I'll back up a bit. Remember when Basia was really sick a month or so ago? Did I blog about it? Who knows. Anyway, Basia was really sick. Really, really sick. "Clinically toxic" was a term the doctor used to describe her appearance at one point, and we had a deadline for the fever to subside or a hospital stay was going to be necessary. The doctor ran all sorts of tests and ordered bloodwork because everything was coming back negative even though she was obviously quite ill. The bloodwork just showed that she had a nasty virus. Whew. She got better shortly after. Whew.
A couple weeks later I was in the doctor's office with Sir Smiles because he hurt his arm, and you can't let anything go unchecked in foster care world. His arm was fine, but our doctor brought in all the results from Basia's bloodwork while I was there. She said that she had been planning to call me because there were some indications that something wasn't right with her red blood cells. They varied in shape and size more than they should have, and none of it had anything to do with the virus. It just wasn't...right. The doctor mentioned Thalassemia Trait as her guess for what was being indicated, but she also mentioned that there could be other things going on that could require a hematologist. Basia was sent for more bloodwork to see how her blood looked with the virus gone and also to get hemoglobin electrophoresis to determine if a specialist was in order or not.
The call from our doctor today confirmed that Basia does have Thalassemia Trait. "Trait" is the operative word here. Thalassemia can be scary. Scary, scary. Thalassemia Trait is not going to be a big deal at all in her life. She does have low iron that we will address with a daily multivitamin and more blood tests next year. Other than that, she won't really have to remember she has Thalassemia Trait until she is ready to have a baby of her own. She and her husband will need to undergo genetic testing to make sure they are not both carriers of the same type of Thalassemia Trait.
Confirmation of her diagnosis was recieved. Medical research began. If she has to have abnormal red blood cells, though, this is the best diagnosis that I could find, so I am a happy mom. Surely it's not likely that she will choose a partner who also has the condition, so she shouldn't have to deal with her diagnosis much at all.
The next bout of medical research came when I pointed out a lump in The Baby's cheek that my sister-in-law first felt a couple weeks ago. The Baby had his 6-month check-up today. The doctor says it's likely a cyst, and she ordered a CT scan at the hospital. Man, have I gotten to know the hospital there more than I ever imagined I would. I can't even remember all the tests that have been ordered for one of my kids or the other, starting with my very first foster placement and even including Brishen (to see if he has scoliosis) and Basia (to check a heart murmur). I have actually gone to the outpatient part of this hospital so much that I can find my way out again without getting lost. That really says something!
I also asked about a strawberry birthmark on The Baby's arm. Suddenly there became a possibility that the birth mark and the cyst are related, both being nerve-related. If that's what the CT scan reveals, we have to have his liver checked, as well. No amount of medical research online has enlightened me as to what could be going on to connect an obvious strawberry birthmark on his arm, a cyst inside his cheek tissue, and his liver. I'm just going to figure that they are not related, and stop worrying until I hear otherwise.
The Baby is super fussy from his shots today, and I hope that leads to some deep sleeping because I am certainly ready for a good night of sleep!
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