He'd always been such a healthy little boy. Even when he started nursery, which everyone says is bug central, he hardly ever caught anything.
Then one day he came home with what seemed like the start of a cold and it just seemed to drag on for ages. I took him to the GP and was told it was viral and these things can linger, which is fair enough because most of the time they do.
One evening though he was really out of breath which frightened me so I rang 111 and they advised A&E. They listened to his chest, said it was probably viral and prescribed an inhaler. Looking back I don't feel they properly checked him but at the time you trust what you're being told.
The cold did eventually get better but I still felt something wasn't right. He was pale all the time, still got out of breath much more easily than he used to and he seemed to get tired so quickly. He was also having a lot more tantrums than normal which we just put down to him being nearly 4.
The difficult bit was that he still had days where he'd run around and play quite happily when he had the energy, he still ate well and he never had the unusual bruising or lots of the symptoms you always hear about. That's partly why I think people weren't too worried.
It did take a while to get anyone to really take us seriously. I remember asking if they could do a blood test because I couldn't get past how pale he looked. The GP actually said he wasn't "extremely pale" so didn't think it was needed. He wasn't ghost white, but he was definitely pale for him and I knew he'd changed.
I don't blame every doctor we saw because childhood cancer is thankfully rare, but I do wish someone had listened to my concerns a bit sooner.
@RecyclingSal@Zapx