Our Little Old Man

For over two months now, Daniel has been complaining of back pain. We didn't think much of it at first. After all, he is a busy, reckless little boy who is always hurting himself in some way or another! But as the weeks went on, we started to get a bit concerned. We thought that maybe he was constantly banging his back on the little riding toy that he rides ALL over the house, so we took it away for a couple of weeks. He kept complaining about his back hurting though, and always in the same place (his lower middle back).

So a couple of weeks ago we took him to the pediatrician to get him checked out. She referred us to an orthopedist that we were able to go to that same day (gotta love the way the medical world works in India!). He took a couple of x-rays of Daniel's back and found everything to be normal. He put Daniel on a calcium supplement, and told us to wait a week and see if the pain went away.

This past Sunday was just over a week later. That night he was up several times during the night needing to use the bathroom. The next day he had to go constantly and had several accidents. That made us suspicious because he rarely has accidents these days. After a phone call to the pediatrician, Daniel had both a urine test and a urine culture Monday evening. We got the urine test back that same day, and found that he had a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI).

Monday was also Daniel's follow-up visit with the orthopedist, who said Daniel should get an MRI.

Monday night Daniel was up most of the night with the UTI, so we all began Tuesday feeling like zombies. We had originally planned for Tuesday to be dedicated to grading and packing so we could move on Wednesday, but Tuesday ended up being a day of one doctor's visit after another!

Tuesday morning we saw the pediatrician about Daniel's UTI. She put him on some antibiotics, and referred him to a urologist. ALL of these doctors and tests were in completely different locations.

The MRI was scheduled for early afternoon, so we had lunch with our co-workers and left Rebekah with them while we went for the MRI. Since Daniel is only two and wouldn't be able to lie still for half an hour, they gave him something to put him to sleep. It was already his nap time, so it didn't take too long for him to fall asleep on Nathan. Since we had Hannah with us, I had to stay in the waiting room with her while Nathan took Daniel in for the MRI. Well whatever they gave him to help him sleep must not have been very strong because as soon as they turned the MRI machine on, Daniel woke up and started crying. We had assumed that he would be asleep for the entire process and would never even know what had happened, so we figured that explaining things to him ahead of time would just scare him needlessly. Turns out that we should have prepared him, because he was awake (and scared) for the entire MRI. Nathan was with him and sang to him all through the MRI. Poor little guy. He was really scared, but he was very brave all considered. And thankfully the MRI showed up completely normal.

Shortly after the MRI, we had the Urologist appointment. He didn't think there was anything to worry about unless he gets another infection sometime in the near future, and to just let the antibiotic do it's work. He also didn't think that the UTI was related to the back pain.

So in less than 24 hours, we went to 5 different medical locations, and Daniel was seen by 4 different doctors!

As of today (Wednesday the 20th), Daniel is beginning to get over his infection, but we still don't know why he's been having the back pain. However, the tests that have been done so far have ruled out most of the more serious causes. We are very thankful for that!

We are also very thankful that we have been able to get all of this done in India where medical care is MUCH less expensive than it is in the States. In the last two weeks, Daniel has had:

2 Pediatrician appointments
2 Orthopedic doctor visits
Urine test
Urine culture
2 x-rays
MRI
Urologist visit

ALL of that has cost....get ready for it....


Right about $200!

We are still praying that we will be able to discover the cause of Daniel's back pain, but we are thankful that it does not seem to be anything serious. It has certainly made for quite the stressful adventure in the midst of finishing up the seminary semester and preparing to move! Even so, we are thankful for God's grace and peace in our lives, even in the midst of life's chaos.