Wednesday, January 28, 2015

More Questions then Answers


January 23rd - MRI day. 

  I was scared out of my shorts but at the same time hopefully we would have answers as to what is going on. So since dylan clearly won't sit still for the MRI he had to be sedated. Which is always hard to watch but it needed to be done. For the first time when I walked back to the recovery room dylan was on oxygen and the nurse was holding his neck up to help him breathe. My insides were panicking! I'm staring at him and staring at the montior. The nurse was so calm and trying to talk to me and my husband and God forgive me but I just remember her talking and it sounding like Charlie Browns teacher ! If it hadn't been for her being so calm I probably would have freaked out.  

   Since Dylan has such a hard time getting lab work done the doctor had set it up so they drew his labs while he was sedated. 

   Now the waiting starts... Ugh I hate waiting it's the worse part.

   At 4:07 the doctor called - The preliminary report came back no tumor. She said I'm certain it's ROHHADS. She said was going to talk to Dr. Cook her colleagues. Dr. Cook is one of the few doctors in the entire country who has treated patients with this. She was still waiting for the labs to come back but she wanted to talk with me. 

   I started to cry and when I hung up the phone I yelled and just sobbed. How could this be happening to my precious baby? 

  And now I had to wait some more. 

  As promised the doctor called back Monday morning. She was still waiting to hear back from Dr. Cook. But his labs came back. His Prolactin was higher then before his platelets were 680, which is lower then before but still high. And she said Dylan has an iron deficiency there's no question. 

  Now we go back to Hopkins on February 11th to see the hematologist. I did ask since kids with ROHHADS are prone to tumors in the chest if it's possible that he has one and that's why his  platelets are so high, his doctor said she needs to talk to Dr. Cook about it. 

   More waiting.

   I notice Dylan has slowed down quit a bit . I'm not sure if it's because he's gained so much weight or if he could be starting with the breathing issues associated with this. He gets winded so easy now days. I just can't help to wonder what the future holds. The only thing I can see currently is lots of trips of Hopkins. 

  And I'm so worried about my other son Jacob. It will break my heart to tell him how sick his brother really is. But after talking with my hubby I decided not to tell Jacob what's going but when Dylan starts having breathing issues and needs oxygen or ends up on a trac then I'll just explan he has a hard time breathing and that's why he needs it . Maybe when he gets older I'll explain but for now I can't. I'm so scared Jake will resent me for not being around and always being at the hospital with Dylan. But when he gets older I just tell myself he will understand. 

  I'v been so blessed with my close family and friends who just listen to me run ideas about what's going on off them and just letting me cry when I need to. I know they probably don't know what to say to me . I mean what do you say to someone who's son has an incurable and potentially deadly disease. But I'm just thankful they let me vent and listen. It means so much. 

Waiting & What's Next ...

So the whole reason all this came about is because over a 6 month period of time I noticed dylan was gaining weight. Now keep in mind because of his sensory issues he only eats yogurt cereal bars and puffs. In the past 6 months dylan gain 38 pounds ( as of last week). We went to a nutritionist which to me was a total joke. I understood what she was saying with cutting back but considering what he eats there's not a lot to cut back on. So I talked to his pediatrician thinking he has a thyroid issue which wouldn't be to far fetched my in laws have problems with that. So we did your basic blood work.


     Dec14 2013


    Dec 7 2014

   Nothing could prepare me for the next month of a roller coaster ride with his lab work and trying to understand what it means.

   Keeping in mind that the only thing I was certain of was that my 4 year old is 68 lbs and that is very alarming. 

  I keep saying by the time all this is done I'm gonna be a doctor with out a degree. I'm not sure how people did it before Google ... Google is now a best friend of mine. So here are his first set  results that came back abnormal on December 1st 

WBC 14.7 - high
MCV 71- low
MCHC 30.8-low
RDW 17.5- high
Platelets 628- high
Lymphs 7.7-high
Monocytes 1.2 - high
Eos1.0- high
Cortisol 24.4-high

  There are a lot others that came back high and low. However he did not have diabetes or a thyroid issue.

  At this point this pediatrician called me and said everything came back normal but his cortisol is very high she was refering us to Hopkins. She called me on a Friday afternoon. I heard from Hopkins Monday morning, they wanted to see Dylan on Friday.  My gut feeling was ok something isn't good if they want to see him this soon.

 We met his endocrinologist Dr. Beckwith-Fickas. Can I just mention how great I think she is? She is beyond good with dylan and really explains things well. I will never forget she said to me #Do you know why you are sitting here so soon?" I said well I know looking at his labs something is clearly wrong. 

  She said there was a concern about his weight gain and his cortisol level. And she said at this point he could have Cushings Disease/Syndrome or ROHHADS. So we had to do more lab work. She reassured me saying this is not a dietary issue this is clearly a physical issue. 

  So on December 18th we did more lab work. Here are the abnormal results. Now this time we gave Dylan Dexamethasone the night before so  that way we can find out if he had cushings or not. 

MVC 68 - low
MCH 21.3- low
RDW 16.8- high
Platelets 898- alert
Cortisol .9- low
Prolactin 44.5 -high
C-reactive protein 5.1 - high

With these labs we can rule out cushings.

  The doctor called the Wednesday before Christmas letting us know his prolactin is elevated and there was a possibility he could have a pituitary tumor but we still couldn't rule out RHHOADS. 

  My heart sank. I did ask if he had a tumor could it make his platelets this elevated she did say yes. 

From there she ordered an MRI of the brain.

  I was a hot mess to say the least. I never wanted so badly for my kid to have a tumor. To me it was yes this sucks but it's fixable. And the good doctor also ordered more labs and repeat of last ones. 

  At this point in time I'd also been getting notes home from school that Dylan is randomly hitting kids. This is not my Dylan. He has been on Tenex for his ADD issues and it's been working great but now suddenly by the end of December school was saying no kids can walk past his desk without him hitting them. 

  And I know you are thinking just talk to the kid and see what he has to say as to what's wrong. If it were only that simple. Dylan is mentally only 2 and a half. And he is considered non-verbal. If it were that easy Id gladly sit and talk with him.  

  Still is seems like we've got more questions then answers....








Sunday, January 25, 2015

A First for Everything

The past few months have been a whirlwind of questions and not enough answers. Diagnosed with Autism first and now also looking at a definitive diagnosis of ROHHAD for our youngest son Dylan. Dylan is the younger brother to Jacob, who is on the Autism Spectrum.

Follow us on our journey thru diagnosis and treatment, as well as our day to day lives - struggles and triumphs - as we try to navigate uncharted waters.


For more information on Autism check out these resources...

www.autismspeaks.org

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm

To learn about ROHHAD ...

http://www.rohhadfight.org/rohhad.asp

http://rarediseases.info.nih.gov/gard/10407/rohhad/resources/1