Worst case scenerio
Around a week ago my youngest son complained about a sore spot on one of his toes. The toe second from the end was red and inflamed. Our initial diagnosis was that it was caused by his hiking boots which were to tight in the toes. But then the spots started spreading across his foot, and appearing on his other foot. So at that point we decided to take him in to the pediatrician. The appointment was this morning at 10:30. When my wife called me I was out to lunch for a co-worker's birthday.
She said that the doctor was quite concerned about the spots. This was the first surprise, and the start of the downhill slope. I mean if we had had any idea that it was a potentially serious condition we certainly would have gotten him in sooner. But that wasn't the real punch in the gut, that came when my wife told me that the doctor had said that the spots looked just like the spots people with leukemia get. She hastened to add that he had also said those sorts of spots would appear all over his body, not just on his feet, but once you toss a word like that out there, there's not much you can add as a caveat that's going to make you feel any better. So the doctor ordered a bunch of blood tests, he called in other pediatricians for second opinions, but no one had any idea what it was.
The blood tests came back with surprising alacrity and were happily negative on all counts. As one who works in a lab and nows how long these tests can take I hesitate to call these results anything but preliminary, however I am going to allow my mind, for the moment, to be put at ease that it is not leukemia. But that illustrates the problem, thus far the pediatrician has ruled out everything he can think of, so at the moment it's a great big mystery. Obviously in this sorts of situations the next step is to call in a specialist. That's where my wife and son are right now, with a pediatric dermatologist. Obviously I hope that the dermatologist will know immediately what it is and that it will end up being entirely benign.
So in any case that's what's happening today. I did get one piece of good news, potato wedge brother-in-law found a Wii and bought it for me. I guess now I definitely have to get the big flatscreen now.
A vivid imagination
She said that the doctor was quite concerned about the spots. This was the first surprise, and the start of the downhill slope. I mean if we had had any idea that it was a potentially serious condition we certainly would have gotten him in sooner. But that wasn't the real punch in the gut, that came when my wife told me that the doctor had said that the spots looked just like the spots people with leukemia get. She hastened to add that he had also said those sorts of spots would appear all over his body, not just on his feet, but once you toss a word like that out there, there's not much you can add as a caveat that's going to make you feel any better. So the doctor ordered a bunch of blood tests, he called in other pediatricians for second opinions, but no one had any idea what it was.
The blood tests came back with surprising alacrity and were happily negative on all counts. As one who works in a lab and nows how long these tests can take I hesitate to call these results anything but preliminary, however I am going to allow my mind, for the moment, to be put at ease that it is not leukemia. But that illustrates the problem, thus far the pediatrician has ruled out everything he can think of, so at the moment it's a great big mystery. Obviously in this sorts of situations the next step is to call in a specialist. That's where my wife and son are right now, with a pediatric dermatologist. Obviously I hope that the dermatologist will know immediately what it is and that it will end up being entirely benign.
So in any case that's what's happening today. I did get one piece of good news, potato wedge brother-in-law found a Wii and bought it for me. I guess now I definitely have to get the big flatscreen now.
A vivid imagination
posted by DireKobold at 12:54 PM
4 Comments:
Wii?
You are never going to get a new bike or go riding with me ever again, are you.
When I was about 8, I had something that showed the symptoms of something very, very dangerous, but happily it was just a normal infection that was causing problems beyond its normal behavior (impinging on nerves, etc).
Will keep your kid in our prayers here, then!
Scary, scary mix of topics, oh my.
Glad for the negative news.
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