Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic DS updated 11/14

Came home yesterday. Blood drawn this AM. Doc appt in a couple hours. No clue if I'll have internet till I get back and not sure when that'll be.

Some of his blood tests have been coming back way off. Mainly some of his liver tests. One of them [don't ask me what it is ] has to do with liver function and bone growth so it's typically 'pretty high' in infants etc because they're growing bones. It can also be high when fighting an intestinal/stomach bug. When he was in the hospital in Nov. it was 1200ish, which was high, but not horribly so. This week it's stayed in the 6000 range and hasn't been coming down as he gets better [which it SHOULD if it was high as a result of the bug he's fighting]. Some of his other liver tests are off too, but that one's by far the worst apparently. That's one of the [several] tests they're rerunning today. *IF* there's something wrong with his liver, it could explain why he's not growing as well as we'd like as well as why he had such a hard time fighting this bug [4 of the other 5 of us had it and the longest was 4 days for me - he's closing in on two weeks]. This weekend's on call pediatrician thinks that they may well want to keep him for a few days for observation and more tests to see what happens to those numbers as he gets better - or just in general - but we'll have to see.

Anyway - thanks all. Will be in touch as I can...
Carol

Gosh Carol... reading the things you are going through, I can completely sympathise... it's so hard.

My thoughts and hopes are with you. *hugest hugs*
Best wishes for a quick recovery. I hope everything stabilises soon.

My 1 year old son ends up in hospital almost every time he get sick as he has febrile convulsions every time no matter how trivial the illness (ear infection, common flu, etc). He has been poked, prodded, scanned... and he has also had his results come back with abnormal liver functions. So I can completely relate to the 'unknowing factors' at play. We were lucky... his liver function came back to normal (but it took over a month), and the pediatrician just thinks it was caused by the infection... but it has to be tested every time he convulses...

There is nothing worse than feeling so completely helpless while your baby is crying and you can't do anything to make him feel better... I really feel for you Carol.

Please keep us updated on your son's progress as time permits.

*more hugs, for one can never have too many*

So what's the latest? I'm hoping it's good news... sounds like you're getting good care, anyway.

{{{Carol}}}

PJ

Yeah, any news?

{{{Carol}}}

James

(((((Carol)))))

Ann

Hugs and prayers, Carol.

Hugs and good thoughts, Carol and for DS, as well.

Mona

I only found this thread today. I hope things are improving for DS and that he starts gaining soon. There is no feeling more helpless than when your baby is sick and you aren't sure what is wrong.

Prayers for you and DS from here, Carol.

Nan

Limited internet access at FIL's house... He has wifi but no clue what his password is and I didn't dare get on fic boards there .

Anyway...

We made it back from KC a little while ago. The CARE/Failure to Thrive Clinic believes that the liver test results are from being sick. They concurred with the Hospitalist/Nutritionist here in Springfield that the best course of action at the moment is high fat/calorie/protein/etc diet and follow with our docs here. As long as his weight gain is satisfactory, we don't go back to KC until Nov.

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers - they are much appreciated!

Carol [who is exhausted and headed to bed - bed at FIL's house is so uncomfy!]

Does that mean you can keep him at home, instead of the hospital? Glad to hear the liver tests weren't anything scary.

And yeah, I'm always cautious about getting on the fic boards when I'm at the in-laws' house.

PJ

Yeah - we came home Sunday. This hospitalization was to support him with IVs etc while he fought of the nasty stomach bug that was leaving him dehydrated. We have a weight check later this month, another one in Sept, 15m check up in Oct then go back to the clinic in Nov.

If I could get on his wifi on my laptop I wouldn't care but not so much on his desktop... .

Carol

Good to hear you have been able to take your son home, Carol.

Ann

DS had a weight check today!

FOURTEEN lbs FOURTEEN oz!!! That's up TWO and a HALF pounds from his low point when he was sick earlier this month and almost two pounds from his one year check up the day he first started to get sick.

We're ECSTATIC!

That said... When we were in the hospital in Nov, they did a urine test that came back 'off', but the Mayo Clinic guys said that the formula he was on and this test didn't play well together. Said to redo it when he'd been off the formula for a while and we promptly forgot all about it. When he was in the hospital a couple weeks ago, they redid it and it's still 'off'.

Mayo Clinic said run these blood tests [plasma carnitine, acylcarnitines, fatty acids [or long chain fatty acids] - not a clue what all that means and googling hasn't really helped] so he had blood drawn again today. It has to be sent to Mayo so it'll be end of next week before we hear back most likely, maybe the week after that with the holiday and everything.

Anyway - that's our update!
Carol

Glad to hear that he is doing better, Carol.

I don't know what those tests are either, but I'll look them up in the lab book tomorrow at work and let you know what they say. If they are some of those tests that only the Mayo Clinic does, I don't know how successful I'll be, but I'll look.

Nancy

So glad to hear he's doing better, Carol!

As for the urine tests - well, you'll have to wait and see. But remember that it isn't serious until they've told you so.

Ann

Carol.. I'm soo happy to hear your son has gained weight and things are going well.

I've learned (through my DS) not to take the 'off'ness of results to heart, and as hard as it is, don't worry about the results until they come back bad..

The good thing about most of the testing though is that they can do different tests to check if the results they're getting are indeed correct. I'm guessing that's what the blood tests are doing..

I hope everything comes back ok *fingers crossed*.
And I hope your son keeps improving in leaps and bounds. *hugs*

I couldn't find anything on those tests in the lab book at work, but it was about five years old.

Do keep us updated!

Hugs and prayers, Nancy

Carol, I am so happy for you that your little guy is picking up weight. Hopefully all the new tests will come back fine.

Got two blood tests back and they're normal.

Not sure when we'll get the third one back... should be early this week we think.

Thanks again everyone .
Carol

Fingers crossed for the 3rd.

I know what it is like for everything to come back normal, but still have medical problems they put down as 'unexplained'.

It adds additional worry, but at the same time, knowing that the main indicator tests are all coming back normal is a good thing.

*hugs*