Tennyson had an appointment Monday morning with her Developmental Pediatrician. She is one of my favorite doctors that sees Tenn. She helps with our adaptive equipment referrals as well as referrals to new doctors we want to visit. She gave us a referral to Duke Children's Hospital to see a Hematologist (blood) doctor. Duke is currently conducting a clinical trial where stem cells from cord blood are reinfused in hopes of healing damaged parts of the brain. Stem cells are cells that don't have "assigned" jobs yet, so they can transform into any cell the body needs. Patients in the study are showing positive results.
During the appointment, she took Tennyson's temperature and it was 102.3! That's a high temperature for Tennyson. She had been fighting a nagging cold for over a week. When she saw her temp, she said she wanted blood work and a chest x-ray. We headed down to pediatrics to get tylenol and motrin to bring the fever down quickly.
The blood work showed alarming levels of white blood cells (the cells that fight infection). A normal number is around 10,000. Tennyson's level was 33,000! To top that, the chest x-ray showed a fractured rib. I was shocked - to say the least!
She was admitted immediatley and started on an I.V. antibiotic called Rocephin. Her body responded well to the antibiotic and the next day bloodwork showed her white blood cell count had dropped to 28,000; still very high. We stayed overnight once more while she continued to receive the antibiotic every 12 hours.
We could not understand how she could have a fractured rib. We are incredibly cautious of who has time with Tennyson. Our minds immediately tried to figure out how this happend. It was awful to hear the word "abuse" thrown out there as a possibility. We said we wanted to see the x-ray. Once we were shown what was supposedly a week old healing fracture, my husband and I could not see what they were seeing. They said they wanted to do a skeletal survey to see if there were any other fractures, which we cautiously agreed to. We hate exposing Tenn to any unnecessary x-rays, knowing she will have to have regular x-rays for the rest of her life to monitor her joints and hips.
When Tennyson and I arrived at the radiology department for the skeletal survey, I asked how many x-rays she would be getting. The technician said about 21. I said, "absolutely not". I told him I wanted to talk to her doctor or the radiologist. I battled the emotional side of me that said, "go ahead and show these people that Tenny is not abused". Then the logical, protective Mom side of me said, "Tennyson should not be subjected to 21 x-rays. Tenny does not need these x-rays". I'm so glad I listened to my gut feeling.
After just 2 x-rays (not 21!), the radiologist concluded her rib was NOT fractured. She has a blood vessel that runs in front of her rib. So what they thought was a fracture, was a blood vessel - BIG difference!
After the x-ray craziness she had another blood draw. Her white blood cell count was down to 19,000. Low enough to be discharged and sent home on antibiotics. Thank God!
We have a follow-up appointment tomorrow with her regular pediatrician. Her hands and arms look like they used her as a pin cushion, but other than that she is doing great!
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Amy
at least it was proved she didnt have a fractured rib and that it only took 2 exrays to show that. hope shes feeling better
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