McKenzie has always been a very picky eater. Her favorite food by far is Chicken Nuggets. And on most nights it didnt matter if i had made the best steak in the world... She would want Chicken Nuggies instead.
But over the week leading up to all this, she hadnt really had an appetite. She would maybe take a couple bites of dinner on her own before id eventually have to force her to eat more. So it was a little strange, but not a complete red flag yet.
As the week progressed, she started to lose the color in her face a little and wasnt as happy as she usually is.
Side Note: McKenzie is definitely my child. I know this because i am by no means a morning person. If Meeks would let me start at 10am, id be a happy guy.
Kenzie hates mornings. She hates to wake up, hates getting dressed, and trys to hide under the covers. We literally have to turn on all the lights and tickle her to get her awake. And then once she is awake, she doesnt want anyone to talk to her for atleast an hour. Debbie (her daycare owner) can atest to that.
So back to the story: usually after an hour or so at daycare she would be bouncing off the walls and running around with her friends Isabella and Tyler. But Debbie told us she wasnt like that on Wed. She was just kind of lathargic. Every kid has there off days just like adults. So again, no major red flags.
Kenz started Dance class at Mrs. Marcias Shinning Stars this year and absolutly loves it. Dance runs in the family (my mom and sister Jessica own a dance studio in Michigan; my sister Jenny was in dance back when they called it pom pons and was also on the Michigan State Motion Dance team in college; Jessica also danced for the Detroit Pistons and was a stage Dancer for Boys II Men at a Detroit Lions Thanksgiving game; my sister Julia has won every award imaginable in competitions and is by far the best dancer of the family; my sister Amanda crushed it at every reciteal i saw her in; and even yours truley took dance as a little lad (and i can still do a mean toe touch)) so she jumped into it head first and never looked back. She likes it so much that she made me start taking her 2 days a week instead of 1 day every week like at the begining of the year. So on Wednesday when we took her to dance and she didnt want to dance, it concerned us. I thought she was maybe just getting tired of dance at first, but then we started peicing it all together.
We thought we'd give her one more day to see if she just in a funk, or if it got worse.
Thursday we woke up and she was even more pale. Same story at daycare...no energy. Then at home she was in "I want Daddy" mode. So we agreed that she needed to go to the doctor on Friday.
Misty took her in at 1:30 on Friday to see Doctor Brooks Martin at Tahoe Family. He thought that she was just Anemic and told Mit she might need a blood transfusion. So i met them at the Barton E.R.
They drew some blood and checked her vitals. At that point we were terrified that she might have to have a transfusion...but we thought that was the worst of it. When the doctor came into the room, he instantly did a double take when looking at Kenzie. He sat down and asked us when we first noticed she was pale. Then he said something ill never forget. "I'm going to tell you that i dont believe she is just Anemic. Were sending her blood off to the labs to have some tests run. And were going to be checking her for Leukemia. We should have the results back in an hour or so, and i will come back and let you know".
I kept thinking to myself, theres no way she has that. Hes just telling us the worst case scenario. Shes gonna be fine. This doesnt happen to my family.
The Doc came back into the room 15 minutes later and sat down. I was screaming inside my brain "Dont you dare tell me she has it. Dont you dare lie to me and tell me my baby has THAT"!
He told us he didnt have to wait for the results to come back. He was 99% sure she had Leukemia because of how low her Red blood cells were and how high her White cells were.
I wanted to throw up. Throw up my heart because it was stuck in my throat. I didnt want to believe what he said. I wanted to wait for the results and for that doctor to come apologize and tell us he was wrong and was sorry. But that didnt happen. The results came back. He was right. The ambulance was on its way to take her down to UC Davis to start treatment.
The rest of that night was pretty much a blur. I went and got some clothes for All of us and fed the dogs. I called my parents and my sister Jen and cried over and over again. By the end of the night my eyes hurt and i was dehydrated from crying so much.
Misty and Kenz rode down to UC Davis in the ambulance. I drove the truck down right after the ambulance pulled away from the hospital. I have no idea how long it took me to drive down, what music was playing, or who i talked to on the phone. Alls i could picture was my pale babys face, and the word Cancer floating around in my brain. By the time i got to UC Davis, they were already in the room and had the IV going. The last thing i can recall from that night was kissing McKenzie on her forehead and passing out from complete exhaustion.
A few days later i created this blog your reading today at my sister Jen's request. And that brings us to right now.
So thats the story of How. Doctors still cant pinpoint what the exact cause of A.L.L. is. And at this point it doesnt really matter to me. What matters is my daughter is beating this nightmare, and soon we will all wake up and this horrible dream will be over with.
P.S. Kenz had chemo again today. Took it like a champ. Labs came back and her Red Blood is at 10.4
White Blood is at 1.0
And platlets at 40.
No results from Leukemia % until tomorrow morning. So i will post it when i get it. Hopefully it will be a big fat zero and we can all shed tears of joy.
Until next time..... I love you all.
You got this beutifull champ..she will fight this. I bet shes beating that game on xbox :)
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