February 1, 2008

• Chrolley Horse

  Brandon told us around 8 pm on Wednesday night that "his big bone in his leg" hurt.  We didn't think too much of it since he's always telling us things like "my blood hurts" or that the bone in his stomach hurts.  He was walking fine, we just thought it was another of those "things".

  Until he came into our bedroom at 2 am crying and screaming that he couldn't walk - and he had just hobbled in.

  He's not much for crying and screaming unless he's truly hurt, so it was enough to make us worry.  At that time in the morning, we were just thinking to get him comfortable, and get him back to sleep.  Once he got snuggled in next to me and his baby sister and daddy, things were mostly okay.

  But he couldn't get out of bed the next morning by himself.  Craig had to carry him to go to the bathroom, he couldn't even get himself in a sitting position, and small amounts of wiggling hurt him.  We took him to the pediatrician, where he was examined.  Prior to that, we'd mentioned a charley horse, and he told us he remembered riding a chrolley horse through his dreams in his blood, and it was wild and crazy, and it hurt his leg.  Funny stuff, really.  It turns out that the soreness was in his hip, and not lower leg, like he thought.  We don't think it's appendicitis, as there's no fever or vomiting or anything else right now, and after a few doses of ibuprofen, he's been able to walk a little better.

  However, I must admit that I'm still worried.  My cousin on my mother's side had Duchenne's Dystrophy, one of the most common forms of muscular dystrophy.  It's passed on by the mother, and, even though my mother apparently had tests 30 years ago that showed her not to be a carrier, meaning that I shouldn't be a carrier, either, the thought is still at the back of my mind.  My mom took care of my cousin a lot when he was Bran's age, and saw the random muscle and joint pains and the slow degeneration.  Every one of us cringes at every fall, trip, or general clutziness, because, what if, just maybe...?  I actually opted not to have him tested today for a few reasons:  1) he got his first bloodwork done yesterday, and while he was a big, brave boy, I'm not doing that again to him today if I can help it.  I went through loads of that when I was a teenager, and it was no fun for me then.  How would it be more fun for a 4 year old?!  2)  If the tests came back positive, what could I do?  There's no cure for MD, and treatment may or may not be helpful.  I am not prepared mentally for the whole thing, though is anyone ever prepared?  I'll always worry about this until I know for sure, but I'm just going to assume his injury is from jumping and dancing around like a normal 4 year old, instead of it being something so drastically life-changing. 

  But he's upstairs right now, resting in our bed and watching countless episodes of "The Backyardigans" on the DVR. 

  PS:  I wish I knew how to record them from my DVR onto DVD!!!

  • 2:48 pm
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