Ditto this.

I have MVP, and was diagnosed very young - 12 - by a pediatric cardiologist. I think it was unusual at that age. So, I've had it forever, and the symptoms sort of morph into everything else. I have a soup of issues. I turn bright red after exercise, once a year or so I pass out, have palpitations. I have POTS, not sure if that's related. Related to an above post - there is some evidence that Lyme Disease can cause MVP. That would make sense, as I contracted Lyme at 11.

No. Private school, then public.

26 when I became guardian of a 14 year old. But I wasn't his mom. We grieved for her together. 27 when I became a stepmom. 32 when DH and I adopted DS. 39 when youngest arrived.

I taught horseback riding, starting about 12. I just taught the littles in exchange for my own lessons. Then worked at Express, then a party store - custom designing parties. That was fun. Oh, and before and during those I was artist assistant at art shows. Various friends of my mom's would hire me. The travel was fun. :)

Love that place. Highly recommend it, too. We were there a few years ago, and everyone was in that quiet museum mode, gazing at the work. There was a painting I wanted to see, but two women were really into it - lots of words, I love anything with words worked into art - so I stood reading the artist bio. And then... I realized it was a friend. A good friend, who had just spent several nights with us, passing through. I blurted out, "oh my god, it's Bob!" Loudly. ...I was so embarrassed. Everyone whipped around and stared at me, and the two women looking at his painting asked, "do you know him?! Is he *sane*?" I could have died. It is, however, one of Bob's favorite stories. :)

Ok, so I just wanted to update ... We did go to the ER. We shared the whole convoluted saga with a doc there, who totally got our concerns, and that they were exacerbated by not having enough data. It helped to hear that she uses that same urgent care for her own kids, and knew the doc that diagnosed/treated initially. She did say, "that sounds horrible" to the way it played out (specifically to the z-pack Rx) and understood that at the appt time I didn't know what to ask. So - as of right now, he's been improving for three days. She doesn't think the z-pack would have covered bacterial meningitis, she thinks this would have played out differently had it been bacterial. She has seen viral meningitis around quite a but recently and suspects it was that, but with no LP we won't know for sure. He did have positive Brudzinski's and Kernig signs on Wed, but not now. Because he's improving, she didn't want to subject him to an LP, but we have her number and we'll take him in immediately if there are any changes for the worse. At all. And if I ever here the word "meningitis" uttered again, we are going straight to the ER. Poor kid. He woke up with pink eye this morning, as well. And as we were leaving for the ER, he stubbed his toe hard - unfamiliar hotel room - and it looked broken. Had to have an X-ray - at least we were in the right place. It's blue and there's blood, but in one piece. I'm glad we went in, we did get a bit more info, and I feel comfortable taking him back for any changes. Overall, I just wish we'd gone to the ER sooner. He's got a nasty cough, he did have a double ear infection that's still healing, his nose is pouring, throat is sore, but the headache is gone. No nausea, no joint pain. We're meeting with a new pedi Monday. I'm so exhausted I could cry.

Thanks! Off to talk this over with DH.

Yup. Florastor. And probiotics.

Thank you. So, if you were in my shoes, or if your long distance sister was, what would you suggest or tell her to do? Would a trip to an ER tomorrow, just to get another doc's input here be out of line? He has an appt scheduled with a new doc, for a well visit, on Thurs, but I don't want to wait that long if this is problematic. Nor does it seem like an appropriate topic at a new patient well visit. Oh, and yes - your feeling was right on the strep. The friend with his exact symptoms was being treated for strep despite a negative test. Another friend, whose entire family of 6 kids has been sick on/off for 2 1/2 weeks was actually diagnosed with strep today. So there are a lot of different things going on with the group of kids he knows.

When my parents moved to The Hague, my stepmom bitterly lamented the fact that she could not wear her beloved furs. (I laughed, being young and earnest, and acutely aware of the irony). They lived there 10 years, near Amsterdam. She didn't wear fur. They moved back to the states a while ago, so I'm not sure if it's still the same.

