How in the world did we get here? (part two)

(click here for part one)

When Jack was a little boy, I read a parenting article that said you should give children choices. "Would you like to put your coat or your shoes on first?" "Would you like to clean up your toys now or after lunch?" But there was no pulling one over on Jack. He'd look me square in the face every time and say in his sweet toddler voice, "Choice three, please."

That's just how we felt on Monday. Jack's pediatrician and the doctor in the ER thought he was suffering from hemolitic uremic syndrome (HUS). But when Dr. Onwuzurike, the pediatric hematologist/oncologist, spoke with us that afternoon, she suspected something different: leukemia.

We desperately wanted choice three, please.

A bone marrow test Tuesday confirmed Dr. Onwuzurike's suspicions, and the floor dropped out from under us. She was very confident that Jack would be able to experience a full recovery with chemotherapy, though the next three years of his life would be very different than what we had dreamed and planned. Miami University would be on hold for a year. Jack was incredibly brave and incredibly determined. "Let's get this done," he said.

Things happened incredibly quickly from that point. By Wednesday afternoon, Jack had surgery to install a port in his chest, a spinal tap to test for cancerous cells in his brain and spinal cord, and had completed his first round of chemo. He would stay in the hospital through his second round of chemo Saturday.