SOMETHING is wrong! #RatBiteFever Part 2.

(Did you miss part one? Click here)

We weren't thrilled to be going to the hospital again, but our kid couldn't walk! I was worried about how they would think of us as parents. Our son's arm was broken, and we didn't know how it happened... and now he wasn't walking on his leg. AND, we had just been at the hospital with our 9 year old who had a concussion. Surely they would assume we were harming our children. I was crying I was so upset at this. Nothing had happened... nothing out of the ordinary toddler bumps and falls, at least.

When we got to the hospital we were seen pretty quickly. One of the nurses had been there the last time I was at the hospital with Orrin, and the doctor said she'd already heard about what happened with Orrin's arm. She had seen Orrin and I before when I had picked him up from the couch and hurt his leg, which was stuck under part of the couch before I had realized it, and was hurting. Last time we were seen he was fine and walked fine as soon as we got to the hospital. She asked to see him walk just to make sure I wasn't just an over-worried mom. But, Orrin didn't walk right. He was dragging his leg behind.

So, she ordered some x-rays. Nothing showed up, everything appeared normal on the films. When the doctor came back to the room she asked if anything had happened. RJ, our 10 year old, had said Luke had thrown something at Orrin's leg earlier, but it didn't seem to bother him- it didn't even knock him over- but I told her about it.

I asked her if there was any way it could be related to his arm. I mean, two limbs not being used within a week? She said it was probably just a coincidence. I asked if there were any labs or anything that could be done to see if he was sick. She said they don't do that there, we would have to go to our primary doctor. She "diagnosed" Orrin with a limp and said to follow up with our pediatrician in the next few days if it persisted.

Well, it didn't get better and I was able to finish work early the next day. We were able to get in to the pediatrician. I told him what had led up to this and said SOMETHING is wrong. I really felt like Orrin's arm trouble and leg trouble were connected. Orrin's knee was warm and slightly swollen at this point. The pediatrician agreed that something was amiss. He ordered a bunch of blood tests and told us he'd call when the results came in.

At this point I was very concerned. I had had two friends who had children with leg pain, one had ended up with cancer, the other a serious bone infection. Nothing good was running through my mind.

At 6 PM we got a call from the pediatrician. His first blood test results looked okay. He didn't think this was anything serious at this point. His white blood cells were at a normal level and he said the tests looked reassuring. I was relieved, but still baffled at what was going on. We waited for more test results.

Then, at 10pm, we received another call from the doctor. His blood tests that tested for inflammation had come back with very abnormal results. The doctor told us he would call in the morning after consulting with some other doctors in some other major cities and decide what to do from there.

Part Three: Horrible thoughts.