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Turns out I have a loyal following of worriers who read my blog! 🙂

Thank you for making me feel like I'm not the only one.

And to relieve you of having to worry about us any further, here's the story:

We have been concerned about Caleb for quite some time.  He's often lethargic, pale and fatigued.  He has headaches, poor appetite, and gets sick a LOT.  His tonsils are HUGE all the time. 

Last Wednesday he started running a fever.  Thursday fine.  Friday fever.  Weekend fine.  Tuesday fever.  And then Wednesday he woke up with a VERY swollen lymph node on the left of his neck…it was causing his face to swell.  And I'll be honest we were alarmed.  It was almost the size of his fist.

So we took him to the pediatrician.  She immediately thought it was strep that had spread to his lymph gland.  So she ran that test – not strep.  So it was one of three things: 1) an infection of his lymph gland, called adenitis 2) mono or 3) lymphoma.  So she sent us for lab work, where he almost passed out, but was very brave and mature about having 3 large vials of blood taken.  (Reward: Frosty)  She also put him on antibiotics.

So for the next 24 hours I did some reading (and some worrying, as I mentioned).  Symptoms for lymphoma and mono are VERY similar.  Fatigue, fever, swollen gland (or mass), loss of appetite.  Caleb, Caleb, Caleb.  Another one listed for lymphoma is night sweats, which Caleb is notorious for.  And even Wed night when I went to check on him, his pillow and bed were drenched with sweat, even though he had no covers and no shirt on.

So I tried VERY hard not to worry about something that I had no control over.  And I tried to "not go there" quite yet.  But I'm a planner and a researcher by nature, and I did both.

Thankfully we got a call from the pedi's office on Thurs morning saying that his white blood cells looked normal (CBC and metabolic panel), which told us that the lymphoma was ruled out.  Relief. 🙂

On Thursday we also saw an ENT who agrees that his tonsils need to come out, and confirmed that the swollen lymph was a secondary infection draining from the tonsils.

This morning the doctor called and said that the EBV antibody test for mono was positive.  But showed that the infection has been in his body for a while and is hopefully on it's way out.  Which means that he has had mono without us knowing it.  We don't know how long he's had it, or when he'll be "better".  There's nothing we can do for it (other than rest).  It sure explains a lot of symptoms!  And it makes me feel justified for all of the months that we've wondered and worried about his health.

So – we are feeling much better about things today.  We're thankful that it's nothing more than mono.  And thankful for all of you who have worried along with us.