2 days before we were supposed to leave for our family trip to Utah, Aparri lays down on the couch to watch a movie and falls asleep....no big deal, every once in while this happens. Well, when she woke up at 4 o'clock in the afternoon...she started screaming that her legs hurt. Naturally, Laura thought...oh, her legs must have fallen asleep. So she started to rub them trying to help them "wake them up" Aparri just screamed more...but Laura pushed through thinking they must be "tingling" well, after several minutes of this and Aparri was still yelling that her feet were hurting, Laura told Aparri to stand up and walk, and stomp on her feet to try and get them to wake up. Nope...Aparri couldn't put any wait on her legs. So Laura tried to help her around the house by supporting her under the armpits. After 10 minutes of walking around the house and still no improvement, Laura started to wonder..... she was able to phone Clay catch him right before he flew. He suggested a bath and call the pediatrician who was in the ward and get his opinion. (Clay is the calm one....Laura was ready to head to the ER)...but Laura took Clay's advice and put her in the bath. At this point, she couldn't move her arms or legs. Laura was getting scared. What is this? When she phoned the pediatrician, he asked several questions. He suggested that we watch her through the night, give her Tylenol and motrin, and take her in to the clinic in the morning if she wasn't better. But, he ended the conversation with, "Children who normally walk and run around just fine and all of a sudden won't walk when pushed is never a good sign." Every possible worst case scenario went through Laura's mind. She was still torn on taking the advice she was given or take her straight to the ER. She decided to have Aparri get a blessing. Our two friends, Craig Cardon and Dave Hickman, came and gave her a blessing. Both these wonderful men are also in the medical field, one a dentist and the other a nurse anesthetist. After they gave her a blessing, they both repeated the pediatricians advice of motrin and Tylenol through the night and see how she was in the morning. With three doctors and a blessing...Laura decided to take the advice. As soon as the brethren left, Laura gave Aparri the medicine, turned around, and there stood Clay. He had a spare hour, so he ran home to see how everything was....Laura needed that extra strength and was so grateful to see her husband there. That night, Aparri was able to sleep through the night peacefully. By morning, she was putting weight on her feet...but just tip toeing around. After a few hours, she was running, jumping, dancing, etc. She even wanted to go to dance class, which she did without a hiccup. All day she was wonderful...no sign that anything had happened the night before. She helped Laura pack all day, because we were leaving in the morning to go on our big trip!!! Well.... at 6:30 that night....Clay at work again....she started complaining of pain again...oh great. Laura tried to give her motrin, but she wouldn't take it...HUGE FIT! So, Laura finally decided to just put her in the bath and hoped it would help. As soon as Laura took off Aparri's pants, she knew something was very wrong. There were bright red bumps all over her legs, from the buttocks down; but highly concentrated in the lower legs and feet. She still put Aparri in the tube, but immediately called the pediatrician again. He said that he would make a home visit and come by in 1/2 hour. He assessed her, and said that the rash bumps are actually hemorrhages. And her legs were restricted with the boots that she wore that day...hence the bumps were more concentrated in the area that the boots covered. He thought that she had something called HSP, but needed blood tests and other tests before any conclusions could be made. Laura told him we were supposed to be flying out the following morning.... what did he suggest? Cancel? ER? He made a few phone calls and immediately sent Laura to an urgent care office in Portales that was still open. Laura made a phone call to a sister in the Ward, and she was over at the house in minutes to watch the other kids so she could take Aparri. At the office they took a blood test, x-ray, urine sample, throat swab, examinations by 2 doctors, 2 nurses, and a phone consult to a pediatric hemotalogist in an ER at Albequeruqe, NM. Dr. Cena Compton, (the urgent care Dr. ) and the pediatric ER Dr. both agreed that Aparri has Henoch-Schonlein purpura. It is a disease that involves the kidneys, and attacks the joints and skin. The cause is unknown, but usually follows a throat infection. She is not contagious, but will be extremely tired and in pain. We were instructed to treat symptoms and watch for abdominal pain, which could be intussusception – where the intestines collapse into each other. After a long and tiring night, Laura and Aparri headed home. But, happy that they had answers. As Laura drove the 45 minutes home…she just thought of the mess that she left at home (she had just cleaned out the fridge –all the Thanksgiving left overs that needed to be thrown out were all over the counter, the house was crazy, she still hadn’t packed, they needed to leave at 7:30 in the morning to drive to Albequerque, and Clay was working until 2am….). However, when Laura arrived home, Brittany had gotten the kids to bed, washed all her dishes and cleaned up the house. What a blessing. Laura was so grateful for wonderful people in her life that are there when you need a helping hand. Thank you Brittany, I am so grateful for you. *We were still able to make the trip to Utah, we were all exhausted, but had a great time visiting family. Aparri's Little cousin, Lacey, took good care of Aparri. She would come and sit and hold Aparri's hand. Aunt Kathy also helped take care of Aparri. Kathy let Aparri play games, color and watch princesses on her tablet! Aparri was in heaven...and she didn't even have to fight with the boys to have a turn! Thank you for helping us take care of our little sick princess.
** Aparri update: it is now mid December and Aparri is doing fine. For about a week, she was extremely tired, weak, had poor circulation in her legs...had bumps on her calves, freezing feet that we had to warm up with blankets and heating pads, and she took motrin once a day in the evening to help her sleep through the night and lessen the pain. But, now the rash is completely gone, and she is carrying on like normal again. The pediatrician said that in 2/3 of cases, the child never gets it again, but in 1/3 of cases it relapses within 4 months. So, we are watching her closely and hoping she stays healthy! What a trooper. Thank you to everyone for your support and prayers. We see God's hand every day in our life.
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