Aaron has had four major breakouts of ulcers in his mouth these past two months. I'm sure we all know how much pain a single ulcer can cause and this poor boy has had to endure three or four ulcers at the same time during each of those breakouts. We were initially told that it was 'normal' in some people or it could be a food intolerance but finally, a younger GP flagged it as strange enough to refer us to a pediatrician. While she explained the need to see a specialist, she casually rang all sorts of alarm bells in my head by mentioning words like 'sinister' and 'auto-immune diseases'. Thank you very much for the gray hairs, doctor!
So, off we went yesterday. Surprisingly, we didn't have the usual 30 minute wait for an appointment at a doctors clinic. We only waited 10 minutes and the doctor was very apologetic about that wasted time. Maybe thats what the higher doctor's fees buys you.
As expected, we don't have any answers yet but at least an x-ray of his lymph glands has minimized the chances of it being any auto-immune disease. Phew! I hope those chances stay slim. To try to find out whats causing these outbreaks, we had to take Aaron for his very first blood tests. I was prepared for a traumatic time (for both him and me) but apart from a little nervousness, he was very brave. He just watched as they stuck the needle into him and sucked his blood out, something I can never do. We'll get those results next Wednesday.
I hope that bravery and all the bragging he did afterwards boosts his confidence because I have another order for blood tests in my bag. If he has another outbreak of ulcers, we're supposed to get some tests done during the painful period. I can't even get him to play during those times.
In the meantime, we now have another referral from the pediatrician to an E.N.T. specialist. The pediatrician took one look into Aaron's mouth and seemed blown away by how massive his tonsils were. I believe his exact words were that "they need their own postcodes". Great! Something else to help the production of gray hairs.
5 comments:
I used to get canker sores all the time when I was a kid. (long gone now) My mother used to call them sugar sores although from what wikipedia says about them sugar had nothing to do with them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canker_sores
Swee.. I feel sorry for little Aaron. Hopefully, they manage to find the cause, and hopefully he can avoid an operation to his tonsils too.
tsk.. this reads like a stressful time for you two. and ouch.
i hope the cause is known soon. get well, soon dear Aaron n listen to your mummy when it comes to drinking water!
Mike - Do you remember what age you were when you stopped getting these? Any special tips for how you dealt with the pain?
Elaine - I hope so too!
Fiona - You hit the nail on the head about the water. He never remembers to drink. I even leave him notes in his lunch bag to remind him to drink.
I'd all but forgtten about these things. It's been too long since I've had any. I can't remember anything special for pain.
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