Immunizations - Gone!

One of the things we were told, way back in the midst of treatment, was that Sammy might have to have some immunizations re-done as chemo for leukemia can wipe them from the system.  Given that my little boy had been hospitalized pretty much for a year with a WBC of zero, we expected him to need quite a few.   Sometimes I am just not a big fan of being right!

During the last visit to the clinic, Sammy had blood drawn to check for antibodies and the need for more immunizations.  Low and behold, we discovered that he actually needs every single one of them done again!  He has no coverage...nada!  There are a few reasons I am 'slightly miffed' about this:

1. My poor son has to endure more pain and fear, as he will have to get shots each visit until they are completed (I refused to have them all done at once).  

2. I have to tell Sammy that celebrating the end of treatment did not actually mean no more yucky stuff!  He is going to be heartbroken and very scared.

3. I am going to re-go though all the angst of  immunization safety:  I agreed to immunize in the first place but was terrified of the MMR.  Ironically, it was just days after the MMR shot that Sammy was in the ER with strange symptoms...okay it turned out to be cancer, not anything caused by the MMR, but I'm still terrified of having to expose him to these drugs again.  

In the grand scheme of things, I am glad we have to re-immunize rather than face relapse, bone-marrow transplants another fight for life etc.  Things could certainly be worse.  But I am still disappointed that our journey continues to have speed-bumps, albeit much smaller than before.  I look forward to a smoother road in the future...sometime.