Health is something that I often take for granted. We had a pretty rough couple of weeks at our house that started with just a nasty cold for Hailey and Taylor, but ended with a whole lot more for Carter Dean just before his 6th birthday.
Carter had the same cold as Hailey and Taylor, but also then had the stomach flu with days of fever. Just when we thought that he may be feeling a bit better he began to start limping and complaining of arm pain. We found that his wrist joint was extremely swollen as well as his ankle joint. I then began a head to toe exam which I then found a petechia rash all over his legs.
After consulting Dr. Daddy, Dr. Quale, and the clinic it was clear that a trip to the ER was necessary to check platelets and a CBC to see what was going on.
As Dave and Daddy suspected, Carter was diagnosed with HSP (Henoch-Schonlein Purpura). It is caused by an abnormal response of the immune system after a virus. The symptoms matched Carter's: abdominal pain, joint pain, purple spots, nausea, and headaches.
Also, while in the ER it was noted that Carter had a very slow heart rate and an EKG revealed that he has 1st degree heart block.
The pain and rash lasted approximately 10 days and the joint swelling migrated to almost all of his joints. We were able to control the pain with ibuprofen and tylenol. We also continued to monitor kidney function with can be a complication with this disease.
We saw a pediatric cardiologist where he received an echocardiogram which revealed a completely normal heart. The conduction problem was still there. We will continue to follow EKGs to see of the 1st degree block persists.
