Leg Pain

For the past month or so, Caleb has been telling us that his legs and feet hurt. He wakes up at night screaming and crying. He complains about it randomly during the day. Originally, I wrote it off as growing pains. I remember having those and crying until I finally fell asleep. For some reason, I usually had them at Memmie and Poppie's house. Strange - now that I think about it. However, I remember having them when I was 7 or 8, not 2. I did a little research online to try to get a handle on it. I had never heard of a preschooler having growing pains. What I found on the internet said that it was rare for kids to have them before the age of 3. I found lots of information about juvenile arthritis. I also found some articles about more serious things like leukemia and other cancers causing leg pain in young children. With that seed planted in the back of my mind, I decided to monitor the situation closely.

I e-mailed Rudy's mom, Jan, and asked her for some background information. When Rudy was 3 1/2, he contracted a virus that caused severe leg pain. He ended up being hospitalized for it. She said that over the course of a few hours, he went from being fine to being in so much pain he couldn't walk. He still has pain in his knees sometimes and gets leg cramps more often than one would expect. She also reminded me that Rudy's paternal aunt had lupus. In addition to that, arthritis and other similar conditions are prevalent in my family.

Rudy and I talked all of this over and decided that we would take Caleb in to see the pediatrician. We were nervous about it. Then the ice storm hit and I put off making the appointment. Caleb complained about his legs again on Monday, so I called the doctor's office on Tuesday. I was surprised to get an appointment for Tuesday afternoon. Rudy met Caleb and I there and the doctor listened to our concerns. She then examined Caleb and watched him walk. (On a side-note, she seemed impressed that he was potty trained.) She said that she felt like it was probably growing pains, but that she wanted to run some tests to rule-out anything else. She sent us to the lab for bloodwork. Caleb sat in my lap and Rudy held his hand while the lab tech drew blood. I haven't heard Caleb cry that hard in a long time. It absolutely broke my heart.

Once we were finished, Rudy went to get Chick-Fil-A and I brought Caleb home. Caleb devoured his entire meal!

Shortly after we finished dinner, the phone rang. When I saw that it was the doctor's office calling, my heart was in my throat. Then when I realized that it was the actual doctor calling instead of a nurse, my heart stopped. Finally, she said that she had the test results back and everything was NORMAL. She said that his white cell count was normal and a few of the other tests were even better than normal. All I could think was, "PRAISE THE LORD!" It was all I could do to keep from holding and hugging Caleb all night long. I probably would have if he would've let me. Rudy and I breathed a collective sigh of relief when we fell into the bed last night.

God has blessed us so much. Fearful times make us realize the blessings that are too abundant to count. They put the minor difficulties in perspective. They make us appreciate each and every day. For that, we are grateful to our Father, our Protector, our Teacher, our Savior, our God.