The last few days have been a little chaotic. It started when Hattie got sick and developed a bump on her head on Christmas Eve. It took quite a while for her to remember that she slipped getting out of the tub...she still insists she didn't bump her head. We'll never know for sure. We spent a while at the ER, they decided she wasn't concussed and sent us home. Several hours later after lots of belly pain and an elbow that was getting bigger and bigger, and hot to the touch I started keeping a closer eye on her. And then there was the weird rash on her foot. After consulting with a doctor via the HSHS app we were sent BACK to the ER, where she was diagnosed with Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HSP), an autoimmune disease, that is incredibly rare. Her body is attacking itself. Small blood vessels are busting under her skin...shes covered, but even more difficult is the swelling. She was very upset thinking she wouldn't be home for Christmas. We were thankful to be home in bed around 2am.
We saw the pediatrician yesterday, who was very helpful, and we met with Brustein today. At this point its hard to tell if her elbow is swollen because of the HSP or if she does in fact have a fracture from her fall. She's in a splint for at least two weeks and will do new Xrays then. Her ankles and knees are enormous. Just a small amount of walking today made her knees larger than softballs. She looks like an arthritic 80 year old trying to walk. We don't know how long this will last. It can be days, weeks, even a few months. Pray with us that it is less not more. We'll follow up with regular BP and urine screens for the next few weeks...or more. Silver lining is that she isn't in pain...she's quite uncomfortable, but managing okay. She's 7...so getting her to elevate her ankles and rest is tricky. While this isn't how we wanted to spend Christmas break, at least she isn't missing school and hopefully has plenty of time to recover, We'll just be here taking it one day at a time, and counting our blessings because this too shall pass. And she is a pretty cute little patient!
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