He's a Healthy Kid: Our Appointment with the Pediatrician

“He’s a healthy kid…” That was the conclusion that our pediatrician came to after thoroughly examining Michael head to toe. And by all accounts, he was accurate. Michael has always been a relatively healthy kid. We’ve never really had any significant health problems with him in the past.

But recently, things had been different. In late October and into November, Michael had pneumonia. From early November on, every 8 to 12 days, Michael would come down with flu-like symptoms: random body aches, chills, and fatigue. These symptoms would sometimes, but not always be accompanied by a low grade fever. Symptoms would last 24-36 hours, and then he would bounce back and be fine for another 10 days or so.

During this time Michael would complain about pain in his knees, his jaw, his ribs, his arms, his shoulders etc. There was never any rhyme or reason to his aches and pains. They were never associated with any physical activity or overexertion. And he would often experience them during times when he wasn't experiencing a fever or chills. For a while I wondered if they might simply be growing pains.

Sometime in January, Sarah mentioned to me to that Michael had been having these flu-like episodes for nearly three months. With the busyness that surrounds Thanksgiving and Christmas, this detail had escaped me. We discussed getting Michael to his pediatrician in the near future. At the time, I suspected that Michael might have mononucleosis. This would explain his ongoing symptoms. I had a friend in college who contracted mono and consequently missed a semester of school. I remember being concerned about the impact that mono might have on Michael's education, having no idea at the time that we were dealing with something far more serious.

On Thursday and Friday, January 23-24 Michael missed school due to a fever and these flu-like symptoms. As usual, he bounced back that Saturday like nothing had happened. On Monday afternoon, January 27, Michael came down with the now familiar symptoms once again. This was a new development in that the interval of time between his flu-like episodes had shortened significantly. That evening, Sarah and I decided to contact Michael’s pediatrician in the morning. That decision was the first in a chain of events that would change our lives forever.

Sarah called Tuesday morning to schedule an appointment with the pediatrician. To our surprise, he was able to see Michael that day. When I got Michael to his appointment, all of his symptoms had disappeared: no fever, no aches, and no fatigue. The pediatrician found zero signs of any significant infection or disease. Michael did not have any swollen lymph nodes, signs of inflammation, or unexplained bruising. His heartbeat was fine, and his lungs were clear. I asked the pediatrician about the possibility of Michael having mono, and was told that He didn't have any of the symptoms. At a loss, the doctor concluded, “He’s a healthy kid.” However, based on what I had told him about the regular reoccurrence of Michael’s symptoms, he agreed to order blood work to be done. Michael and I left his office and went straight to the lab, hoping the blood work would show us what was going on. At the time, we never dreamed that the test results would lead us to a diagnosis of a serious, life-threatening disease.