It's official...

We had a hospital appointment at Hull Royal Infirmary yesterday--Dylan was meeting with the hematologist. He definitely has Von Willebrand's disease. Since he has it and it is a genetic thing, Edith needs to be tested as well. Also, we need to figure out which parent passed it on to them. We're 90% sure it's Martin, but both of us will have to be tested.

So what does this mean for Dylan? Well, it means if he ever cuts himself (like he did yesterday, when he pitched headlong off his bouncy horse onto our coffee table) we will have to take him to the hospital for an injection. He will have to go to the hospital for an injection prior to having dental work done. He will have to have the same medication before having any surgery done.

I've been thinking about the long term consequences, as well. Mostly the fact that he probably won't be able to enlist in the military. It also might mean he's not able to participate in school sports, though it will probably depend on the school's policy and (maybe) on our willingness to sign a disclaimer of some sort.

The bleeding disorder (remember when I blogged about it way back in about May?) is not as serious as hemophilia, but the medication he will need to have pre-dental work and surgery and post major cuts is a blood product. So Dylan (and possibly Edith and most likely Martin) will have to be regularly screened for all the hepatitis diseases as well as HIV. Just to be on the safe side.

So I guess it is kind of a big deal, but we are all pretty cool about it. The doctor said that Von Willebrand's is actually quite common, and there are thousands of people who don't even know they have it. It actually IS very noticeable in Dylan, because it takes him absolutely AGES to stop bleeding when he is cut. We took him to A & E while I was pregnant with Edith because he'd been bleeding for about 4 hours from a cut on his chin that didn't even need stitches. But the bleeding does eventually stop on it's own. It will only be a big deal if he is losing a lot of blood very quickly. And it will just be a nuisance with the dental work thing.

I just hope Edith doesn't have it as well, but I'm pretty sure she does. I've seen the same little red spots on her body that Dylan has, and those spots were the reason we had the blood work done on him that alerted the hospital to the problem.

Isn't it funny? My kids seem so incredibly healthy. They are strong, and very robust. They very rarely have colds or stomach bugs. But they have weird, underlying, and potentially life threatening illnesses just lurking under the surface.

So, other than the diagnosis yesterday, we are all doing well. Dylan still loves school, Edith still loves our mommy-daughter time, Martin still loves his job, and I am managing just fine. I've had a lot of random thoughts about stuff lately that I'm looking forward to blogging about, but haven't had a very good internet connection. I'll get to them later. I've also got some fab pictures to get up here. Be patient though-I'm working on the quiet books, and it's not long now 'til Christmas!