The Worst Day Of My Life...

Sunday, November 20 into Monday, November 21, 2011 will forever be remembered as the worst day(s) of my life.  My daughter, Haylee, had been complaining of her head and stomach hurting for about 2 days.  We had been giving her Pepto-Bismol and she was telling my husband, Adam, and I that it felt better after drinking it.  We noticed she had been sleeping / napping a lot the past few days but didn't think much of it because I had been waking her up around 5:30am to get up and get ready for school.  We had also noticed that she had more bruises than usual (she had just finished a soccer season and, let's face it, she's an 8 year old tomboy).  I told Adam that I planned to take her in to her pediatrician on Monday for a strep test since she had the classic signs (minus the fever). 
At 2pm, I went to the grocery store.  By 4pm, Adam was calling me to come home because she needed to go to the urgent care center that evening because she hadn't hardly ate and was sitting in her room rocking on her bed crying that her stomach hurt as well as her gums had started bleeding and were black in some spots.  I raced home, gathered Haylee, and off we went to Children's Healthcare Immediate Care on Satellite Blvd in Duluth.  We waited for about 20 minutes.  From the time we got out of the car until we were called she spiked a fever of 103.  I began to cry because I was extremely worried about her.  She was so sweet and said, "Mommy, don't cry. I'm fine."  We began to walk back to a room and the nurse told me quietly that they were concerned about her symptoms and that I needed to be strong.  The doctor on call ordered a CBC (complete blood count) and found that her WBC (white blood count) was 115,000 and her platelet count was 19,000 (normal WBC for a child is 5,000-10,000 and normal platelets are 160,000-500,000). 
They took me into a room and told me they were in touch with a Hem/Oc doctor (hematology/oncology doctor), they were concerned she may have Leukemia, and were going to transport us by ambulance to Egleston Children's Hospital.  I began to cry hysterically and realized at that point I was alone with my news and had no one to turn to for support at that time.  I got myself under control and went back to the room to call Adam, who was at home with our 3 year old son, Mason.  He rushed Mason to my parents and met us before we were transported. 
Upon arriving at Egleston, Haylee was immediately put on IV fluids and more blood was drawn.  My parents ended up driving down with our son to support us in what was going on.  After all labs were tested, Dr. Cooper (a Hem/Oc doctor) came in to confirm that yes, my sweet baby girl had Leukemia but further tests would need to be done to determine what kind.  We were taken upstairs to the Aflac Cancer Center for the night. 
The next morning (Monday, November 21), Dr. Keller (another Hem/Oc doctor) came in and told us that he was 95% sure she had APL (acute promyelocytic) leukemia, which is a rare form with the highest cure rate.  At that point, we were transported to the PICU immediately because she had a risk of bleeding out and clotting in the brain.

WBC - 108,000
Platelets - 19,000