hesitant update
Hi guys.
I guess I'm calling on the powers that be inside each of you. My folks and all their friends and all our neighbors and coworkers and the general Christian militia out here are all praying for us, and I have nothing against that. Holy magic feather, help me project my will. As long as their will is to help us, they can pray for us all day.
Gage will be going in for lab work on Friday. At the end of Feb., when the lab work is back in, we will be going back to an ear-nose-throat specialist. He apparently has abnormally swollen lymph-nodes that have lasted far longer than the usual "it will probably go away" speech will cover. The lab work will look for 1) elevated white count that might indicate he's fighting an infection (this would be good news), or 2) tuberculosis (not real likely)or 3) either weird elevated or too-low levels of other things, or nothing at all (this would be bad). If they can't find a reason right away, and the lymphatic swelling doesn't go away, they will remove one of his lymph-nodes to do a biopsy--not a word you want to associate with your 3 year old.
So I googled. I do that. Hodgkin's Disease is among the childhood cancers, can be very hard to detect, often has no symptoms, and usually comes as a big shock. If your child has not had a recent infection--he hasn't--and has a painless swelling of the lymph-nodes that doesn't go away for a period of 2 months or more--um, yeah, that too--have him or her examined for Hodgkin's disease right away. And, if the lymph-nodes that you can't really see in his or her chest are also affected, the child may cough because of the perceived difficulty in breathing that the restriction around the trachea can cause.
Gage has had this minor cough for several weeks. He didn't really seem sick in any other way (see "often has no symptoms" above) so we figured he had some allergy-related post-nasal drip. Everyone in this house sneezes and such for the first hour of their day (except me).
So, while I seem really freaked right now, I'm rather calm. I'm just a realist and I don't like the sound of this one. True, Hodgkin's is very treatable, and he's so young that I would find it hard to believe we weren't catching it early if it's there, but I would really like it not to be there, if anyone's taking my vote.
I gave my notice at work. My last day will be the 16th. Now is the very last chance anyone has to use me for my Princess connection. Under the circumstances, everyone understands and actually wondered why I bothered to give notice. I then informed them that I won't be there for several of the days during my notice so that I can attend doctor's appointments. So my notice doesn't exactly mean that I'll be there. At this point, I could call out sick for the rest of my two weeks. What are they going to do, fire me?
I actually tried a couple of times to clear my mind and write a short story--I thought it would be good for me anyway, and it's not like sitting here worrying is doing Gage or anyone else any good. It didn't work. I'm officially sitting this one out.
Thank you for your support, your well-wishes, and your projected will, candlevison, castings, etc. Any good juju is always appreciated.
In better news, Aidan's voices have shut up, at least for now. We're working with the school and hopefully will have some solid help-plan in place for him this year. Now I'll be home to make it happen.
Wishing everyone health and peace.
K
I guess I'm calling on the powers that be inside each of you. My folks and all their friends and all our neighbors and coworkers and the general Christian militia out here are all praying for us, and I have nothing against that. Holy magic feather, help me project my will. As long as their will is to help us, they can pray for us all day.
Gage will be going in for lab work on Friday. At the end of Feb., when the lab work is back in, we will be going back to an ear-nose-throat specialist. He apparently has abnormally swollen lymph-nodes that have lasted far longer than the usual "it will probably go away" speech will cover. The lab work will look for 1) elevated white count that might indicate he's fighting an infection (this would be good news), or 2) tuberculosis (not real likely)or 3) either weird elevated or too-low levels of other things, or nothing at all (this would be bad). If they can't find a reason right away, and the lymphatic swelling doesn't go away, they will remove one of his lymph-nodes to do a biopsy--not a word you want to associate with your 3 year old.
So I googled. I do that. Hodgkin's Disease is among the childhood cancers, can be very hard to detect, often has no symptoms, and usually comes as a big shock. If your child has not had a recent infection--he hasn't--and has a painless swelling of the lymph-nodes that doesn't go away for a period of 2 months or more--um, yeah, that too--have him or her examined for Hodgkin's disease right away. And, if the lymph-nodes that you can't really see in his or her chest are also affected, the child may cough because of the perceived difficulty in breathing that the restriction around the trachea can cause.
Gage has had this minor cough for several weeks. He didn't really seem sick in any other way (see "often has no symptoms" above) so we figured he had some allergy-related post-nasal drip. Everyone in this house sneezes and such for the first hour of their day (except me).
So, while I seem really freaked right now, I'm rather calm. I'm just a realist and I don't like the sound of this one. True, Hodgkin's is very treatable, and he's so young that I would find it hard to believe we weren't catching it early if it's there, but I would really like it not to be there, if anyone's taking my vote.
I gave my notice at work. My last day will be the 16th. Now is the very last chance anyone has to use me for my Princess connection. Under the circumstances, everyone understands and actually wondered why I bothered to give notice. I then informed them that I won't be there for several of the days during my notice so that I can attend doctor's appointments. So my notice doesn't exactly mean that I'll be there. At this point, I could call out sick for the rest of my two weeks. What are they going to do, fire me?
I actually tried a couple of times to clear my mind and write a short story--I thought it would be good for me anyway, and it's not like sitting here worrying is doing Gage or anyone else any good. It didn't work. I'm officially sitting this one out.
Thank you for your support, your well-wishes, and your projected will, candlevison, castings, etc. Any good juju is always appreciated.
In better news, Aidan's voices have shut up, at least for now. We're working with the school and hopefully will have some solid help-plan in place for him this year. Now I'll be home to make it happen.
Wishing everyone health and peace.
K