Friday afternoon, Baby Bunny had a 15mo wellness check-up. She got weighed, measured, checked, poked, and prodded. She also got another set of vaccines. Then, the pediatrician got worried looking over a rash on her back. She thought they were petechiae. The little red dots were broken blood vessels, likely due to low platelet counts. The concern was why the platelet counts might be low. Some viral infections will deplete platelets. With an Immunology background, I immediately thought leukemia - cancer of the white blood cells. Plus, individuals with Down Syndrome develop leukemia with higher frequency. The doctor wrote an order for us to get some blood work done - CBC, complete blood count, including platelets. She didn't even want us to wait until Monday when we already have another appointment in the city.
We got home around 5pm, and I was going to get on the computer, look for places that would do blood work for babies, and make phone calls. With Daddy's help, we were able to get to a local hospital that same night and have the lab technician draw some blood. Now the waiting game.
Sunday morning at 9am, the doctor's office called; platelet counts were absolutely normal. I am relieved and gave Baby Bunny a smothering hug. After a groggy Saturday post-vaccines, she seemed a lot happier, too.
Those little red dots are still there. But, they seemed to be less scary looking now. I guess we'll always be a little concerned looking at them.
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