The Beginning

First let me say Welcome! I hope that this blog will not only inform you but allow you to come on the journey with us.

Now onto to how we got here.

As you all know, Jackson is a 7 yr old who is full of life and love. He is vibrant and smart. He is a little brother to his big brother Shawn. =) He is for all intensive purposes a momma's boy and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Our journey started on November 15th of 2009. It all started with a swollen left big toe and a swollen right pinky with a red line on the inside that looked like Jackson was bit by something. Patrick called his brother and ask him for some advice. [Back story real quick, my brother in law is a firefighter out of Osceola County, by calling him we knew he could bounce thoughts off co-workers] All thought that maybe Jackson was bit by something, although we couldn't locate a bit mark ANY where on his body. It was suggested that we give him some benadryl and keep an eye on him so we did just that. After several hours we checked his temp and it was about 100 degrees so not really a fever. We gave him some Motrin and waited it out some more.

We finally decided to take Jackson to South Seminole Hospital ER. We checked in and waited to be taken back. Once in a room, we were met with the PA who asked questions and we answered as best we could. You see, nothing else was wrong with Jackson. Nothing at all. Other than a swollen toe and pinky he was fine. The PA decided to get some x-rays and go from there. About an hour later we were again visited by the PA who told us that the x-rays didn't show anything abnormal and that she was leaning towards an infection of some kind. That conclusion was came to because on the inside of Jackson's pinky it was red, like he was bit by something.

A doctor came in shortly there after and informed us that we were going to be given a prescription for an antibiotic that Jackson was to take for 5 days, 4 times a day. Okie dokie! So that's what we did. For 5 days Jackson took that antibiotic 4 times a day, 6am, noon, 6pm, and midnight. All the while, 2 more fingers [his thumb and the finger next to his pinky] on his right hand were swelling. My thought? This is going to get worse before it gets better. Little did I know what was happening.

The weekend before Thanksgiving, the boys went on a camping trip. It is to my understanding that Jackson's fingers and toe started to hurt then. He stuck it out though and had fun. Patrick gave him Motrin when needed and that was that, or so we thought.

The boys were out of school for a week for Thanksgiving so the first day of their break, I decided to clean their rooms with their help. Jackson's room was first, he helped as best he could as he was still complaining of pain in his fingers and toe. We got it done and he lounged on the ouch for the rest of the day. And by lounge I mean lay there not doing anything but watching cartoons. He never asked to play the Wii, he never asked to go on Pat's computer, he didn't do anything but lay there. Some thing wasn't right and I felt it deep in my soul.

Patrick went to school, he had a final to take, and the boys and I headed back to South Seminole ER. It was about 5:30 when we left and by 6pm we were back in a room. As fate would have it, the same PA we saw the previous week entered the room. She remembered us, and then the questions started again. I answered the best I could and she left with some ideas of what could be going on. Next we were visited by the Doctor and he had all the details about Jackson, from the previous week to that point. He checked out his fingers and toe and said that infection was no longer the way they were going. He explained that he would like to take blood and have some tests done because he was thinking some thing along the lines of arthritis. Needless to say I was shocked but agreed to the blood testing.

SEVERAL hours later we had results. Doctor's suspicion proved to be right on. He gave us two choices, he could give us referrals to several different rheumatologists or Jackson could be transferred to Arnold Palmer where they could do further testing and get a better understanding of what was going on. Patrick and I looked at each other and that was all it took, a look, to make the decision to have him transferred.

Shawn was taken to a friend's house for the night [no school that week] and Patrick's parents were called. Some time after midnight, transport came and away we went on our adventure to Arnold Palmer, not. Sitting in the back of an ambulance is no fun when you get motion sickness, haha, but Jackson asked me to ride with him so ride with him is what I did. In the early morning hours of Tuesday morning we arrived at Arnold Palmer and were taken to our room. The doctors on call that shift came in, did a look over with Jackson, and explained that things would start happening around 8am.

After getting about 3 hours of very uncomfortable sleep, I woke up and the day nurse and tech came in to introduce themselves. One doctor came in, then another, and then a team of doctors came in all asking the same things. We answered everything to the best of our availability and we're told they were going to get in contact with a pediatric rheumatologist out of Gainesville. That afternoon the nurses/tech came in, took some blood, and then we waited some more. There was a lot of waiting that went on.

Jackson was in good spirits the whole time, playing with the bed, and daydreaming about the food he would order for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He was given a box of Legos to play with and he had a great view of the Christmas tree at Winnie Palmer. Tuesday was a day of learning for all of us.

Wed. morning came and Patrick went to work. Shawn at this point was now at my brother and sister in law's. At 8am, doctor number one from Tuesday came in and explained all the test results to me. All I heard was juvenile arhritis. I was told we would see the ped. rheumatologist from Gainesville and given prescriptions for Naproxen and liquid Zantac.

So that's our story. Jackson takes the Naproxen twice a day and I opted to not get the script. for the liquid Zantac, it was $300! Instead he takes half a generic Zantac in the am and a full one in the pm. We finally got the insurance issues figured out today and Jackson will be seeing the ped. rheumatologist next week.