Life's adventures are not always what we want or what we ask for. This is an update on our little Thumbody. We are very worried. The lymph node just below his left ear is now ab out 1 1/2 inches long under the skin, and is red and very hard and rubbery. It does move back and forth under the skin. It is extremely tender to touch. He will probably have surgery sometime this week. His appt. is tomorrow.
I have been searching the internet like crazy trying to figure out what he has. It is a very real possibility that it is cat scratch fever. I actually would feel relief if that is all that it is. Our cat does have fleas, and it was infesting our home, so we bombed the house some time ago and put the cat outside. She is fine outside, and prefers to be outside, than inside. Ethan does play outside quite a bit. There are always stray cats in our yard, as well. Probably when our cat is in heat. Ethan is always picking up the cats, but I don't recall a scratch. Although I have read, that it can be spread by a lick as well. Ethan did have that granduloma that developed under his eye. I thought the doctor said hematoma, but she actually said granduloma. It is pretty much gone now, but under where the scab was is a 1/2 inch scratch. We don't know how he got the eye lesion, it just appeared one day.
Our other concerns, which are more serious of course, are TB, some sort of cancer, or toxoplasmosis. He had a TB test on Saturday, and it will be read tomorrow. All I see at the sight, is a little scratch where she poked his skin, and a little bruise. That's it, no bump or anything else. My concern about TB was because there is something called paracytic TB, which is caused by an insect bite. In our backyard, anything is possible. Lymphoma is not really common in small children, more common in adolescent children, and one of it's symptoms is loss of appetite. Ethan still seems to have a huge appetite. He doesn't act sick, or even tired or run down.Toxoplasmosis is common in children who play in sand boxes that are not covered, and cats can use as a litter box. Our sand box is rarely covered, even though we have a cover, we have not really worried too much about it before. It is a great possibility that our cat or neighborhood cats could have used it as a litter box, and I know Ethan has played in the sand box quite a few times this month. And so we wait. I think that is the hardest part. Not knowing what it is. He is so tiny to have to deal with all this. Sometimes I feel like God must really hate me, or is punishing me for something, by all the stresses that are put into my life. Some are self-inflicted, some are not. Scott is so calm about these things, and I am a nervous wreck. I don't think I have slept through the night in over a week. I keep imagining the worst possible scenario. I can't even go there.
Thanks for your caring, and loving prayers,
These photos are a little late, but I'm trying to catch up. This is Thumbody's Star Wars Cars Birthday. It was very eclectic... Need I say more?
Skaterboy is enjoying waiting for his turn to bowl at Thumbody's Bowling Birthday Bash, that afternoon. We invited friends from church to attend.
Here is the star himself, in his favorite bowling position, which was watching balls come up through the ball return. Feeling the air come out of the hand dryer was a close second.
