Aplastic Anemia

November 15, 2014

I debated posting this picture for a long time, but decided that it was worth adding to the book. The week after we got back from taking family pictures Cy was complaining of having the flu and this horrible rash. He was just really really tired and felt all around achy and horrible. He started having nose bleeds and his rash started to look more like bruising, so we took him in thinking he had some weird virus. After the doc took a blood test, his blood counts came back zero, so we were sent in an ambulance to St. Peter's Hospital in Helena. They started a blood transfusion right away and sent us on a life flight to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City. It was the scariest thing I have ever done.  Cy was feeling miserable on the flight, but luckily the flight was quick. Kevin and my dad were at a BYU game that night in Provo, so they were close by when I made the call for them to meet us at the hospital. Over the weekend, they were able to stabilize Cy, but had to give him transfusion after transfusion. The doctors at PCH performed a bone marrow biopsy the following Monday to hopefully figure out what was causing his blood counts to be so low. The results came back pretty quickly that Cy did not have cancer, but had Aplastic Anemia. For some unknown reason his bone marrow stopped working so his immune system was gone and his body was unable to make blood cells. He would need to have transfusions three times a week until he could get a bone marrow transplant. We would also need to be really careful to keep him away from anyone who was sick since his body would not be able to fight off any disease, virus, or infection. We headed home to test the other kids to find out who was the best match and hopefully keep Cy out of the hospital. PCH was so great to us. They have the best staff. They were all so kind and caring. I am glad he was able to go where he could have such great care.