A new chapter

I had thought that my last post was to have been my LAST post. Sadly not.
Since that time, Fabian had been enjoying a near normal life, free of infection and being well in himself. Regular School attendance was not yet possible though he had settled into a routine of home education supplemented by some wonderful tutors. On January 28th we celebrated the anniversary of his transplant which was highlighted by having a double page spread in Hello magazine who had been keen to do a follow up to Fabian’s ‘royal encounter’ story. The year milestone gave us all a psychological lift as by now it was evident that the transplant had totally engrafted and he had passed the high risk point of relapse.
But the cruel nature of this disease was to prove otherwise. Around this time Fabian started feeling pains in his back and stomach and began to lose both his energy and appetite. His blood counts seemed fine, albeit with some signs of infection, but the medics appeared none too worried. The symptoms, however, worsened and he began to have excruciating abdomen pains for which proprietary painkillers were ineffective. We bravely went ahead with a home party on his 11th birthday, March 2nd and he enjoyed the company of friends and making lego sets. But by evening, Lydia was packed and ready to take him into Kingston Hospital where he was able to receive stronger painkillers. This was followed on Monday by an MRI and ultrasound scan – something that doctors should have undertaken much earlier, for it immediately determined the cause of pain was due to extensive enlargement of his lymph nodes. Yet once again, blood tests revealed no sign of blast cells so we were still optimistic that this was purely a viral infection such as EBV. Kingston transferred us to the Marsden the next day and we found ourselves back in all too familiar surroundings, a place full of emotional memories for us.
It was decided to carry out a bone marrow aspirate as this would confirm or otherwise the root cause of the lymph swelling. I signed the standard consent form for the operation, one that Fabian had endured so many times before. Lydia remained living in while I was back at work and we awaited the outcome.
The waiting was short-lived. Our consultant met us yesterday to confirm in a resigned but matter of fact manner, that the bone marrow contained a high proportion of leukaemic cells. Fabian had been, in his words, ‘very unlucky’. I can’t say this scenario had not already been played in my head a hundred times but in truth, the reality of hearing it was like a hammer blow. It wasn’t unlucky; it was unfair. Massively.
So a new chapter begins with faith4fabian. As to our medical options I shall keep that for a later post. There is but one option – total healing in Jesus Name and Lydia and I would love to know at this time that many of you faithful followers of this blog will join in our prayer for this. “For he shall not die but live and proclaim what The Lord has done” Ps 118:17