Tuesday 11 November 2008

Relieved

I’ve been too stressed to write. Jake has had some pretty swollen lymph glands in his neck the last few days, without any other symptoms. As I’m sure most Moms do in this day and age, I searched the web high and low for any indication of what might have caused the inflammation.

Web reports indicated two possibilities: infection somewhere in the proximity of the affected glands (ears or throat), or {dum-da-dum-dum…} Lymphoma. Gawd.

I traced back a few weeks to see if I could make any connection to illness:
  • October 23rd, he came home from daycare with a fever. It lasted almost 4 days.
  • October 28, he received his first-ever flu shot, and later developed a mild rash on his jawline which was cleared up within the hour.
  • He has had the mildest of snotty noses, but that’s it.
  • Last week he wasn’t eating much. I noticed the swelling Thursday evening, and by Friday he was eating great, and happy as a pig in dirt.
Doc suspects it was a combination those events, but the fact the swelling has come down a lot is a good thing. Phew.

I’m a wreck when something isn’t right with my kids. I can’t stand those mystery fevers—when their temperature soars, but there is no sign of illness anywhere—no ear infections, no sore throats, no coughs or drippy noses. Inevitably though, something does show up after the fever breaks, but it typically begs the question “I had to keep you home for three days of fever for THIS? Oh, come ON!”

And the internet doesn’t help. I should completely shut down my connection to the web when my kids are sick. There is rarely good news to be found when you’re plugging in symptoms. I have noticed Yahoo! Answers is particularly bad for this, and have stopped viewing any search results that direct me there. Some people are completely ridiculous in their responses. And mean! I don’t understand that at all. If I ever feel so compelled to pose a question to the online universe, I would expect compassion, not judgment or criticism. Geez.

Well, I have a bunch of things to set my mind to today, now that it is free from worry—for the moment. Enjoy your day—make it a wonderful one!

4 comments:

  1. I am so glad that he is feeling better. I told myself i was not going to google it, but i did, and that made it worse... Oh well... He is doing fine now and glad that your little man is too!

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  2. I'm glad it's nothing serious.

    I've come to conclusion that google when it comes to illness is just not a good thing. Last time I'd convinced myself it was ovarian cancer. (I had ALL the symptons.)

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  3. Well he looks pretty good in his picture so I'm glad he's doing ok!! My doctor forbade from googling anymore medical stuff after I diagnosed Peter with impetigo last spring . . . although I actually diagnosed him 100 per cent correctly AND took him to the doctor right away. She still said it was a bad idea, lol!

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  4. I give my granddaughter Colostrum in a capsule that I break open daily in juice along w/probiotics. She had a runny nose & cold, gave her that cured it in a couple days. I gave it to her ever since & she has done great, my husband had a cold for days & she just got a day of a a runny nose that was it. My daughter has lymph glands swollen in her neck, being Asian (adopted) they call it Kakoochi or something like that, no cure, I was thinking of Colostrum if she'd take it. The glands aren't draining. Try Colostrum w/probiotics daily. My granddaughter is 19 months. When she goes to her other grammas, she doesn't get this, so I do what I can.

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