Pain in the Neck

First, I want to thank everyone who tweeted, facebooked and texted me support and positive thoughts yesterday. It really meant a lot to know that other people out there are thinking about us and wishing us well. I know I was pretty vague about what is going on with the tween so I thought I'd fill y'all in.

He was in DC on vacation with his grandparents over Thanksgiving (more on that later) when he first noticed the pain. There was no catalyst to it, no big neck jolts or anything. He woke up, ate breakfast and then they started going about their day as tourists. He said he first remembers it after breakfast, it definitely wasn't there when he woke up that morning. He didn't say anything about it at first because he just thought it would go away. He mentioned it to me in passing on the phone, but didn't make a big deal out of it so we let it go.

When he got home (last Wednesday) he started complaining about it a little more frequently. He walked around in the morning and in the evening with his hand around the back of his neck, flinching every once in a while, but otherwise in good spirits. But by Thursday evening we decided we needed to have him looked at, to figure out what was going on and how we can make it go away.

Friday we went to his pediatrician. He did a bunch of neurological tests (all normal), narrowed down the fact that it was skeletal rather than muscular (which is even more puzzling), prescribed a week of rest, ibuprofen and ice, then sent us to get some xrays.

The ibuprofen and ice did nothing for him. The xrays all showed everything as normal. The whole "rest" thing didn't go over well.

Saturday afternoon the pain started spreading. Where it was first located on just one particular vertebra, it had now moved up and down  his spine by one or two vertebrae each way. This concerned me.

Monday morning he woke up in tears. So I called the pediatrician and in we went. Same neuro tests (all normal), same stumped doctor. He gave us an urgent referral to an orthopedist at Children's and they managed to get us in that afternoon.

After chatting with the nurse, resident intern, and the orthopedist, it was decided that the best course of action was to order a bone scan for him. We have an appointment this Friday that will take us most of the day, followed by an appointment with the orthopedist to see how to proceed.

If we don't get answers from the bone scan, the next step will probably be an MRI and/or a CT. The orthopedist also suggested scheduling some physical therapy for him to help relieve the pain. And though I want his pain to be relieved, I also want to know what the heck is causing the pain.

And  here we are. Waiting. He's still hurting, but its a tolerable pain and he makes it through the day just fine. Mornings and nights are the harder part.

Please keep those positive messages coming in. We're trying to keep upbeat, trying to take the whole "its probably nothing serious" approach. But distractions and hugs, for all of us, are always accepted.