- 9/2/2008 10:00:00 PMTonsils Will Finally Come OutMichael came down with yet another sore throat today. We scheduled an appointment for him at the local clinic. When we got there, we didn't get to see the doctor but we did get to see the nurse practitioner. He does not have strep throat but he definitely has something. He says it hurts to swallow and there is something growing on his tongue again. We asked for a referral to the ENT clinic at the hospital which she gladly gave.
I don't know how many times Michael has had throat related issues since we got him. There are too many to count. As I have mentioned in previous posts, Michael was treated for strep while he was in Russia. We believe that they never knocked it all out and that it lingered in his throat for months - perhaps longer. We are also suspecting that this may have a great deal to do with the pain he experiences in his joints.
We brought him to the hospital on the appointed day and saw the doctor. We explained some of the past issues Michael had with his throat and when he looked in Michael's mouth, he said that it appeared that Michael's tonsils had been through a war. I'm guessing they lost the war. There was no doubt that they needed to come out. Regardless of whether or not they were contributing to his joint pain, this had gone on long enough and they were preventing Michael from growing and putting on weight.
Michael said that while in Russia, the doctors at the hospital had him rub silver things on his neck, knees, and ankles. "What?", I asked. It appeared that the doctors attempted to treat him with either Magnetic therapy or some form of light radiation therapy. The doctor was aware of such treatment and informed us that this form of radiation therapy was previously performed in the United States until it was discovered that all of the patients had later died of some form of cancer.
The goal was to basically burn the tonsils out by x-raying them to death. We are hoping that this was not the case and that they only simply wasted their time with magnets. We will never know. The bottom line is that Russian medicine is about 50 years behind what we have.
Yesterday (Wednesday) we brought Michael and the rest of the kids to Church for their weekday evening activities. Michael received a sticker/tattoo that read, "Jesus is my friend". He quickly put it on the top of his hand. While examining Michael, the doctor noticed it and asked him, "Is Jesus your friend?". The room got a little quiet. Peggy and I watched the interaction between Michael and the doctor. "Yes", he replied. "He is my friend to.", said the doctor.
Up until this time, life at our house was stressful and had been approaching critical mass. We prayed for relief, a sign, anything. When in Russia, we had suspected that the tonsil issue was a key piece to this puzzle. When we first came home, a different doctor "seemed" to agree and sent us to a pediatric rheumatologist. But when we visited the rheumatologist, he did not think this was plausible at all and quickly dismissed it as an unrelated coincidence.
Until now, we had thought this was a dead issue and that we would be left to struggle with very expensive medication for Michael's joint pain and nothing for his behavioral issues. Hearing the doctor's words was like hearing God's voice saying, "I am here, I know what is going on, trust Me, stay the course".
We scheduled the tonsil surgery for September 18. In the mean time, Michael must stop taking his two prescriptions: Naprosyn for inflammation, and Methotrexate for arthritis. I don't mind him taking the first one, but the Methotrexate (which was prescribed in Russia) has some very serious side effects - both immediate and long term. In a nutshell, it stops cellular division which in theory will stop the spread of arthritis. Incidentally, it is also used as an anti-cancer drug as well as to cause abortions when a tubal pregnancy has occured.
He cannot take it because it will prevent his throat from healing after the surgery. So we will take him off both, supplement with Tylenol and wait for the 18th.
