The Initial Diagnosis 9/25/2009

On the morning of Friday, September 25, 2009, Rassie was seen at the Scott & White Clinic for a routine check up because we had some concerns with a few things.  In the past few months Rassie had noticed that the left side of his stomach was tight and had a hard spot.  It also had become bruised.  The bruise had gone away previously but had returned within the past few weeks.  Rassie's feet had also started swelling, some days it was pretty bad.  He started bruising more easily too.  We didn't think anything of that because of his strenuous job. 

That morning, Rassie saw Dr. R. (a resident) at the clinic.  Dr. R. was concered about the hard spot on the left side of his stomach.  She ordered immediate labwork and set up a ct scan for 2:30 that same afternoon.  After doing labs Rassie came home for lunch.  At 2 p.m. he was getting ready to head back for his ct scan when my cell phone rang.  It was Dr. R.  She explained that Rassie's white blood count was really high, too high to be just an infection.  She wanted him to skip the ct scan that had been ordered and go straight to the ER to be admitted.

So I sent him on his way and told him I would be there just as soon as I could get the kids taken care of.  Matt and Ashley came over to watch them until Mom could get here.  I got the diaper bags ready while I waited. They were here in about 20-30 minutes.  I called Rassie and told him I was on my way.  It took all of 10 minutes to get to the ER but I was too late.  Dr. R had already given Rassie the diagnosis.  I felt just awful that she would break the news to him while he was there alone.  She then told me what was going on.  Rassie has Leukemia.  CML - Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia to be exact.  The good news was that it is chronic and not acute.  This means that it is slow moving instead of fast paced.  Dr. R could not really tell us much more until we talked to the oncologist.  She left the room and we did our hugging and crying for a few minutes.   Then we were interrupted.  The ER went ahead and did a ct scan and confirmed that Rassie's spleen was enlarged from working over time.  The bone marrow was putting out excess white blood cells and the spleen was trying to take care of them all. 

They were done with tests for the time being and all we were waiting on then was a room on the oncology floor so that Rassie could be moved into it.  I ran home to meet my mom and get the kids sent home with her.  Rassie called and said they had a room that they were getting ready for him so I made my way back to the hospital.  Room NT 806.  I beat Rassie to the room.  Dr. R came in and she explained to me again what type of leukemia Rassie had so that I could write it down.  Finally transportation brought  Rassie up.  Dr. R said that Rassie would be put on a saline drip for hydration and two different oral medications to help lower his white blood count.  Hydroxyurea and Allopurinol.  She said we would meet with Dr. H, the oncologist, in the morning to discuss treatment options. 

Rassie's brother came down with his wife and son to visit that night.  They ordered him pizza and kept him entertained for a while.  I stayed until about 11 or so and then went hom to get some sleep.  That first night was the hardest.  There were still so many unanswered questions and the main question of  "why Rassie?"  "why our family?"  These are questions that we still do not have the answer to and probably never will.