About two weeks after we submitted our initial application (not the official application that was much lengthier and due in 3 months), we began to notice that our oldest son, Noah- 6 years old, had some spots on his legs, back and face that weren't going away. We initially thought they were chicken pox, but after they didn't get worse or better, we took him in to get checked out at the Dr. They thought it was MRSA. Which led to them putting him on 2 rounds of heavy antibiotics. Neither of them cleared up these mystery spots. In fact, one of the spots now was the size of a quarter on the back of his leg.
After about two weeks, the pediatrician referred us to a dermatologist to have them look at the spots. They were just as baffled and took a biopsy, hoping for some sort of answer. On January 22nd, they called us with the results as being either a spider bite or a rare disease called Lymphomatoid Papulosis (LyP). We could pretty much rule out the spider bite and began researching this LyP disease online. Our pediatrician and dermatologist were not familiar with it, so they referred us down to Cincinnati Children's Hospital. The online research that we could find, was minimal, but basically said 1 in a million people have this disease and 10 % of those people end up having the more serious type of Lymphoma. This was not what we were expecting at all! Up until this point Noah had been a very healthy boy. With all the uncertainty, we decided to hold off on any of the adoption process until we knew more on the prognosis of Noah. We clung tight to the promises of our Savior and leaned on our church family, immediate family, and friends to help us through this uncertain time. There are so many beautiful stories of how God reminded us that He was with us, carrying us through the mysteries that were in front of us. We'd love to share them, just message us for more information. :)
On Feb. 3, 2015, we drove down to Cincy to meet with a Dr. who has had experience with this disease before and wanted to check out Noah. She was very informative and told us that the prognosis of this disease is very different if the person is a child when it is diagnosed, than if it comes on as an adult. In an adult, the person will have these bumps show up periodically and then self heal as new ones show up and this cycle will continue for the rest of their lives, possibly developing into Lymphoma. However, in children the kids tend to get spots off and on for anywhere between a few months to a couple years, but generally will not develop spots past childhood. They will always have LyP, and possibly will be at a greater risk of developing Lymphoma later in life, than a child without LyP, but overall, Noah's prognosis looks pretty good. She gave us the OK to move forward with the adoption process. Each morning and night, we apply a cream to the spots to help them heal quicker and that is it. We have been back for a followup checkup since the initial visit, and will go back again in June for another checkup. They will continue to monitor his spots until he is free of them for at least a year. Wow, Praise the Lord! Not only for carrying us through this roller-coaster of a month, but also for allowing us to continue on in pursuing our child who will come from across the ocean. All Glory to Him!
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| Ben & Noah in Dr. Office |
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| Brandee & Noah outside Children's Hospital in Cincinnati |
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