When should I start to worry?
This is The Boy's ppd skin test to check for tuberculosis. To me it looks just like a mosquito bite. There is a slight bump but nothing resembling a nodule like in the pictures I googled online.
I took him to the clinic last night. The older nurse who looked at it immediately declared it positive and went to get a doctor. Not our doctor who wasn't in, which annoyed me. Why did they schedule the appointment when she wouldn't be there? She is the only doctor at the clinic with any experience with the BCG vaccination and third world countries.
The doctor examined it for a few minutes and declared it negative. He said the same thing I did - there is a bump but there is no distinct nodule. The redness means nothing at all - it's the size of the bump that matters.
The conclusion was to bring him back this morning to let our doctor examine it.
I could tell from her expression that it wasn't what I wanted to hear. A different nurse got calipers and measured the slight bump to be 10mm and the entire mark to be 20mm. In a child, 10mm or bigger is when you pursue a chest xray.
"I am going to confer with the other doctors and I'll give you a call. We will probably order a chest xray, but he is a healthy, strong little guy. I don't want you to worry."
Really? Can you tell me exactly how to not worry?
8 Comments:
At 10:15 AM, Cricket said…
Because I'm so fair/reactive/allergic, I always get a red splotch. Once I remember a nurse closing her eyes and running her finger over my skin, so she'd have an unbiased opinion. It's not the color, it's the bump. Make sure they're not fooled by the skin.
That said, for some strange reason when my sister was in HS in our little Sourthern bumpkin town, she came up positive and had to take the antibiotics for a year. It wasn't so bad. Never learned where she'd gotten it.
At 10:23 AM, Jessie said…
What a stressful thing to have to deal with today. I'm sorry! I doubt that there is anything wrong with The Boy but I understand your worrying. That's what momma's do. Doctors drive me crazy. Don't they know that we all have our dr. google degrees? I suggest you take it one step at a time. Baby steps...
At 11:03 AM, DD said…
Even if a chest xray is indicated, in almost all cases that we see, it's been clear. It's easy enough for me to sit over here and tell you not to worry, but really, since the skin test is iffy, I would bet my house that the xray would be clear.
At 3:07 PM, Anonymous said…
torn between wating to tell you NOTNOTNOT to fret and (because I can not help but think what id wanna hear) NOT wanting to say that because I wouldnt want you to think Im belitting your frettage.
so Im sending you good (BUT UNNECESSARY :)) thoughts.
Carla
At 4:15 PM, Suz said…
Oh man. The doctor's right..you probably shouldn't worry. But then again, how do you NOT? Hoping that all will be okay.
At 6:02 PM, Alleen said…
I hope it all turns out ok. If the chest X-ray is clear, will they say he's ok and not need the treatment?
At 5:39 AM, Anonymous said…
checking back in...
Carla
At 3:44 PM, amandasblognews44 said…
hmmm weird... If it's itchy and irritable you should put some mitigator sting and bite treatment on it... Works real well. I order it off www. mitigator.net
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