My poor HEALTHY guy is falling apart lately! He's had some urogenital issues (which I won't be expounding on for respect for his privacy) in the past couple of months, which we're seeing a surgeon for on Friday and a urologist for in July (earliest available appointment, GEEZ!)...and on top of that he's recently started having very severe, intermittent abdominal pain over the past couple of weeks.
The night before last, as I walked in from my hospital shift at 1:15am, I heard moaning from upstairs. (As a side note: for some reason, there is a HIGH incidence of illness and discomfort in this house on Monday nights. I walk in the door and one of the kids is almost ALWAYS in need of something...the worst is when I come in, get all ready for bed and my head hits the pillow--then BAM! crying over the monitor. If someone is getting sick and is going to barf for spike a fever, it will be between 1-2am on a Monday night.) I went upstairs to check on the moaner and was surprised to find the noise coming from BubTar's room. I sent him to the potty, as that is usually the cause for his nighttime discomfort, but it didn't help. I gave him a Tums, in case he had a sour tummy, but that didn't help either. It QUICKLY progressed to writhing and crying, fast breathing, and him trying not to scream. At one point he whisper shouted, "I'M GOING TO SCREAM!" It got so bad that he asked to go to the hospital...which OF COURSE, is just what I wanted to hear after walking in the door from my shift there. I was going to run to the store for gas drops in case that was contributing to the pain, but he vomited some and the pain subsided. I dosed him with Zofran, just in case, and he went to sleep after a bit. The whole thing lasted for about an hour, from mild pain to the vomiting and subsequent relief.
It is actually the second time this has happened to our boy. The weekend before last, he was jumping on the trampoline and suddenly he had abdominal pains. He went to lay down and pretty soon it was severe pain, we thought we might need to take him to the hospital in case it was appendicitis! It was baaaad, just like the other night. The severe pain lasted 10-15 minutes and then he was okay. We thought, crisis averted! Hooray! But when it happened again, it made us think something really is going on with him. He's also been to the school nurse a few times recently for stomach pain.
We saw the pediatrician yesterday. His exam was a little abnormal, tenderness in his abdomen on palpation, but he didn't have rebound tenderness or guarding and his white count was good (I think that might actually have been the first time he's had blood drawn!). She said it could be swollen lymph nodes in his abdomen or something else, like an appy or intussusception, but she didn't think we needed to be sent for imaging immediately, because his white count was okay and his exam wasn't too terrible. If he has another bout of pain, then we'll get some imaging done. This morning he said he had mild pain in the night, but nothing like the previous night. He is back at school today and the nurse and his teacher know to call me if he has any pain. I don't know what is going on with him, but I hope we figure it out soon!
8 comments:
Oh no...I hope he starts feeling better quickly. I know you didn't expound on his issues, but could the pain be related to bladder issues?
Sending good vibes your way.
The pediatrician said they are unrelated because of the location of his tenderness and pain versus the location of the other problem. She tried to think of something that might tie it together, but no luck.
Oh no! Poor guy. That sounds awful. Have kidney stones been ruled out?
"The most common symptoms in children with kidney stones are back and abdominal pain. Parents may often mistake their child's symptoms for appendicitis or gastritis. Kidney stones tend to be way down on the list of possible problems.
(From here.)
Here's hoping BubTar feels better soon.
oh no!
I know you've already looked into appendicitis, but in case this is useful: My husband had severe abdominal pain a couple times - usually just one or two days, separated by several months. It was a really weird presentation, but eventually, they figured out it was an inflamed appendix, getting worse with each episode. Fortunately the doctor was able to operate before it burst.
Good luck - I hope Bubtar is feeling better soon.
could it be gallbladder pain? My mom and best friend both had to get theirs removed. When they can do it laproscopically, it's really not too big a deal.
Yikes! Poor guy! We are dealing with some issues with our "healthy" kid recently too. I hope they get it figured out soon.
GERD or esophageal spasm? Poor kid - that's no fun.
It does sound like it could be an inflamed appendix ... I hope they look hard at it.
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