Cassi Norland Update!

Dear Friends and Family,

I am sorry that it has been so long since I've emailed a report about Cassidy's health, especially since so many of you have inquired.

However, for a long time there was not much to say, since we were in the middle of a six week testing period. For six straight weeks I had to get her blood drawn twice a week, in order for the doctors to determine if there was a Nutrafill blood "cycle" happening that might shed some light on why her counts were always so low. They were speculating that perhaps she had "Cyclical Nutrapinia," where her immune system only had low periods, rather than being low all the time.

However, we got reports throughout the process that her Nutrafills were remaining consistently low so they doubted that there was any cycle actually happening. (& for those of you that I have not kept informed, that has been the main concern over all these months. Her Nutrafills are a key part of her immune system, -her "first line of defense" against germs- and they have been incredibly low for a very long time.)

So anyway, we finished the six weeks of blood draws, and today was the big day to consult with the Hematologist about what the next step was. Specifically, when and how they were going to start testing her bone marrow which has been the anticipated next hurdle for a long time.

However, we went today and the first thing the doctor told us, was that they had made a diagnosis! She told us that they had officially decided that Cass must have "Auto Immune Neutrapinia." Basically it is a disease where your body's enzymes confuse it's own Nutrafills as being invaders, much like Lupus. It constantly attacks it's own white blood cells and therefore constantly has a low Nutrafill count. The reason they think Cassi has this, is because it is common for a child with A.I.N. to appear quite healthy and to rarely get a serious illness in spite of the low white blood cells. (which is true of Cassi. She appears to get colds frequently, but has yet to get seriously sick.) But the wonderful thing about this diagnosis, is that most children outgrow the disease by their third birthday! Praise the Lord! The doctor said to really keep an eye on her for high fevers, etc. but that she felt fairly certain that this is what Cass has been struggling with, and therefore no bone marrow testing is needed! She said that whenever she's done bone marrow biopsies, it has been on very sick children, and Cassi just does not fit the profile of a child who needs all that invasive testing done! Josh and I were astonished because we have been told many times that bone marrow investigation was the next step, and we hardly dared hope that we wouldn't have to put Cass through that. Thank the Lord!

The other interesting thing we learned, is that the doctor suspects that what we have been mistaking as frequent colds in Cassi, might actually be allergies! So we are going to investigate that a little further and attempt to determine if perhaps she's allergic to our cat or dust mites or whatever. But that diagnosis does make sense because while she seems to have a constant runny nose, she doesn't always act sick or uncomfortable. So maybe our family history of allergies has manifested itself in little Cassi!

But in any case, we are still dumbfounded that the doctors expect Cassi to outgrown the low Nutrafills and that no further testing is required. After 4 months we are at the end of the line! Thank the Lord!

And thank you, for all the prayers and all the concern. We are so relived to have a good report at the end of it all & so relived to be done with all the doctor visits and poking and prodding. God is good!

I attached a picture of our sweet baby. Thanks again for praying!

Christy