Childhood leukemia symptoms?

After talking to someone at work this weekend about her knowing a child with leukemia, I am really freaked out! I've read up on the internet about they symptoms and it talks of brusing. My son is 18 months and has bruises on his legs, but I've been blaming this on him just being a "boy." I am a paranoid parent, always have been. Now I'm scared! He doesn't have brusies anywhere else other than his head, which he bumps from time to time. He has no other problems and is never sick and never has a fever or anything like that.
Please tell me I'm being a paranoid freak! I'm probably going to talk myself into taking him to the doctor and getting a blood test. My husband will think I'm crazy, and probaby the doctor too.
Another concern of mine is that my mother had Non-Hodgkins lymphoma years ago. From what I've read, leukemia isn't really an inherited gene...
PLEASE HELP!

From one paranoid parent to another (my son was hospitilized for a couple of days during the holidays after running a week of fever)....and I, like yourself, let my mind run wild....it turns out he's ok...

If your child is not lethargic, normal bruise spots on his/her legs shouldn't be a concern. Bruising that looks like dozens of "pin dots" or like someone made a bunch of dots with the tip of a pencil should be checked out. It's called petache (sp?) Yahoo images has pictures of it.

Good luck and don't stress too much

T
California

if this is his only symptom I would certainly say your being paranoid! kids do get bruises a lot.

I would have to think the worst problem he could be facing without lack of other symptoms is iron deficiency or just being an 18 month old...all 3 of my children, are constantly covered in bruises, and none of them ever remember where they got them. If however this still concerns you, then next time you go in for his check up, talk to the doctor about it, let them check him over, and give you some peace of mind. Besides it's there job.

well,bruising is a sign......since there is family hx.. i would ask doc to order CBC and go today....this will rule that out and everyone will sleep better tonite...good luck......

Bruising, exhaustion, intolerance to physical activity, bleeding gums, being stiff and sore, losing weight, sleeping a lot, weakness, etc. There's a lot of symptoms, you can find them on probly any site out there, but those are the ones I had that made my mom take me to the doctor about it. Bruising is a lot more likely to be a symptom of him being a toddler than of cancer, but you could always talk to his doctor about it to get a professoinal opinion and ease your mind a little.

Leukemia isn't inherited, as far as I know. No one in my family ever had it before me.

Leukaemia in children is, thankfully, very uncommon. One of the characteristic comments by parents of children who are found to have leukaemia is a general impression of a formerly healthy child becoming "poorly". Bruising is one of the signs which may be seen in a child with leukaemia - the others are repeated infections which persist for a long time and anaemia seen as paleness or tiredness on modest exertion. Another sign often seen is log or joint pain - a pre-verbal child or one wtih limited vocabulary may not mention this but parents notice s reluctance to walk or run about.

If you have a happy healthy child, with nothing other than some bruises, it is very unlikely that he has leukaemia. Even if the bruising is pathological, there are other more common non-cancer conditions which can cause this. I do not think you shoul worry about leukaemia.

I sm not aware of any evidence that non-Hodgkin's lymphoma can be associated with an increased risk of chidlhood leukaemia in future generations.

I am a haematology biomedical scientist by original training and have an MSc in clinical oncology.