It all started back in January. I took him to the doctor when I had the day off for Martin Luther King Day. Remember that senseless visit? His low grade fever, sore throat, headache, and ear ache seemed to go away as fast as they came. And, that's the way it's been since that visit. In the last two months, he's had six bouts of low fevers, along with two doctor's visits and two negative strep tests. He's also had a rash, that we self diagnosed (with the help of daycare) as Fifths disease, and lots of complaining about fatigue and general pain. Last weekend, it became all too much for me.
I made an appointment for him to see Dr. Bates on Tuesday afternoon. We talked about everything, the symptoms and the timeline. Since the courier had already run for the day and we couldn't do full blood work, we settled for a quick in office mono test. This only required a finger prick. I think we all thought that would come back positive. It didn't, which meant that we had to go back the next morning for full blood work. He wanted to check for mono again, Fifths disease, Cat Scratch fever, and whatever else he didn't call by name to me.
That night I tried a different approach with Miles and the blood work. I actually told him about it and explained how everything would go. When the nurse did the finger prick for the in office mono test, she carefully explained everything to him and he was very receptive, so I thought it was worth a try. I explained that if he freaked out, we would have to hold him down and he does not like that at all. He always says he wants to watch, which is exactly like me. I want to know when it's going to hurt. That was the answer. He sat there and let her draw four vials of blood without a single tear. It was amazing. Donya, one of our favorite nurses, did an amazing job and he made me so proud. It was a major accomplishment for him. He was so proud of himself. I had pictures of our visit, but all my pictures are gone from my phone??? No idea how or when that happened.
We got the results yesterday. They showed the parvo virus, which is Fifths disease, not like parvo in dogs. Everything else looked great. No sign of mono, which I was very happy about. Fifths just has to run its course, which can take up to five weeks. It can cause low fevers, sore throats, fatigue, and joint pain, among other symptoms, so for now, we are blaming all his aliments on Fifths. The plan is to watch him over the next 2-4 weeks and see if we are satisfied that he is feeling better and back to his normal self.
I feel good about the diagnosis and the plan for now. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about Lyme disease. The transmission of Lyme is debatable and there hasn't been much research. Surprisingly, I didn't think about it before he had his blood work done or I would have had Dr. Bates test for that also. I'm choosing to think the Lord didn't bring that to my mind until afterwards for a reason. There is no reason to fear that just yet. Miles was super hyper all weekend. When I asked him why, he said, "b/c I feel better." I truly think he has not felt good in months. Praying that good, energetic, healthy days are just around the corner.
No comments:
Post a Comment