OT now I have two weird kids | Arthritis Information

My older daughter cried 'rolling down the cheek' tears last night. She said her leg hurt too bad, she could not go to school today.

She loves school and I do not think she is making this up to stay home. She missed more school this week than the last three years combined!

But still, she is making me very frustrated.

This morning, while she was still asleep, I looked at the place on her leg. It was smaller overall, but the lower area was turning red again.

I told her we were going to Urgent Care. Whatever they said would go, and we were not leaving until everybody was satisfied. If they said go to school, she was going to school and not complaining. She said okay.

The nurse (RN) said it looked like an infection and felt warm to her.

The doctor also said it felt warm, and he pressed it and saw her eyes fill up with tears. He said it could be bruised (and that bruises will keep changing colors), but it didn't make sense that she had pain for a week prior to the bruising, or that she didn't have an injury that she remembered that could have caused it. He ordered an xray.

Xray tech said it looked like an infection to her, too.

No bone damage on xrays.

The doctor said he would keep her on the antibiotics, and that he really didn't know what was wrong. He said he was encouraged that it was smaller overall, so hopefully that meant they were doing something. He gave her crutches to get around school, and said if she is not better by Monday, to see an ortho becasue she would probably need a CT scan or MRI.

All that sounded good and reasonable. I wish he would have stopped there....

He said "if it turns out to be something neat", let him know. Neat? "Well, neat for me, maybe not neat for you. But I'd like to know if it turns out to be something, since I can't really decide. It will help me out."

Now we are providing on the job training?

I laughed and said please don't jinx me! We want this to go away! He was like, "Well, I've worked through all the contigencies, and I just don't know. So, really, let me know what happens."

Then the nurse came in with the crutches and said, "Mystery Diagnosis!"

Um, are they supposed to kid around like that? With a mom? But I pretty much took it in stride - after all, it is familiar territory.

I took her to school, where I'm sure she will enjoy the celebrity that crutches bring. I'll probably be prying those away from her sometime around Christmas LOL!

Suzanne - you are starting to have my type of appointments. Keep us posted. CathyGood luck to your Daughter. I hope it heals fast and turns out to be nothing.

OK, I'm freaking out. I seem to like it best there. :-)

How about calling the AP doc? If it is an infection, you need to get his opinion NOW. We've all seen how not quite enough antibiotics make for AI diseases.

Preventative medicine???

Pip

Thank you all! I'm trying not to freak out, play the AP card LOL, etc., but this is really too eerily familiar. The only difference is her bruised area is painful, and my JRA kid's purple toe was not.

So I am thankful for pain - it got us some antibiotics. I am considering that preventative, Pip! Miss JRA had OT today, and I told the OT everything. She agreed - stick with the antibiotics as long as you can.

At this point, calling the AP dr. seems pointless - he can't see her, and I've only got a normal xray to send to him. There is nothing he could do, except advise on which tests to ask for. If things start to seem out of control, we will travel to see him, but I'm hopeful this is just going to clear up this week if she stays on the antibiotic.

She said the crutches helped at school, but she was ready to come home because she is still in pain. I think it looks a little better, which is a relief. It's not as reddish now, but she thinks it looks a little bigger.

Her friend, whose mom called me last night, was dx'd with an infected bug bite on her elbow. Omnicef, ten days. Apparently, the entire middle school is on crutches, antibiotics, or both!Wow the misquitoes are bad and don't forget lime diesease, with bruising. What kind of bugs are attacking your area? We pray it is minor.Oooh, Milly, Lyme wasn't even on my radar! But she isn't having joint pain. Just the bruised area around/on her shin is very painful - to touch, when she bends or flexes, or to bear weight.

Another mom, a nurse, thought she needs an ultrasound.

We are having a drought, so mosquitos aren't bad. She hasn't had rashes or bumps or bites.

Getting out today seems to have been good (it was for me!), so hopefully another day of medicine and taking it easy and she will really see some improvement.Lets hope so.Hi Suzanne, am really sorry that your daughter is presenting with this. You might want to take a photo of this area now and one in about 3 days, another in a few more days, etc., etc. At least document the progress. If it isn't any better in a week ask that a biopsy be done. I know you don't want to put your daughter through this but that's what I would do if it weren't well on it's way to getting better. Take care and I hope that by this time next week it's completely gone. You have enough to think and worry about. Lindy

"Now we are providing on the job training?"

