold medal……. 