As part of this condition, my little son, my little five year old skinny boy, put on a quarter of his weight in fluid over the space of a few days in January. A quarter.
This is how his feet normally look:
This was him the day before he was admitted to hospital when I knew he had edema but the doctor couldn’t see it. He convinced me at first that it was post-viral joint swelling. Should have trusted my instincts.
That’s like me putting on around 17kg. In around two weeks. And not because I’ve been at the Krispy Kremes.
Oh poor thing. Edema’s horrible. I had it really bad last pregnancy at the same time as my dad had it due to the medication he was taking for his hepatitis. When it’s really bad, it hurts a lot too.
Has it gone away now, or it something he’ll have to deal with indefinitely?
@ Tasha – it comes and goes depending on how well he is. And you’re right, it can be really painful and make walking hard. The skin can even split from the pressure, although fortunately it’s not come to that.
Oh you poor, poor thing. How scary for you as a parent. When you look at the photos you can’t possibly imagine how the doctor couldn’t have seen it was serious. A Mother knows! Big big hugs to you x
I’m sure you’ve looked into this already, but there are so many alternative therapies about which might help alleviate some of his symptoms. I’m a big fan of homeopathy. Learning massage, too, might help you to reduce his swelling when it happens again.
@MTJAM – we felt so powerless when he was diagnosed but the three things we felt we could do were read everything about his condition, join a relevant forum and find alternative therapies. Foe edema, massage, immersion in water and lemon juice as a diuretic help (in my opinion). Haven’t found a homeopathic remedy yet but I’m still looking.
I’ve been stressing out these past two weeks over a doctor’s not terribly serious misdiagnosis of what turned out to be a very, very minor health problem suffered by my 4 year old. This rather puts it all into perspective. I’ve only just caught up with your blog. I am so sorry. Wishing you all the strength you need and all the peace you can get. We’ll be praying for your family and for William especially.
Michelle