Doctors' visits

Just thought I'd tell you about a week of doctors' visits this week.

When Rachel & I arrived home from Alpena, all it took was one hug to know that Joshua was feverish. Mark said he sounded congested but it wasn't normal sounding congestion. After a little while, I noticed Joshua rubbing his neck. I asked if his throat hurt and he said yes. Without a flashlight, it was clearly visible that he had white spots all over his throat. I assumed this would mean strep. First thing Tuesday, I called for an appointment. When we got there and the nurse went to do a throat culture, he said he wasn't a physician but he wouldn't be surprised if it was positive. As the doctor was doing the exam, the nurse poked his head in and in amazement said that it was negative. The doctor then pretty much shocked me by saying that there's a good possibility that Joshua has MONO. I didn't know kids his age could get it. She said that it is actually easier on a person to have it at a young age. They didn't do any blood work because it would come back inconclusive that early on. We go back this Tuesday for a recheck. They may do blood work then but they really want to check on his spleen because mono can cause it to become enlarged.

Joshua is now on an upswing. He is eating a little better. Fortunately, it has been overly hot to cause dehydration even quicker. The first couple of mornings, he would wake up in bed crying because his throat hurt so bad. Then one day, he came to my room crying when he woke up. Yesterday and today, he came in complaining of a sore throat but not crying.

Now for the second doctor visit. Rachel started complaining of her right knee hurting on Thursday. I gave her some ibuprofen and just 6-7 hours later she was complaining again. She did the same on Friday. I wouldn't have thought too much about it and would have let it go a couple of more days except she goes to Lake Ann Baptist Camp at 7:30 Monday morning. There was no visible problems and she didn't remember any injuries to it. (The one she hurt on the way to Alliance was the left one.) When I called the nurse Friday afternoon, she agreed to give us one of the Saturday appointments. When I took her in today and the doctor checked her out, she called it patella femoral syndrome. This basically means that her kneecap is moving around more than it is supposed too. The groove in her knee isn't deep enough to keep it in place and her thigh muscle isn't strong enough to keep it in place either. The doctor wants her to stay on ibuprofen while at camp and also do some strenthening exercises. If it isn't better in 2-3 weeks, we'll have to go back for x-rays but she says this isn't that uncommon in girls that are getting close to puberty age (GULP!)

So that is about it for around here. Joshua is under quarantine and is vegging out with videos as much as possible and Rachel's poppin' pills for knee problems. What next! (Actually, that's rhetorical because I don't think I really want to know!) You'd think this was a house with a 70 year old and 92 year old with all these doctor visits!