In Feb. of 2007 my 12 yo son started complaining of stomach pain. It took 2 months to find that he had an infection of the lymph nodes in his stomach cavity. They treated him with antibiotics and steroids, but 3 months later the infection returned. They have done a biopsy of the lymph nodes, but found nothing. After the surgery, his health has continuely gone downhill. We have seen dr. after dr. trying to pinpoint a diagnosis, and finally in Dec. of '07 found that he had a parasite in his bloodstream called Toxocara. That was treated and we assumed he would start getting better, but things have stayed the same. He is in continual pain and is constantly back and forth with his symptoms. We saw an orthopaedic dr. yesterday for his spinal pain and he asked me twice if we had had him tested for leukemia, then a 3rd time acted like I was stupid for not pushing the hematologist to do a bone marrow test. These are his symptoms:
general ill feeling,
loss of appetite,
loss of weight,
low grade fevers almost every night (never over 100),
chills or night sweats,
constant spine pain.
His blood work has also been all over the board since Oct. '07. Here are the latest results:
WBC - 3.5 L (this has been down to 2.9)
Hematocrit - 35.6 L
MCH - 31.8 H
MCHC - 36 H
Neutrophils - 35.2 L
Lymphocytes - 52.5 H
ABS Neutrophil - 1.2 L
I am so confused and frustrated with dr's in my area that I have started bringing him to dr's 3 or 4 hrs away trying to find out what is wrong! Should I push to have the bone marrow test done with a different hematologist? I don't want to put him through unneeded procedures but we are at a loss of what else to do since we don't seem to be getting any answers. His primary pediatrician sent me a letter stating that since nothing had been found and he continued having problems, that he would no longer be treating him and to find another dr!!! I just want my child to get better - is it too much to ask for a dr. that will help me do that? Please let me know what you think - I've had 1 dr. tell me it may be leukemia, then the hematologist that did not want to follow up with anymore tests, now an orthopaedic saying that he thinks he should have already been tested.