Leukaemia symptoms

[greeneyedmermaid]

Hi. A bit of background: my beloved sister died of leukaemia aged 15, 10 years ago. I have a three year old and a six month old.

My three year old daughter has, over the last few weeks, had symptoms including very light nosebleeds, tiredness, aching legs, loss of appetite, irritability and inability to concentrate.

I have booked a doctors appointment for this afternoon hoping that they will refer her for blood tests but I am absolutely petrified, given my family history. I suppose I am expecting the worst.

Can anyone tell me what the process would be if she does have bloods taken? How soon do results come back? Should I ask for a blood film test too? My sister was fobbed off by our GP at the time for weeks until she became very ill.

Thank you.

Try not to worry until anything is known for sure! It could honestly be a number of things. Has she had any weight loss? Or frequent infections such as colds or ear infections? Is she more pale than usual? More frequent bruising?
Does your local hospital offer walk in blood tests? It depends on the process where you live but in my experience results can be back the same day, if anything showed up that would indicate leukaemia they would call and ask you to attend your local a&e where they would do more extensive blood tests to distinguish a cause. It would all be detected very quickly from the initial blood test honestly in all likelihood your

Sorry posted too soon!
Your DD is probably absolutely fine and maybe just a bit run down or has a virus but you're definitely doing the right thing getting it checked given your family history.
So sorry about your sister too

Take her to put your mind at rest. Highly unlikely to be sinister. In my experience, you know in 24/48hrs if bloods show anything.

Bloods will come back very quickly these days, and haematology has advanced massively - very unlikely your GP would fob you off and the initial blood test would show up anything amiss. It's very unlikely OP, try not to worry! More likely that she has a mild virus or similar.

Thanks for your replies. The GP was very kind and has made a referral to paediatrics. He didn't seem at all concerned which is good.

Will update when we have been seen at the hospital.

Coeliac is a possibility

DD1 had similar symptoms and fever for four weeks when she was three and our GP sent us to paeds a&e. They took bloods and the results were back in a few hours. The consultant told me afterwards he had been concerned given the history but it turned out to be nothing serious at all, just a succession of viruses and threenager-ness that caused the symptoms. Hope your daughter has similar results.

Will you come back and let us know how you all get on, OP? xx

You've done the right thing to get her seen. Hope all comes back soon that she's ok and whatever the cause is easily treated. X

Sorry for the slight derail but can i just clarify - if there is anything untoward would it show up in a 'standard' blood test for infection (not specifically looking for cancer)?

greeneyedmermaid, am so so sorry about your sister. I hope you managed to get a blood test for your dd? My DD had two different types of leukaemia. During the first one, she had had a fever for one month and I took her to her paed many times and he never once suggested doing a blood test. We had to see another paed who immediately did a blood test and then a bone marrow aspiration. Blood test results should be fairly quick in a couple of hours. If there is anything unusual, eg low haemoglobin or low platelets, or unusually high white blood cells, and they suspect leukaemia, they will do a bone marrow aspiration to confirm it. I do hope your DD soesn't have it and that it turns out to be nothing

Hi greeneyed, my daughter was diagnosed with leukaemia at 4 years old, almost 6 years ago. Her only symptom was a sore leg that began the day before diagnosis. She was referred to hospital and bloods were taken. Initially we were discharged as her counts seemed normal, but later that evening we were recalled when the blood film was looked at and blast cells detected. A couple of days later she had a bone marrow biopsy to determine the type of leukaemia.

Hope your daughter has something far less innocuous, and your mind can be put at rest.

Thank you for sharing your stories with me I'm so sorry to hear about your children. There's no greater horror than watching your child face such an awful disease. The GP referred dd to paediatrics at our local hospital and said I should be contacted this week for an appointment.

I'm hoping of course that it's nothing- I'm such a pessimist and always expect the worst but I'm trying not to dwell on it for the time being.

Thanks for your messages all of you. I'll update as soon as she's been seen.

How is your DD @greeneyedmermaid ?