I noticed some people on here have already been asking about spine issues, so I figured I’d jump in too, especially since I just picked up my imaging results from last week. The doctors scanned my cervical spine because of these dizzy spells and pain, plus some issues with my lower back—apparently, an older report mentioned early osteoarthritis.
I’m transcribing this manually, so please bear with me if there are typos since I'm definitely not a medical pro: "Vertebral structure appears normal. There is insufficient compensatory scoliosis with a kyphotic reshaping of the physiological sagittal curve, with the maximum point at the C5 level. C1 shows normal positioning. Discopathy at C4/C5 and C5/6. The dorsal intercorporeal line is intact. L5 shows normal lordosis. Discopathy at L5/S1. Early osteoarthritis of the facet joints caudal to L4."
Can anyone actually make sense of what all this jargon means? And who should I even be seeing next to try and get ahead of this arthritis—you know, to slow it down or stop it from getting worse and causing more pain?
Keith Gonzalez said:Viral infections can actually cause temporary leukopenia. You can just redo the KKS once the illness has passed.
Appreciate it. Honestly, we’ve been running ourselves ragged dealing with various hematology-oncology issues with our second kid over the last couple of years, so maybe we’re just getting a little desensitized to all this stuff. I’m betting things will settle down by flu season, but we’ll probably go back and get it retested once they're feeling better, just so we can finally get some peace of mind.
I don't have the full lab report on hand so I can't even upload it here, I just have what they told me verbally: My 10-year-old kid is dealing with an infection right now—running a crazy high fever up to 104°F, we're on day four of this thing, and honestly, besides a cough, there isn't much else going on. The leukocyte count came back slightly under 2800. Could this be caused by the flu? Do we need to go back for more testing to double-check everything, or is it totally normal to attribute something like this to the flu or some other similar infection?
Thanks! On the last few cytology smears, they actually spotted some Rouleaux formations. Is there any way that could be linked to his current situation, or should I just hope it was a fluke—like maybe the smear was just too thick or something?
Carol Lopez23, could you take a quick look at those questions I posted a few posts up? We've been dealing with this whole mess of swollen lymph nodes with my kid for two years now, and honestly, the more perspectives I can get my hands on, the easier it makes it to figure out what we should actually do about it. Thanks.
@Bryan Barnes2, can you help me out here? I need some clarification. So, I’ve got this kid—the one with the persistent issues on those last few pages, dealing with constantly swollen lymph nodes for almost two years now. Every couple of months, we’re doing a CBC, a differential, and a peripheral blood smear. But why on earth are the values on these tests so inconsistent? We’re pulling blood from the exact same kid, yet the results keep shifting. For instance, the counters always pick up atypical lymphocytes—sometimes it's 2, sometimes it's 6, sometimes it jumps to 8... Yet, on the CRP, nothing ever shows up. And when looking at the peripheral smear, those rouleau formations are always present.
On top of all that, the kid has no IgA—or if he does, it's negligible, like below 0.05. I’ve been digging through the internet, and apparently, that could be a massive red flag if he ever needs a transfusion. But get this: when he had surgery under general anesthesia, neither the anesthesiologist nor the surgeon gave a single damn about it. They didn't even mention it in the charts! Meanwhile, I’m sitting there like a total amateur, having to sign off on a whole list of risks, including bleeding, since it was a neck surgery. So, how much does this actually matter or pose a real danger? Should I be making a huge deal out of it in situations like that?
(Right now, the doctors are suspecting ALPS, or they're waiting to see if it develops into CVID because his IgG fluctuates, and his DN T-lymphocytes are right at or slightly above the upper Ref unit.)
And honestly, terms like atheist or agnostic? Most people don't even really get them, let alone feel like they fit inside those little boxes. I can't for the life of me remember if there’s actually an "other" category on the census forms.
You really have to look into how that works, because if you ask me, the Church counts everyone who’s been baptized as a member—which, let's be honest, we actually are. We're on the rolls. It’s basically up to us whether we decide to keep showing up or just quit the club 😉 . That's why there's even a formal process for withdrawing from the Church in the first place. Oh, and when it comes to the official government stats, it all just boils down to how you choose to identify yourself on the Census.
Oops, I guess I’ll just step back from this debate as a total hypocrite because I went along with all three baptisms just to keep my grandma happy, before eventually coming to my senses regarding religious upbringing and aligning everything with our family's actual values. Sometimes you're still building your backbone on the fly, right? Or maybe sometimes people and their feelings just matter more than—well—having a firm stance? Back then, I wasn't nearly as set in my ways and I didn't give the whole topic much thought, so we just did those three little ceremonies within the family circle, hung out, had a great meal, helped tidy up the church, and called it a night. We aren't married in the eyes of the church, even though our local priest—who was honestly such a sweetheart in person—kept nudging us to just get it done alongside the baptisms. I mean, he cared so much about it that he wanted to squeeze it in whenever. But anyway, getting back to the point, we could look at it as if we bought them tickets, and if they choose to go, they can participate once they actually realize what's happening. They’re turning into nature lovers now, while I’m personally thinking about basically "opting out" of the church, since I can decide for myself whether or not I want to be counted in the statistics.
