Thursday, June 3, 2010

"That's an interesting rash."

Really?? Now I've heard the pedi say it is not your typical rash and the oncologist say it was interesting.  He ran the normal CBC w/diff and as far as the rash goes nothing there to explain it. He also recommended I take Tomas to a pediatric dermatologist. Only problem is we are switching insurance at the end of the month. Old one doesn't have a dr on our plan but the new one does. So he has an appt. on July 2nd. Not sure if I should be hoping for the rash to still be there or not.
Tomas' platelets have taken a nose dive since last week. He has some petechiae popping up here and there all over, but his levels are still just above normal.  But since they dropped so much in only 5 days, he needs to go back to hem/onc in 6 weeks instead of his normal 3 months, or sooner if the petechiae spread too much. He dropped like that in Feb. and it was a fluke and he bounced back a few weeks later, so here's to bouncing baby boys!
Monday he started running a low temp around 100. Yesterday it went up to 100.2. I am supposed to take him to ER if it gets to 100.4, so I split the difference and called the ped. Because, really, who wants to go to ER if they don't have to? Only in this really weird world of puzzling babies does a fever of 100.2 earn you a chest x-ray. But that is what he got. A nasal swab and a chest x-ray. By the time I got home the Dr. had left a message saying the x-ray was normal, no signs of aspiration (remember I started oral feeds about a month ago - so a great big hooray for no aspiration!). Further on in the message he said he would like to see the differential from yesterday and he definitely did not want Tomas running a fever for 5 days. I was laughing because how in the world are we going to stop the fever if no one knows what is causing it. But I did get the lab results from yesterday faxed to his office and he called me back late yesterday afternoon. Tomas' WBC make up 81% of his blood, normal for his age is around 50%. Tomas has always run high, sometimes as much as 95%. The ped said he'd like to know what the oncologist makes of it, and I'm thinking, well give him a call.  He also said that if by Friday he is still running a temp that I need to bring him back and he will do a blood culture and a urine culture (poor baby). He said he has looked in all usual places and now will really have to start hunting. I feel pretty bad for the Dr. right now. I know he is very involved in Tomas' care and would love to be able to figure out what is going on, but everything keeps coming back negative. So far today Tomas' temp has been 99.7 all day, so we'll see...
In other news the happy travelers came home yesterday. Oh, how I missed my baby girl (all right - and my husband but I'm used to him being gone)! They had a fantastic time, and more than anything enjoyed being with each other.  She had her picture taken with a lot of the races, got autographs, and they had great seats for the actual race. I know they can't wait to do it again next year.

1 comment:

  1. Tomas!! Your like a roller coaster ride!!! Give your mama a peaceful summer!!

    Sending prayers!! Do I have to say it everytime?? Just know they are always coming!

    Glad the family is all together! Must have had a blast.

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