Little Scare

On February 4th our oldest came down with a stomach bug.  She recovered but a few days later our other daughter got it and then days later our oldest son and myself had it.  Thomas was doing great and were hoping that he would not end up with it.  On the 15th he went to his first indoor conditioning for lacrosse practice.  He had a great time.  Around midnight though he woke up  and threw up.  He threw up once more around 4 a.m. but pretty much slept through the night other than that.  He slept in and I was rushing to get the other kiddos out the door with my mom who came to my rescue to take them all to their babysitting job for MOPS (mothers of preschoolers).  When Thomas did get up I asked him to just go lie on the couch for a bit without really looking at him.  Once I got everyone out the door, I went to snuggle him and noticed red dots all over his cheeks.  Upon further examination I saw that his eyelids and chin had significant reddish purple markings.  I knew that vomiting can cause broken blood vessels but I was alarmed because it looked like when he had ITP (low platelets).

I called my husband and then the family doctor.  I also texted with our acupuncturist.  Our family doctor was out of the office and all the other practitioners were overbooked and could not see him.  Given his history they recommended taking him to urgent care or the ER.  We opted for the main hospital ER in case he did have low platelets and needed his specialist.  However upon arriving in the ER we noted that it was packed.  I did not want to expose him to more germs so we left.  I called around and found an urgent care place that sounded reasonable and who could run labs (one urgent care said they send their labs out and it takes 3 days- that would not have helped us).  They were great and we were in and out within and hour with the awesome news that his platelets were well within the normal range.  I had prayed and let God know that we were ready to handle anything and not lose faith.  I'll never know for sure but I think that maybe his platelets truly were low and yet God granted us a reprieve and healed him prior to the test. By the next day his face looked normal.  He was also able to go sledding with a field trip and I did not have to worry that his platelets could be low which can cause internal bleeding.
Thomas had his acupuncture appointment on the 18th and he did well.  He is working on the endocrine system now.  On the 25th Thomas got to skate with his hockey team for the first time all season at their last practice on the season.  It was bittersweet.  So thankful that he could have that one time out there. He was super happy to see his friends.  He is looking forward to some spring skates that the coach has set up.  He'll have to work hard to catch up.
Yesterday we went sledding with the church youth group.  He had an amazing time and kept thanking me and telling me what a great hill it was.  Afterwards we went to Costco and he was really tired and hugged me a lot.  Today he's told me many times that he is really tired.  He cried several times too.  At bedtime snack he was falling asleep and finally he gave up eating his snack and just brushed his teeth.  He was almost asleep before I got into say good night.  I am hoping that he's just growing and that this is just a normal tired not a sign of too much activity.  We dropped one of his swimming classes now that he has lacrosse one night a week.  Time will tell but this is the test we need to try to know what activities to allow him to do and how much he can handle.  We are SOOOOO ready to be beat this and move on with a normal active childhood!!!