April 8th, 2014 was when the real adventure began for our medical journey with Clark. While we had several key medical issues leading up to this date (Clark’s mild hemophilia, problems with his left eye, head injuries,etc…), it was on this date that we received confirmation that the smaller issues we were seeing might be tied to a bigger problem.
Two days earlier, Clark had a “comprehensive exam” at the Hematology clinic. A comprehensive exam is a way for us and Clark to meet all our doctors, nurses, physical therapists and social workers in the hematology clinic. As well, it gives us a chance to address any questions we may have about Clark’s hemophilia as well as his physical and mental development.
In conjunction with attending the comprehensive, it is routine for the patients to have a blood draw and a CBC (complete blood count) done. This is to check factor VIII levels, platelet count, WBC (white blood count), RBC (red blood count) and liver functions.
On April 10th, after getting the results of the blood draw, alarms went off. Our doctors noticed that Clark had low platelets, low WBC and low RBC. We were told to go in immediately for another round of labs to see if there were any mistakes. 3 separate blood tests all confirmed that his numbers were low, and decreasing.
2 conclusions were immediately drawn.
- Something was VERY wrong
- It might be either Leukemia or Aplastic Anemia.
We were immediately scheduled for a bone marrow biopsy to check for both of these diseases. At the age of 1, Clarkie was to go into his first surgery.