Well, we finally got Ben to the ENT today. Turns out he has a rare strain of tuberculosis that affects the lymphatic system. It is not air borne and is found in organic matter. The doctor says he probably picked it up playing in the dirt, which is very believable since Ben loves playing in the dirt. I've not really been a germaphobe and figured he was just being a boy and it was helping boost his immune system. Silly me.
Anyway, none of our treatment options are very appealing. First, he could undergo a serious dose of triple antibiotics and remain under infectious disease surveillance for the next 6 months with only a 50-60% success rate. Not super encouraging.
Second, we could take no action and let his body work the infection out on its own. That means all the affected lymph nodes would fester, surface, and ooze out the infection. The process could take up to two years. As the doctor put it, most parents don't consider this option "socially acceptable." I would tend to agree.
Lastly, surgery. I figured this is where we'd end up. The ENT suspects that somewhere between 6-12 lymph nodes on the left side of Ben's face are affected so far. We're doing a CT scan tomorrow morning to confirm the number and location of the lymph nodes. Then we go in and take them out.
I guess when I thought about the possibility of excising the lymph nodes I figured it would be an easy, outpatient sort of thing. Not so. It's a 2-3 hour surgery and probably 2-3 day hospitalization. Leave it up to our kid to catch some crazy, third world disease.
Anyway, here's the blue tooth. Uncle Brent let Ben get a hold of a blue sucker, which Ben loved. He consumed the entire thing with glee and I think ate some of the paper stick too, before I got to it. It took quite a while to get all the blue cleaned up. So yeah, don't let your kid eat blue suckers. Or dirt.
** As an afterthought: In case anyone who reads this (or your kids) have been in contact with Ben recently, the doctor told us that he is not contagious. The bacteria is not airborne and cannot be transmitted by saliva, so don't worry. **
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Blue Tooth and Visiting the Doc
Posted by Leslie at 4:26 PM
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
13 comments:
I'm so glad i read your blog today. so sorry ben has been sick. What a scary thing. Hope the outcome is NOT surgery for all of your sake. I'd expect from Camerons offspring to be eating sugar instead of dirt! Cam remember when you ate some of G Schaar's hormone pills off the table because you thought they were candy, and you cried because we told you you'd turn into a girl or something really mean like that? Ha ha. But really we will keep you in our prayers. glad all is well w/ baby #2 congrats! Dirty Billy #2 on the way!!!
Oh, Benny Boo!! I was not surprised it would require a surgical cure, but the cause and extent are way beyond my expectations. Prayers are on the way from this quarter. Love, Mom
my poor little man. i just feel sick for him since he's too unaware to feel sick for himself. we love him.
I hate reading this because I too let Zack play in the dirt -- figuring the same as you. Total bummer that it turned out different in this case...who would have thought??? Anyway, good luck & we'll keep you in our prayers.
We hope all goes well with this. Keep us updated.
poor benny!!!
i am so sorry and i hate that he has to go through all of this!!
please let me know if i can do ANYTHING!!!
sweet little guy
:(
That's a tough one! Poor little guy, I know how tough it is to watch a little one go through surgery. Hope he endures the CAT Scan well, maybe as long as no one tries to reason with him about the experience. My prayers and thoughts are with you!
Life is full of strange twists. Our prayers go out to all three of you. Thankfully there is a diagnosis and a treatment plan. Hope the CT scan wasn't too tramatic today - and there was a social worker more adept at working with young children.
Poor Ben! This makes me a little nervous because my boys are, like Ben, in the dirt 24/7! How do you stop a boy from digging in the dirt???
I guess it's a good thing at this point that he is too young to realize what lies ahead! We will keep him in our prayers and please keep us updated!
I was really shocked at what this turned out to be too. My prayers are also with you. Thank goodness little ones heal really fast. It will be hard, but hopefully once it's done the healing will happen really fast and things will be back to normal. Hang in there.
Life is interesting isn't it? You first get married, think you can't possible love another human being and then you have a baby, life is stressful and you say is this what its all about? And you love your kids unconditionally. Kids grow up to be responsible adults and you finally get a pay day then they have your grandchildren and another great life experience as I watch my boys become responsible loving husbands and then superperb Dads. Then the biggest surprise, is how you love your grandchildren.
Ben I LOVE YOU and I hope I will be home for your surgery so I can give you loves and kisses to make you feel better! A 'better' that only Grandma's can give!XXXOOO
Glam-ma
oh my gosh, that is SCARY! I hope you know that I will help in any way that I can if there is anything that I can do just let me know. That is crazy, he got it from eating dirt, should I have Alex checked??? What little kid doesn't eat dirt? Alex has eaten half our sand box! Geez! Any surgery on your baby is scary, kate had to have surgery and i thought i would die! it's hard, i hope all goes well, you're in my prayers for sure.
Post a Comment