The story of Davin getting
ITP!The day after Cinco DE Mayo, I was changing my little Davin's diaper (around 4pm that evening.) I pulled off his pants and to my horror notice bruises all over his legs. (I hadn't noticed them that morning.) These bruises were BLUE and NEW. (All 2 year olds have lots of bruises, but this was way too many!!) My mom had come over to visit and I showed her at that time. We both were in awww of the amounts. We chalked it off and just figured with all of the kids that were over the night before with the party. Thousands of kids were jammed into the sand box, who knows what could have happened.
Aaron and I had a dinner at some friends that night. We hadn't been there long, when I needed to change another poopy diaper. Again, to my horror...more bruises and now brownish/red SPOTS were all over his legs and moving up his abdomen. (these are blood spots) I ran out to get Aaron and showed him these marks. We both got nervous but he got super nervous and I wasn't sure why. He remembered his sister telling him about her son getting this RARE ITP disease. You have to take it very serious, because if he fell down and hit his head or some other major area (which is common in a young child) he could bleed internally. ALSO, a lot of the symptoms of this are the same as Leukemia. Which of course scared us right to death.
We hurried home, while making phone calls all along the way. The Instacare was now closed and with Aaron owning his own business our health insurance is crap. (Which makes you think twice about going in for medical help usually.) My RN friend read out of her school book to us about ITP. It sounded exactly like his symptoms. The ON call doctor called us back and said he was pretty sure this was the deal. He thought that if we just put Davin to bed that night, and woke first thing in the morning....we could save on some bills and hit Instacare instead of the ER. (Of course we would pay millions for our little boy, and would have just gone in..but the doctor sounded pretty sure he should just be fine.)
The next morning we took Davin into the instacare. They heard his symptoms and took him right in. They drew his blood asap and then the doc started getting his history and such. The nurse later brought in the results and the doctor JUMPED off of her chair! She frantically (and I am not being sarcastic at all) was freaking out. She told me to pick him up, do not let him walk or fall! His platelets were EXTREMELY low. She said that we needed to head to the ER or to primary's right away after she made a few calls. She was sending in the leukemia smear test ASAP also. (later we did find out it was neg.)
I sat in the room in aww, not sure what to think. My little boy can not have leukemia, I kept telling myself. I have a few friends that their little ones have had it...and it scared me to death.
The doctor was gone for quite some time. She then came back in a bit more composed. THANK HEAVENS!! (It really helps when a doctor is composed.) She told us that she had talked to four doctors and that they thought that it would be a good to go see a pediatric doctor that works in cache valley that also works at primary's. They all thought that it sounded like this was rare ITP also.
Stats: Cache valley sees a case of this a couple times a year. Primary's see's it often.
We then went to the pediatric doctors office. This doctor came in and told us what was going to happen. He said that Davin is going to bruise and look horrible and there is nothing that we can do about it. He will bruise even if breathed on. We just needed to keep him safe. He said that he still is a kid, and there is NO way of stopping him. He could still walk around and play, just nothing that could be a collision such as heights. He put him on some Prednizone (steroids.) This medication is a nightmare. It gets them HYPER, keeps them from sleeping, makes them irritable and itch. (It also makes them get chubby!!)
After a whole day of doctors we got home and let him rest. His face was starting to look worse and worse and if he bruised, it would turn instantly BLACK!! The body is a miracle and platelets are a must we have found.
They told us to keep him on the double dose of steroids and check his blood in another day.
This is a run down of his labs!! His labs were a **(7)** on Saturday at the Instacare. We then went in on Monday to get another blood lab test and it was only at a **(8)** after two days of meds. We went to his normal family doc this time (which was working hand in hand with the pediatric doc..which was dealing with primary docs.) The family doc was worried that his numbers were not coming up fast enough. BUT, I was thinking that DAVIN was looking much better already. The doctor told me that I must really love him, cuz he looked horrible. (My mom had been keeping an eye out also, and she that he was looking a bit *better*..under these circumstances.) He said that the labs needed to be up to AT LEAST a (16) by Wednesday..otherwise it was primary's. They would have to hook him up to IV's and give him shots to speed up the process.
Well Wednesday came and I was thinking he was LOOKING much better, but his labs came back at only a **(10)**. UGH!! We were not sure what was going to happen. The doctor did believe me that he was LOOKING much better. There was still TONS of bruises, but NO new ones. He said, lets test it again on Friday and if that was not up...he WILL go to primary's. We thought that was a good plan.
Each day, Davin got happier and happier..(still super clingy and irritable..but better) He just wanted to be held like a newborn. We just hung out inside so he could be safe. By Friday, we checked his blood and it was up to a **(76)**!!! WOW!! We jumped for joy and celebrated like crazy!! He still was low...but for what the numbers were, we were happy!! :) The range he should be in is 150-400!!
We then checked his blood again the next Wednesday and his labs were up to a **(285)**!!!
WOWZERS!! Things were finally looking up for little dude. His face and body has gotten SUPER chubby and he looks like a totally different kid. He still is on the meds, getting weaned down slowly. More labs are to follow to make sure that he is maintaining. He is to stay away still from too many kids due to his immunity being so low and going through so much. That is why they think this all started in the first place.
There is a risk that he could be chronic, but doubtful. There is other VERY rare things that could be bad. But we fill like he is going to be just fine. We will just keep checking his labs and things should just keep looking more and more up. :)
We love this little dude so much. Davin is such a sweetheart and we love his soooo much! It is always hard to see a child suffer in anyway. He was so strong through this all and we are so grateful that all turned out as good as it did.
LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU little buddy!!
These pictures really don't do justice....but they show some of the sad bruises!! Davin also shows off his bandages on some of his blood draws. He was so brave!
A couple of the BLACK bruises!! :(
See how chubby he looks! He doesn't even look like himself!
He was always spoiled by all of the nurses. He got lots and lots of suckers and stickers during the week. He also got a stuffed animal and a goodie bag full of all sorts of crackers, treats, soda and more.
I got spoiled too! My sweet friend and neighbor brought me over the sweetest little poem, flowers, treats and more. It just made my day!!! She was so thoughtful and kind! The poem was SO awesome...I just know that she will be a Hallmark writer someday!! :)
Other *TATE* big news:
Davin is also a BIKE lover these days too. Begging to ride his bike constantly!! He is getting really good at it. His legs are soooo short, it was hard at first...but he is a PRO now. We love him so.
Looking like such a BIG boy these days. :( Where did our baby go??!!
These boys are super silly. Always a crack up! Side pictures taken during the week.
Davin's face cracks me up!
These boys are a handful at times, but such joys in our lives. We just LOVE them to bits!!
