Three days ago - Day 2 - Accepting the fact

Seattle, March 20th, 2008 - We were in the emergency room till 3 AM. Doctors came and went, the procession continued. We were told that the tests conducted till now were not sufficient and they will need to do a "Spinal tap" and "bone marrow exam from hip" to further determine what "strain" this cancer. A very detailed timeline was established that included when platlets will be transfused, when blood will be transfused, and when the surgery will be done. Shivam was immediately started on IV fluids with the understanding that the transfusions will start at 4 AM and the surgery at 2 PM.

By this time, our brains were almost saturated with all the strangest sounding words. But strangly, all I was remembering were the long "risk" talks of the doctors.

Nothing went on time. We waited and waited. The first transfusion started around 9 AM. RBC transfusion around 1 AM. But they took him into surgery sometime in the afternoon and he was gone for a whole 1/2 hour. I know 1/2 is very short, but look from the eyes of a father, and you will realize they were the longest 1/2 hour of my life.

Shivam, by now, had realized that something was wrong. He was no longer shouting or fighting when his arm was being poked for blood draws. He had gone very quiet. There was no twinkle in his eyes. As if he sensed our fears, our pains. He even came and hugged me a couple of times. It almost felt as he was the father.

The evening was uneventful to the extent it could be. We were going nuts waiting for the results. One thing I love and hate about the doctors in US. In trying to be very honest, they sometimes scare the life out of the patients. Really, all I remember hearing was risks of this medicine, risks of that medicine, etc., etc.

The results finally came in. He had the "strain" that one could hope for...If God told you that you will be getting cancer but gave you an option to choose which one, this would be the one. He had ALL pre-B prognosis. This type has the highest success rate in getting cured.

We finally accepted the fact that our son has cancer. Our face was hard and cracked with tears flowing and drying and smiling and showing a brave face to our son. We were, are scared out of our lives right now...

One thing I have to say about Children's hospital. They have the best nurses in this entire world. Each one of them is highly trained, very compassionate and understanding. They do everything they can to ease the pain for the family. No wonder, Children's Hospital in Seattle is rated the best in the whole of United States.