Good Blood

I am not the type of mom that gets freaked out easily. I like my kids to experience things as long as they don't cause harm to somebody or something. Children running through my house screaming with joy usually doesn't drive me crazy...although sometimes it does push me over the edge.

John and I love our kids and no matter what they are going through we try to treat them as equals. This was surprising to most people while Anderson was going through his treatments for Leukemia. In fact...Children's hospital called us twice, asking our permission to give out our phone number to some local parents of children will ALL. They told us that they had never seen parents so willing to let their children "live" with Leukemia. Many parents are so scared of losing their child that they put them in a box, don't let them attend school, play with friends, and experience disappointments. They wanted these families to give us a call and for us to tell them how well Anderson was doing in public school and living life like a normal kid.

Of course Anderson's condition demanded more of our time, love and concern, but he did just as many chores as his brother and sister and he got in trouble when he did something wrong. John and I realized that children who have life threatening illnesses are usually stronger than most adults. Anderson had experienced more in his 4 years of life than in our 30.

So where am I going with this rambling of thoughts. Anderson was diagnosed in May of 2000 at 4 1/2 with Leukemia. If he hadn't been airlifted that night he would have died. Within 24 hours of being on chemotherapy his body reacted perfectly and he was in remission. Years later, towards the end of second grade he was able to take his last dose of Chemo.

We have had two scares since then. One in third grade, and one last week. I know the yucks have been going around but Anderson doesn't get sick often and there are three things that make my gut clench: Anderson being pale, Anderson having lots of bruises and Anderson saying his legs ache. Last week he had all three and I thought I was going to throw up. Thursday night he told me that he couldn't even do more than jog in PE cause his legs hurt so bad. Like I mentioned earlier, I don't usually freak out, but I was ready to run him into the ER at 10:00 that night to do some blood work. John convinced me that the ER would not be the best place to go and to wait until morning to call his doctor.

To make a long story short...his blood work looks great. His Red and White Blood cells and platelets are right where they should be. I get mad at myself for freaking out, for thinking the worst. So when I look back on this last week I will remember instead that Anderson celebrated his 14th birthday and attended his very first stake dance.