It's Getting Worse. #RatBiteFever Part 5

A continuation of... Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

Okay.. so this is Tuesday. About 10 days after the first incident that started with Orrin not using his arm. His leg had seemed better the last couple days... but he still had a fever- despite Motrin around the clock (every 6 hours). We were supposed to have a follow up appointment with the orthopedic specialist affiliated with DeVos, but there was no referral so we couldn't get an appointment. We had been calling all Monday trying to figure out how to get this follow up scheduled, and now it seemed even more important.

While Orrin had been acting fairly normal the last two days, this morning he started walking with a limp again. He was very uncomfortable. I called his pediatrician's office to ask for something stronger. Maybe he could get another shot of toradol? It seemed to help him so much before.

Orrin's doctor had gone out of state for Spring break, so we talked with the doctor that was filling in. There was a lot to catch up on. She had to make many, many calls. After several rounds of calling to get more information, and her calling DeVos, she called me back around 4:30 that afternoon. She said that we were never supposed to be discharged from DeVos- we were supposed to be admitted.

She immediately ordered more blood tests, and we went to Munson hospital to get them done... she said the results would be back that evening. Depending on the results, we may need to see a specialist at Munson, but she was hoping the blood tests showed that there was improvement. They didn't.

Around 10pm that night we were called and told we needed to leave early on Wednesday and drive to the orthopedic specialist down at DeVos. Orrin's blood tests still showed high levels of inflammation and showed he had low hemoglobin. Something was going on.

The next morning Orrin's leg was very swollen, very painful, and he wasn't walking at all. We were on the road. We didn't even have an appointment yet, but Dr. Statler said she'd get it taken care of and give us a call in the morning while we were driving down. She did, and we were able to have Orrin be seen at 11:30 that morning. Dr. Cassidy, the orthopedic specialist, had more x-rays done of Orrin's arm and leg. He said there was no sign of bone-regrowth... which means that Orrin's arm was not broken. It hadn't been broken. But, there was something wrong and we needed to figure out what it was.

The orthopedic team had consulted with the oncology department, and had gotten confirmation that this was NOT cancer. We were relieved that we were at least not facing that epic battle. But what was wrong?!

Dr. Cassidy said we needed to figure it out... and so he arranged for a team of doctors, called the hospitalists, at DeVos, to figure it out. Orrin would be admitted, and we would have answers soon.



Part 6: Answers.