Thank Goodness for Medical Insurance...

Thank goodness we have medical insurance because the week of my birthday between Tuesday and Saturday we went to the Dr 8 times. Yes, I said 8, 2 of which we went to UCSF in San Francisco for(1 hour each way)!! How is that possible you say? Easy, when you go 1 time on Tuesday, twice on Wednesday, once on Thursday, 3times on Friday and once on Saturday. Here is the rundown of what happened. The night of my birthday, as we were putting Izzy to bed, Paul noticed some red spots on her legs and asked me to come look at them. She had played with a friend outside that afternoon so I was thinking, maybe it was some sort of allergic reaction. Then we inspected the rest of her and found them around her elbows too. My next thought was maybe it is the chicken pox. She has been immunized but I have heard of breakthroughs and her Dr had told me a few weeks before that they were finding out that the Chix Pox vaccine was only good for 4 years. I opted to not to give her the booster. I thought just my luck, she gets the pox 3 weeks later. The next morning I took her to the Dr. where he informed me that it was not the chicken pox. He got kind of serious, put a mask on her and hand walked us down to the lab for some blood tests. Even more alarming was the fact that he would not tell me what he thought it was because he didn't want to diagnose her without the blood test. Which in my head I was thinking, it must not be good if he doesn't want to tell me. He made the lab techs wear masks as well and they took her blood. We left to go pick Seth up from preschool and the Dr called me to let me know that her blood tests were all normal and anything they were really concerned about was not there. I asked him what the big worry was and he told me that he was concerned about bacterial meningitis because when it presents this way it is really bad and also leukemia. Luckily we can check those off but her spots were still a mystery. He wanted us to see the head dermatologist at UCSF (apparently she writes the books) so he made a call and she was interested in our case. Then I was thinking, if the woman who writes the books is interested, that can't be good. Anyway, her dr. also mentioned something called HSP but she was missing a few of the symptoms. Finally the night before we were supposed to go to UCSF her leg got swollen, which is a symptom of HSP. He then felt pretty confident in his diagnosis but, since it wasn't following the exact criteria (swelling should be in the joints not the tissue) thought it might be good to have the dermatologist double check it. Needless to say, she confirmed his diagnosis. So, what is HSP you ask? It is a condition that causes your immune system to attack your blood vessels causing breaks in them (hence the red spots). It can also cause intestinal bleeding, high blood pressure and kidney damage. So, we are going to the doctor every few days to check for blood in the urine, her blood pressure and any other symptoms she may be having. Last week she threw up and was having bad stomach pains. Those symptoms are subsiding now. She did have some blood in her stool but that seems to be subsiding. We are now on our 3rd week missing school. Luckily last week was spring break so she wasn't missing class. He wants her to take it easy as to not "rock the boat". It is so hard trying to get her to take it easy. After 2 full weeks of this now, she just wants to play. They say it can last 4-6 weeks and her kidneys will need to be checked for 3-6 months. Haven't we had our fair share of medical crisis' this year?

Most of the appointments were for Isabelle that week but Seth did have his first dental appointment. I am happy to report that he had no cavities and the dentist said he was the best patient all week. He was completely fascinated. Cooper also had his last follow up appointment from his little overnight stay at UCSF. I think he is going to be fine. It has been about 2 months since he has had a lung infection. Izzy also had an eye exam where they told me she needs glasses. The following Monday we went the Dr. again because Cooper was having an excema outbreak from head to toe. We also went again for Izzy that week. I can't remember when because it is all blurring together. Anyway, our insurance is probably going what the heck is up with these people. I think I have gone to the Dr's office more times in the last 9 months then I have my whole life! We are still going about twice a week to check up on Izzy but hopefully after this is all over things will calm down with going to the Dr!!