Look, I’m basically just rehashing what they’re up to and where this is all heading, which has pretty much been laid out in the posts before your 😉
We’re going to see a massive surge in Christian iconography and religious studies in public schools as long as there are people interested, or even just parents who want to send their kids to class just so they don't feel like outsiders or get lost in the shuffle at school... At the end of the day, it all just goes back to showing how much interest there still is in keeping religion part of the curriculum.
Look, once you commit to an elective, you're stuck with it for the entire school year—that’s just how it works. You can't just decide halfway through the semester that you're suddenly over Spanish or French and try to drop out. Next year, though, you've got options; you can choose to skip it entirely or just take religion class instead.
I’ve got this nagging fear that if we actually go through with separating religious education from the standard curriculum, we're just opening a massive can of worms, you know? Like, once those classes are isolated, won't people immediately start demanding that everything taught in religion class perfectly aligns with specific religious doctrines, and before you even know it, they'll be pushing those same agendas into science class too? It’s like a slippery slope where one little change leads to a total overhaul of how we teach reality itself. Maybe I'm just tripping, but...
We live in a pretty small town, and honestly, I was low-key freaking out when my first grader started school, thinking she’d be totally isolated since she'd be the only one opting out of religious ed... It turns out there are actually eight kids who don't sign up for the religion classes. It's a real mix, too—some parents are even teachers within a smaller Christian denomination, some families are Muslim, and others, just like us, are simply non-religious. Even with that many kids, the school doesn't bother organizing any actual activities for them. So, they just kind of shuffle them around wherever it's convenient for the administration. Up until third grade, I was basically making a scene every chance I got, demanding they fix the schedule to accommodate the kids who aren't doing religious studies. Eventually, I realized the older kids were big enough to actually enjoy having that free period, so I stepped back from the scheduling wars and let the younger grades deal with it. Then my daughter hit that stage where she's a bit more sensitive, and I worried she'd just want to follow the crowd of her old preschool friends who all go to those classes together. That would have put me in a nightmare position, right? Like, do I stick to our family values, or do I teach her to make her own choices and live with the consequences? Thankfully, she totally surprised me by sticking to what we believe at home. And get this—an even bigger shocker: there are actually twelve kids total who skip the religious classes now! 😳 I guess we'll see what happens with the youngest one in a year or so, but based on this little sample size, it looks like the students themselves (and their parents) are secularizing on their own, without the government even needing to step in and force it.
With such a huge chunk of kids opting out, you'd think the school might consider splitting the classes into "religious" and "non-religious" tracks, but then again, I'm terrified that would just lead to creating Catholic vs. non-Catholic classrooms, and I really don't want to see religious schools sprouting up inside our public school system.
I’m seriously, truly hoping that someone actually circles back to our doctors on this topic to share some real advice or even just their two cents.
I feel like I've been asking for test interpretations regarding my kid—who's now 5.5 years old—for the last year and a half, but honestly, does it ever end? Is there even an end in sight to all these questions?
So, I've been dealing with this for over a year now—swollen lymph nodes in my neck, my abdomen, and my groin, plus these tiny little lumps you can feel under my armpits. And honestly? I haven't even had an ultrasound done on my armpits yet. Can you believe that? So, the biopsies came back inconclusive, which is just great, isn't it? Now we're left staring at results that basically say "we don't know," even though the biopsy itself is pointing toward mixed-type hyperplasia with a high proliferation index. Isn't that just the icing on the cake? You go through all that waiting, all that stress, only to have the doctors hand you a puzzle with half the pieces missing. How are you supposed to make sense of anything when the data is this messy? So, I was looking over my latest blood work, and honestly, it’s a bit of a mixed bag, isn't it? My double T lymphocytes are slightly elevated, and the white cell count shows those reactive lymphocytes sitting somewhere between 4 and 8%, though thankfully the peripheral blood smear didn't mention any atypical lymphocytes. For what it's worth, my leukocytes and erythrocytes look totally normal. Then you've got the eosinophils, which are a little high—but hey, I’m an atopic person, so I guess that explains it, right? But here’s where things get weird. My IgA levels are actually below the lower limit of the test's sensitivity. On the bright side, my hemoglobin and iron levels are fine, but the smears tell a different story. They showed those massive rouleaux formations twice—which is strange because my sedimentation rate isn't even elevated—plus there's hypochromia and now these annulocytes showing up too. It's just one of those things that makes you wonder what's actually going on in there. Growth and development are all looking normal, and honestly, the viral panel came back totally clean—no infections to speak of. Appetite is good and I’m feeling okay overall. The only weird thing is that I'm dealing with this periodic night sweating. Also, my liver is palpable and feels about 2 cm enlarged.
So, where are we at with all this? Is the kid doing okay?
Before my first kid arrived, I honestly never dealt with any of that PMS nonsense. My period would just show up out of nowhere. Like, zero warning, nothing—it would just start.