Auggie had his 18 month wellness appointment two days before he turned 20 months old. I had postponed the appointment because it fell smack dab in the middle of flu season. I felt there was no sense taking a healthy baby to the doctor to get the flu.
Back in January, Monday, January 22 to be exact, I noticed a small rash on Auggie’s hip. I sent a picture to my mom and sister and rubbed some diaper rash cream on it thinking it was from his diaper rubbing on it. I didn’t think much about it again until Saturday when I changed his diaper right before we headed out of town to a birthday party.
The rash had more than doubled in size and looked oozy. I freaked out a little bit, again calling my mom and sister, realizing this was definitely not from his diaper. I continued to rub diaper rash cream and Aquaphor on the now fist sized rash on my baby’s hip. Later that day, we also went to Dollar General, the only store in all of Lincoln, to purchase some Hydrocortizone cream to rub on it.
The rash persisted.
A called the doctor on Monday, who told me I could send a photo of the rash in, rather than bringing in my overall healthy guy to a germ-infested doctor’s office. The doctor, or rather the doctor’s nurse, gave us a call a few hours later saying the rash appeared harmless. We would not need to be seen unless the rash scabbed over or Auggie got a fever.
Neither of which happened.
But, the rash spread.
It spread to his armpit, to his neck, and to his other hip, where it made itself a comfortable home for the next 4 weeks.
Bryson and I continued to rub a handful of ointments on it, but nothing was really making a difference.
The rash eventually started to dissipate, and in its place, grey blotches appeared.
All of my internet searching, and my sister’s bit of nursing knowledge, led me to believe this rash was Unilateral Laterothoracic Exanthem (ULE), which is rare and harmless. However, the internet did not tell me about the appearance of petechiae where the rash once laid.
Which brings us to the doctor appointment we had Tuesday, February 27.
I am very aware of what a petechiae rash looks like and what it can symbolize. Hint: Not good stuff.
I first noticed a tiny mark of petechiae in Auggie’s armpit about two weeks ago as the rash was dissipating, so I didn’t think anything of it. Auggie had been scratching a lot, and I knew that scratching was one of the main causes of petechiae in otherwise healthy kids.
I watched the mark very closely for about two days before it disappeared, and I felt instant relief.
However, when we stripped Auggie down at the doctor to weigh him, Bryson pointed out to me that the petechiae was back, in a similar location. The petechiae was much bigger than the original mark. My heart started racing, and continued to rash for 30 minutes until the doctor came into the room.
I mentioned the initial rash and now petechiae to the doctor right off the bat. He took a look, felt Auggie’s liver and spleen, stated that Auggie looked like a healthy kid and that he had very few concerns. However, he also decided that we would get a CBC with Differential just to be sure, as petechiae can be a symptom of Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), leukemia, and other blood clotting disorders.
Auggie’s cousin, my nephew, was just recently diagnosed with leukemia in December. We were all too aware of the implications of a leukemia diagnosis, but I tried to keep my cool as we left the office.
Keeping my cool is something I’ve only learned how to do for short periods of time. Meaning, by the time I got to the car, I was starting to unreel.
I, once again, called my mom in hopes she had something positive to say. She didn’t. She too began to freak out a little bit, and called my sister. My sister sent a reassuring text that there are lots of reasons for petechiae, not just leukemia, but that I should call the doctor’s office and request they order the CBC STAT.
I did, of course they told me it would cost more, and then I did a bunch of Googling, which seemed to contradict my sister.
I somehow pulled myself together enough to get to my regularly scheduled counseling session. There, I immediately told her what was running through my head, and asked if I could leave my phone on loud and place it in a location that I would get service in case the doctor’s office called back. It was after 5 pm at this point though, so my hopes for that phone call we’re slowly fading.
I’m glad I went, however, because she was able to talk me through my anxiety. We discussed the rash that proceeded this petechiae, talked about any and all other symptoms he’s displayed, and came to the conclusion that leukemia was unlikely.
I left feeling a little bit better, but definitely still concerned. I ended up picking up ice cream for Auggie and Bryson on the way home, as a reward for how great he did at the doctor. I had skipped lunch and dinner out of anxiousness, so I grabbed a scoop for myself as well. When I pulled into the garage, I took 10 minutes to myself to eat the ice cream and do as much research as I could while undisturbed.
Again, I didn’t find anything promising, leading my anxiety to slowly come back. I took the ice cream inside, gave it to Auggie and Bryson, and headed to the bathroom.
A few minutes later, Bryson and Auggie came running in with a nurse from the doctor’s office on the phone.
She had great news: All normal CBC results.
Of course, I probed more. I asked about platelet counts and WBC. All were normal. For about 3 minutes, I was relieved.
I went to Google. I Googled what the normal ranges were for a toddler’s WBC and Platelets. Platelets are typically between 150k and 400k, sometimes 450k depending on where you look. Since Auggie’s platelets were 394k, I started to worry again, thinking maybe they were too high.
I continued to Google off and on that night and throughout the morning the next day, until the nurse called to tell me that our doctor had also reviewed the results and didn’t see a need for any further testing.
While I had her on the phone, I made her compare his current numbers to those of the CBC we had done back in November. His levels were actually a little lower than they were back in November, which I took as a good thing.
Additional good news was that his iron, which was a concern in November, had evened out. The doctor told me to place him on an iron supplement, but I read how they can cause more harm than good in extreme situations, so I didn’t.
I’m glad I trusted Auggie’s body to make the corrections in his iron, rather than supplementing him. I’m hoping I can do the same as his little body makes adjustments to get rid of the petechiae.
I’m so thankful for my healthy boy. I never want to take his health for granted, but I also want to stop obsessing about it, so I can just enjoy him.