Well ya know, it IS called "practice" Thanks all again! We are taking pictures, but it looks like a normal bruise now (people do notice it right away still, though). She went to school today, so I went to work.

I had to pick her up early for a dentist appt. (bad timing after being out so much, but the appt. was made months ago, and luckily she only missed PE, which she couldn't do anyway).

When she came into the office, I almost fainted. Her whole leg was blotchy! Everybody was freaking out, the secretary came out from behind the desk, etc., but she said it didn't hurt. Another copay spinning through my head, I thought fast and said, "Do you have a school nurse?"

Bingo! She was very calm, said it was "mottling" (?) and it was probably okay, but under the circumstances she would call and report it to the dr. She said it could be a reaction to the antibiotics. (So I'm thinking, who do I call? I might get the dr. who rx'd them, but I might get the dr. who told me to stop them...so...Urgent Care again?) She said no Urgent Care, go to the dentist and watch it and decide.

I made the executive decision that a reaction would be all over, not just the one leg that happens to be having issues.

The dentist chair elevation worked wonders. I'm hoping that was all she needed.

But even though it seems like the overall area is looking better, the dentist was like, "What happened????" and "Hmm." "Hmm." And "Hmm."

Came home to THIS phone call (from the 'infected bug bite where they never saw a bug bite' mom) - another classmate was sent home from the ER last night with no dx. Her lips are blue. Call the CDC!!!!!

Keep us informed. You are in our prayers. Such a mystery, sounds like the cdc is the thing to do. With so many mystery illnesses at once. At least your daughter, would have more help and you could get a clear answer. They may no imediately what is going on, they may have seen this before.

Your daughter herself being sick is one thing. All these people being sick is another. She was given antibiotics, but for hmm. hmmm. , and it may be masking part of her symtoms, and not helping with all. Someone might be piecing this together as more people are showing up at the hospital. I hope your daughter is fine now. But this is odd.

I could e-mail the doctor who wanted me to let him know if it was something "neat". I could say three kids I know of with Mystery Dx's are all from the same school. At least he will start screening patients by asking where they go to school.

Their school is under construction, so they are in trailers. Not singular, classroom trailers, but a whole trailer complex with connecting walkways, etc. It looks like a minimum security prison. Who knows where these trailers have been?

Okay, I'm taking a poll. Do I e-mail Dr. Neat??? That is strange that there would be 3 kids from the same school all w/ a mystery disease. I would defintly email "Dr. Neat"You have nothing to lose, but I would call the head of your city's public health department. Keep us informed. You know what else is weird? In the school office, they told me they have never had so many kids on crutches before.

My daughter said she walked to the cafeteria with a boy on crutches, and he was upset because people were saying he was faking. She said she told him she had heard that, too, hoping for an explanation. (Imagine that - the poor boy thinks he has found someone to have some compassion, and she starts harassing him...)

But he never explained, he just said he had a doctor's note. Obviously, he doesn't have a dx either, right?Oh dear. Well, if by "neat" he meant medically anamolous or rare then I guess you should call him. I mean, that was how Lyme's disease was discovered and it led to the development of AP.

I sure hope you're daughter ends up okay after this is resolved though. I can't imagine the amount of anxiety this musyt be causing. Good luck, my thoughts are with you and yours.

I vote call Dr. Neat,

God Bless.

I gotta get in on this vote hun. I mean really, this all sounds TOO weird. Someone needs to spend at least a little time looking into this. Those portable buildings SUCK and god only knows what's living in them, or whatever. Good luck!!!I called Bug Bite Mystery Mom, and she thought it was a good idea, too. But we couldn't work out what exactly to say. I've tried to compose something a couple of times, but it sounds too pyscho/paranoid. Talking would be easier, but that feels stalkerish to call him LOL.

I'm going to sleep on it, and work out what to say in an e-mail. Or you could just set up an appointment, and bring the kids. SHOW them what's going on. Maybe get with a few more kids' parents first, if you know any of the other sick kids?A mass Urgent Care visit??? That would be memorable!! Maybe we could call ahead for a film crew from "Untold Stories of the ER".....Poor Dr. Neat!Well ya know, it would get their attention!!!!!

Pip