Christopher and the unknown

Well... what a journey we are on. And I am ready for it to end. Six days doesn't sound like very long - but trust me - it can feel like a lifetime.

Six days ago Christopher woke up complaining of chest pain. It hurt to breathe so I took him to the doctor. He had no other symptoms and his chest x-ray came back clear, so the dr diagnosed him with Costochondritis. Remedy? Motrin and rest. The next morning Christopher woke up with all over joint pain... ankles, knees, wrists, thumbs, elbow, shoulders, chest and neck. We headed back to the doctor. This new pain cancelled out the first diagnosis and we were sent home for the weekend to rest and monitor his condition. The hope was (and still is) this pain is a result of a virus that will go away on its own. However, Sunday the pain was so bad that Christopher stayed home from church (which he NEVER does) and missed the Student Turkey Bowl he was so looking forward to. Monday morning brought blood work and more rest. We tried to go by the grocery store but after 20 minutes it was too painful for him to continue to walk around. Tuesday morning we headed back to the doctor for another consultation, more blood work, and some test results. Christopher's lymph nodes are now swollen but other than that he still had no new symptoms. The results: blood count...ok, rheumatoid factor...negative, Sed rate...45, strep test... negative, other tests still pending. We learned that the sed rate was very high and while it shows that there is a LOT of inflammation happening in his body - it does NOT tell us the cause. Basically just confirms it's not all in his head... The joint pain migrates around his body each day. His latest and greatest pain has been his hips and this morning when he woke up he could no longer walk. Putting any pressure or weight on his left hip caused too much pain. Another call to the doctor and we were directed to Texas Children's ER.

The wait wasn't too bad and we were in a room within half an hour. Several nurses came by and asked all of the same questions and finally the doctor came in to ask them all again. The doctor said she likes cases like these... not for children to be in pain but because joint pain is like a puzzle and finding the diagnosis requires a lot of brain work and hunting. They started an IV line so that they could easily take MORE blood and could give him some medicine to help with the inflammation and pain. We waited an hour or so for the "results". Basically we still know nothing. The good news: Leukemia and Lymphoma have been ruled out. The bad news: It could be a million of other things including a virus, rheumatoid arthritis (or some other form), or something else malignant in his body. They sent us home with a prescription for naproxen, an order for a bone scan, and a referral to the pediatric rheumatologist. As for school - he is not contagious (though they don't know what he has) and can return to school on days (and for as many hours as) he feels up to it. FRUSTRATING

I talked with our pediatrician when we got home and found out that the rheumatologist was there - ready to see Christopher but the ER doctor NEVER CALLED HIM. We now get to wait for an available appointment which it looks like will be JANUARY 12.

Needless to say this has been an emotional and exhausting day. SO frustrated to not have answers and to have missed a chance to find some... BUT SO THANKFUL THAT THEY RULED OUT TWO KINDS OF CANCER. I also appreciate the doctor's careful choice of words around Christopher. She never said cancer... only malignancy (and then leukemia and lymphoma AFTER they were ruled out).

We REALLY appreciate everyone's prayers and calls and emails/FB posts. We will continue to update his status on this page and through Facebook. Please continue to pray... there is still a chance this is just the aftereffect of a virus and he will wake up one day pain free. Maybe it will be tomorrow!