Okay so yesterday we took a trek to a new Pediatric Rheumatologist. She's got all the medical records to review in advance. She seems very nice and ask's us a bit more information. She tells us that she's 99% sure that he had rheumatic fever
It fits the criteria and she was positive that's what it was. The one very important thing is that we have to prevent him from getting strep again. The protocol is that he stay on penicillin till he's at least 21. He's prone now to getting another "attack" of what he went through in Feb/March and part of April. It could even be worse since his body and immune system were in such a state of attack. If they keep him on a dose of the meds there is a very good chance that strep won't come back into his system. He can take 2 pills a day or get a shot once a month. It's his choice and right now he's choosing the pills. I think that the pills will get old and we will try the shots but I'm going to let him decide. The doc was pretty serious about him NOT getting a strep infection again and I think he really understood the importance of taking his meds.
Rob's a bit worried about him being on penicillin for so long. I can totally understand that but think that the pro's outweigh the cons at this point. I'm going to ask the cardiology about it when we meet .
RF can attack the heart and luckily for us when Wolfie went in for an ECHO there was nothing wrong with his heart. We will need to see a Cardiologist now once or twice a year for checkups and when he gets any dental work done up the dose of meds he's on.
She believes that some of the latest bouts of arthritis that he had come from being so sick for about two months. When an 11 year old tries to go back to his normal active lifestyle after having this illness it takes a long time for him to get back to 100%. There are no limits on what he can do....only his own body can tell him what feels good to try and do. I know that a summer of swimming will help immensely and we are praying that by fall and next year's basketball season he will be back in the saddle again and ready to PACK EM under the basket!!!
It fits the criteria and she was positive that's what it was. The one very important thing is that we have to prevent him from getting strep again. The protocol is that he stay on penicillin till he's at least 21. He's prone now to getting another "attack" of what he went through in Feb/March and part of April. It could even be worse since his body and immune system were in such a state of attack. If they keep him on a dose of the meds there is a very good chance that strep won't come back into his system. He can take 2 pills a day or get a shot once a month. It's his choice and right now he's choosing the pills. I think that the pills will get old and we will try the shots but I'm going to let him decide. The doc was pretty serious about him NOT getting a strep infection again and I think he really understood the importance of taking his meds.
Rob's a bit worried about him being on penicillin for so long. I can totally understand that but think that the pro's outweigh the cons at this point. I'm going to ask the cardiology about it when we meet .
RF can attack the heart and luckily for us when Wolfie went in for an ECHO there was nothing wrong with his heart. We will need to see a Cardiologist now once or twice a year for checkups and when he gets any dental work done up the dose of meds he's on.
She believes that some of the latest bouts of arthritis that he had come from being so sick for about two months. When an 11 year old tries to go back to his normal active lifestyle after having this illness it takes a long time for him to get back to 100%. There are no limits on what he can do....only his own body can tell him what feels good to try and do. I know that a summer of swimming will help immensely and we are praying that by fall and next year's basketball season he will be back in the saddle again and ready to PACK EM under the basket!!!
2 comments:
Poor kid! Glad they finally gave you a diagnosis.
I am so glad you got some answers! He will be hooping it up in no time!! We think about Wolfie all the time and hope he gets back to normal real soon!
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