Carters Crusade

November 3rd 2012 Carter the Great turned Three! November 6th Carter started limping, gradually stopped walking, and was brought into the hospital on November 10th. Some tests were ran and the verdict was a septic joint in his left ankle.

He was taken into surgery at our local childrens hospital the next morning and had his ankle joint aspirated. He was given a PICC line and had an aggressive antibiotic regimen started. Over the next 6 weeks Carter began to improve and start walking again. He was given a clean bill of health and had his PICC line taken out shortly there after.

The night of January 8th Carter stopped walking again and worried that the infection had returned we rushed him back to the hospital. This time we were relieved to find out he had just broken his Talus bone in his foot. They attributed this to the swelling from the infection and gave him a cast and sent us on our way.

The next week Carter right ankle started to give him pain and started to swell. Worried that the infection had spread to a different joint we took him to the childrens hospital downtown to see if we could get a second opinion. The swelling had gone down by the time we got there and since the X RAY they took was negative we were sent home. We left and went straight to our local childrens emergency room where he was admitted. They gave him pain medicine and worried that he may have Rheumatoid Arthritis gave us a referral to see their Rheumatologist, that conveniently did not see patients in the ER or on the floor and did not have any appointments available for the next 8 weeks. We took the appointment and went home feeling unsatisfied.

Within the week his right ankle, left knee and his wrists were starting to swell and causing him pain. He was still in a cast and not walking but now with the loss of ambulation in his hands we took him back to the childrens hospital downtown. The admitted him under the care of a Rheumatologist who ran a plethora of tests, scans, and assorted biopsies. His Talus had healed and he was able to have his cast removed even though he was not walking yet. Within the week Carter was given a cocktail of medications… that I wouldn’t even call that because it was more like a meal. Around the 6th day he was back on his feet and feeling like a million bucks. We had some bouts of “roid rage” but it wasn’t anything that we could not get through.

By the next week we had gotten all of the results of his tests. Nothing. They could not find anything. He didn’t have any of the cancers they had screened him for, he did not have any known rheumatological conditions, nor did he have any blood disorders. We were left without answers. They continued to treat him with steroids and anti-inflammatory medicines because that is what seemed to work at the time.

Over the next few months we were in and out of the hospital every few weeks. After 12 weeks of weekly IV steroids they attempted a low dose of chemo called Methotrexate. He stayed out of inpatient for almost a year but still had brief flare ups that would land us in the hospital now and again.

On June 25th 2014 one of those flares landed us inpatient where they started him on a new medication called Remicade his next dose was set to be two weeks later. Due to insurance complications we had to postpone it to three weeks later on July 23rd. It is standard that blood work be drawn when this specific medicine is given to monitor any possible side effects.

July 24th we received a call that we needed to bring Carter back into the hospital because they had seen some abnormal white blood cells in his lab work. Once at the hospital they redrew his labs to make sure that it was not a mistake. The lab work showed leukemia blasts. Specifically ALL (Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia).

Carter has been started on chemo, and they hope for remission very soon. He has a long road ahead him, but Carter is fierce. He is one of the strongest, bravest little people I know, and he will overcome this.

Any donations we receive will go towards any extra out of pocket costs not covered by insurance, making sure he can get to and from his treatments, any extra tutoring that he may need during the school year, and any other expense incurred during this fight.