And There's More

And..Friday made doctors visit #2 and hospital emergency room visit #2.
Our GP was still concerned, and agreed with me that the problem with Cohen's leg was/is unlikely to be an allergic reaction to something, so referred us up to the Paediatric emergency department. We spent about six hours there, only to be sent home with no more answers...nor did they do any tests. Cohen's leg did flare up fairly badly while we were at the hospital, which was good in a way. Of course, after they gave him some pain relief, he felt much better, and that's when they decided to send us home. I was not impressed.

I went out to a friend's place on Saturday afternoon, and Cohen's leg was fine all day Saturday, but just before I left my friend's place to come home, I got a text from Simon saying Cohen was crying. I called - it was his leg again. By the time I got home, Cohen was pretty much back to normal, but Simon had videoed it. The redness which usually would only be on the lower half of his left leg was now all over both his arms and legs. The poor little boy was miserable and I felt so awful that I wasn't home to cuddle him. Daddy was though, so that's just as good :-)

Sunday morning we had him at the After Hours GP clinic. He told us there was nothing he could do and told us to go back to our usual GP during the week to get a full blood screen done. We got an appointment this morning. The doctor didn't even look at Cohen. He just told us that blood work wouldn't do anything.

The thing is, Cohen's leg isn't coming up red and super painful now. His last 'episode' was the one on Saturday night. But...all day Sunday, Monday and then today, he has been limping. All day. But we think it's improving, there were quite a few times today when we had to look very hard to see if he was even limping at all. We are going to keep a very close eye on him, and if the limp is still there on Thursday/Friday, or if it gets worse, or he has another 'episode' before then, we will be straight up to the Paediatric ER demanding they do tests. It's just not normal for a two-year old to limp.

It is so frustrating that the doctors and ERs keep palming us off to each other, and noone is giving us any answers, or doing anything to get any answers.

Cohen seems fine within himself, if a little more cuddly than usual...but he also has a bit of a cold at the moment (as does Kase). He isn't jumping as much as he usually does, but he's still climbing, and getting into mischief. I just want, and need, some answers. It's not fair on him :-(

xxx

Emergency Room Visit #1

Today has been such an incredibly long and stressful day. It was never going to be a good day, just because of what today is, but it could have been better than how it ended up being.

This morning was pretty good, we had Toddler Time at the library, and both boys actually got involved and had a great time! They usually do love it, but they often spend half the time running around the children's area, playing with the trains, and trying to Skype Nana on the computer. From there, Simon caught the bus to work, and the boys and I ran a few errands before heading home for lunch.

It was after lunch that everything kind of fell apart. And it kind of goes back to Monday afternoon. Cohen and Kason spent a fair amount of time playing outside in the afternoon, and when we came back inside for dinner, I noticed that half of Cohen's left leg was a bit red. I didn't think much of it, he seemed fine.
Tuesday morning, it was a different story. Just after I brushed his teeth, he was walking down the hallway back to the lounge when he suddenly just starting crying and limping. His leg was red and hot and he just wanted Daddy to pick him up, and he would grizzle and cry if he was set down and he just didn't want to put any weight on his leg.
It was strange, and really worried me so I called HealthDirect to see what they suggested we do. They said to take him to the doctor within four hours. We called all the GP clinics nearby, and couldn't get in anywhere, so we went up to the SuperClinic to see if we could get a 'walk-in' appointment. By the time we got to the carpark, his leg was fine, and he was fine. We decided not to worry about the doctors, and just to keep a close eye on him.
Tuesday night, right before the boys' bath, his leg got sore again - same thing. I gave him some nurofen and ducked over to my neighbour's place with both boys to see what she thought. We decided to get him to the doctors, and managed to get them to wait until we got there before they closed. Of course, by the time we got there, his leg was fine again. The doctor was still rather concerned though, and gave me a referral letter and instructions to take Cohen straight to the hospital if it happened again. He also gave us a referral for an x-ray which we had done yesterday (Wednesday).

This morning, Cohen was fine, but after lunch I was changing Kason's nappy and Cohen started screaming in pain again. His leg had come up red and hot again and he did not want to put any weight on it. I quickly packed a bag for Kason and rushed him over to our neighbour's house and drove Cohen to the hospital emergency room. Needless to say, by the time we'd waited for over an hour (I have to say, I was pretty impressed at the short waiting time!), he was back to normal! The small chance of it being a bone infection was pretty much ruled out by his clear x-ray, so the hospital doctors decided that it is most likely 'contact urticaria', an allergy. I'm not convinced at all. I don't think that an allergy would cause him so much pain.

Ten minutes after being home, it started again, so we (Simon came home from work after I called to tell him I was in the emergency room with Cohey) took him over to the doctors across the road...but it was much too busy and they could not get us in. It went down fairly quickly this time, but then came up again with a vengence just before his bath. For the rest of the evening, he was crying and just wanted cuddles with me, and to lie on the couch. This is the same child who won't even sit still for five minutes to watch his favourite Wiggles DVD, and who doesn't even cry when he gets his vaccinations.

It's really worrying me. We are planning on being at the doctors clinic first thing tomorrow morning to get a referral for the Children's hospital (we called them late this afternoon, and were told they wouldn't see us without a GP's referral).

Anyways, he finally fell asleep about 8pm tonight. Here's hoping he gets a good night sleep tonight.

xxx