Just got home from the hospital...

[Ericsmomma]

Evening all;
Well, we just got home from a three day stay in the hospital. Eric had been running high temps for about 7 days straight..anywhere from 102--105.6. He had terrible ulcers in his mouth too, so he couldn't eat or drink. He ended up getting dehydrated again (he had iv's on thursday and was sent home), so they admitted him on Sunday. He also has Fifth disease too. Turned out he had another virus on top of the Fifth Disease, plus thrush in mouth. He was a mess. Feeling much better now...gave him IV fluids, and nystatin in his mouth. But while he was there, our pediatrician consulted with a infectious disease doc. They were concerned because Eric just had strep, sinus infection,
and now this illness all within about 40 days. They wanted to work up his immune system to make sure it was functioning properly. They also did blood test to check if all his immunizations he's had over the years are actually protecting him. So far everything came back ok. A few of the tests won't be back for a few weeks, but both docs felt like this illness was a bad virus, probably brought on by him being weakend from the strep throat..Just hit the little guy really hard.
Have any of your kids ever been checked for immune problems? If so, did they ever have any problems and if so what did they do?
I'm just so glad to be home...and so is Mr. Eric. He had so many x-rays and blood draws that if anyone came near him in the hospital he would scream bloody murder!! Now I just gotta build up his strength again, and feed him so he'll gain his weight back... Dolly

[shellk]

I remember when Kourtney was about 2 she was sick ALOT and it was all heaad an chest things..She was on numerous antibiotics and this went on for about almost a year right before she had her tonsils and adnoids out and tubes put in they did a immunity check on her..They explained it to me that they could look at her entire immune system and see is everything was working right or if something was not right..Everything came back okay with us...Hope all goes well for you as well

[christie]

Awwwww DOLLY HUGS to you and Mr. Eric, I can soo relate, Chris is sick more the most and has been most his little 11 years

Just last summer they discovered Chris has what is called "Cyclic neutropenia" which they seem to think is why he picks up sooo many infections

Cyclic neutropenia is a benign, hematologic disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of severe neutropenia at 21 day intervals. There are associated cyclical variations in other blood cells. Patients with this disease have malaise, stomatitis, cervical lymphadenopathy and fever during the recurrent neutropenic periods. The exact cause of cyclic neutropenia is unknown. About one third of human cases appear to be inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern. In the other cases, the disease appears to arise spontaneously with symptoms usually beginning in infancy or early childhood. In adult patients, the disease may be acquired and occur in association with a clonal proliferation of large granular lymphocytes. Clinical studies in man and investigations in grey collie dogs, which have a very similar disease, strongly suggest that cyclic neutropenia is due to an abnormality in the regulation of early hematopoietic precursor cells. Therapy for cyclic neutropenia involves local and symptomatic therapy for the recurrent mouth ulcers and pharyngitis, and antibiotics for episodes of sinusitis, pneumonia, peritonitis, or bacteremia. Therapy with glucocorticosteroids, androgens, and plasmapheresis has been efficacious in a few adult patients, but no therapy has been proven to alter the cycling of blood counts in children. Despite their repetitive illnesses, patients with cyclic neutropenia grow and develop normally. With the help of attentive physicians and dentists, their quality of life and life expectancy are good. Current research on hematopoietic growth factors offers promise of new approaches to therapy.

Chris is the only child I know so far that after haveing both adenoids and Tonsils out immediatly got strep and continues to get way to much along with other things

They check Christopher's white blood count regularly and when its low its very low and that seems when he picks up all this stuff

I assume your Doc has checked for this.

Hopeing Mr. Eirc feels better PRONTO and STAYS better

CC

[Ericsmomma]

Christie,

Thank you for the Heads-Up on Chris's diagnosis....The infectious disease doc mentioned this and they were going to test him for it. I have to go back to see him in 3 weeks...by that time all the blood work results will be back and we will know more. I remember when Chris was so sick after his T&A...that must have been awful for all of you. Here's praying that all the kids have a super healthy summer (and rest of the year...but I'll take what I can get). Thanks again....love, Dolly

[PaigesMom]

Paige also has "chronic benign neutropenia". Her ANC count has been down to mid 500's and she never goes above 1400-1500 - according to my ped. 1500 is rock bottom minimum on a constant basis to take away the neutropenia diagnosis. They say 3500 is "normal". Her WBC's are fat and round (which is indicitave of Trisomy 21), there are not alot of them, but they are healthy - she is always plagued with colds/sinus infections/strep, virus's, etc. They say as she gets older it may get better, but not necessarily.

Debbie

[laurasnowbird]

Awwww, Dolly, just wanted to say I'm sorry to hear you've had such a rough time of it lately! Sounds like you have good doctors who are checking out all the possibilities.

You need to go take a hot bubble bath or something, I'm sure it was an extremely stressful week. I hope it gets better from here on out. HUGS! Laura