Thursday, September 29, 2011

Not My Daughter!

I am hoping and praying and crossing fingers and toes that my daughter does not also develop some sort of Autoimmune disorder.
Miss J has been sick all year including 2 hospital admissions for viruses. At only 2 years old, its hard to see her sick all the time especially when its hard to communicate properly with her. What is wrong this time? Your ears? Do you feel sick? ARGH!! Just last month after getting out of hospital she had an ear infection and bronchitis at the same time.

I felt like such a rotten parent.

So when she started vomiting with unexplained temperatures last week i decided to do something better about it. I requested the dreaded blood test.

A blood test is not something i want my 2 year old to experience but the way she had been guzzling water lately, peeing every 20 minutes and constantly screaming at night i though we would just bite the bullet and have one done.

One.

Not three!!!

The poor darling, the first needle couldn't get much blood so we tried the other arm, After much digging around with the needle in both arms (digging for a vein is torture! i have had it done!) we still couldn't get enough blood. Out came a large plain old syringe. Argh, a third needle and my little girl was finished. My father in law and i felt so bad for the little thing! The pathologist wasn't sure if she got enough blood and said she would call if they needed more..... Thank god she didn't call as i wasn't sure if id go back!

I called the doctor for the results and she told me that everything was OK but she wanted to have a chat to me about sending Miss J to see a paediatrician.
OK - good! Getting somewhere!

I went to see the doctor and she told me that i had nothing to worry about for the moment but Miss J's ESR levels were quite high for her age. I know that having a high ESR level means there is inflammation in the body and that it is usually present in people with Autoimmune disorders. It can also be present in people with severe infections and can turn out to be nothing. But, given her family all have Autoimmune disorders she is off to see a paediatrician to have repeat blood work done and monitor her condition.

I am hoping so badly that it is nothing!