LMV, thanks. I responded to you in the post above this, but forgot to quote, so you'd see it. Oops. It's right above this one. One other thought: a friend was diagnosed today with strep. I am wondering if this might be strep, mislabeled. His rapid strep test was neg, but they didn't send off a culture. But would that cause a positive Brudzinski's sign (spelling?)? He is definitely improving, I'm not sure if I should do anything differently at this point?

He is significantly better. Still taking Motrin every 6 hours, he has a sore throat when it wears off and doesn't feel particularly well, but clearly better. He went back to the same doc today, and his WBC is down to the high end of the normal range. I was feeling fairly good about it, though now I'm concerned about partially treated meningitis. He did not have an LP. They treated based on a positive Brudzinski's sign, plus clinical symptoms. The cultures they ran at the clinic, at the time of his appt were all negative. He's on a z-pack. Today was the third dose. If the treatment is inadequate, will symptoms return the same way? What should I watch for? This isn't his regular doc, it's an urgent care, but they also do primary care there. We moved, and haven't found a new doc yet. To complicate that, his old pedi is no longer practicing, as of last month. :( I could take him to my own doc, who has seen him several times over the years, and knows him. It's a drive, but she's very good. Or I could call his allergist/immunologist who is currently running blood work to see if he has a compromised immune system.

((Hugs)) It's hard not to see family. You are totally right, though. My DS with meningitis now, had another cold, from friends, turn into pneumonia just in Feb. it always becomes a Big Thing. It's hard.

When we get sick here, it's not life as usual. So my perspective on sickness different from yours, OP. You are lucky to have a good constitution. I am immune impaired. DS is, too. DD is not but colds hit her hard. I prefer to be told if there are germs, and make the choice. We had friends over a week ago. After spending the day with them - we learned that three of the kids were at home, very sick. By Wed, my son was seriously ill. He has meningitis. I don't know if it's caused by whatever germs we were all exposed to on Sat, another girl has it too, who was there, but no one else. The family with sick kids still has sick kids but not to the same degree. I wish they'd told me that they had kids with high fevers, throwing up. Alas, it was only the healthy kids who came over, no adults, and they didn't tell us till they were leaving.

Wow! Congrats!

I'm going to cheer you on, as you call today! Or your DH. I do think you should be reimbursed the fee. Go, AnthemLights!

I'm going to share your description with him. The headache, poor guy. And his whole body hurts. He's been miserable. And his eyes - they are just glassy. Or were. I knew he was better when he asked to play minecraft. :) We actually snuck back to our house last night so he could sleep in his own bed. He desperately wanted to be home. Well, we didn't actually sneak, I told the lead contractor. We just holed up upstairs since all the work is happening downstairs. But we're back in the hotel now - the work tomorrow will be too loud.

Keep or scan them. There might be useful info that turns up later. I had undiagnosed Lyme Disease for most of my life. After I had figured it out and was in treatment, I found my old records, and there it was. My mom took me to the doc for a classic bullseye rash when I was 11. Perfect description. Of course, when I was 11, they had no idea what caused it, and Lyme hadn't even been named Lyme. So they sent me home with some cream. And the following year I missed 6 mos of school. And two years later, another 6 mos. ...and so on.

((Hugs))

You could have asked that the receiving bank pay the $20 fee, since they gave erroneous info. Why did you have to go to town twice? That stinks. I'd be miffed. They couldn't do it the second time via phone? Hmmm. I don't always say something. Not sure I would have, but maybe. We are in a hotel long-term right now, and our ins co is paying for it. We checked in, and it was the tiniest room I've ever seen in the US. Two beds, with barely room to squeeze past. I called and said, hey, we've got two kids out of school for the summer (didn't go into homeschooling, TMI) and DH works from home. This won't work. They immediately put us in a two bedroom/2 bath suite. So it worked. But I felt like I pulled the princess card, you know?

redsquirrel, I'm glad you got better. DS told me that morning that he felt like he had the Plague. :( Oh, and no - they didn't say what type of meningitis. I suspect bacterial as it's clearly responded to the antibiotics.

J-Rap, no spinal tap, they did the bloodwork and clinical tests, and decided to treat prophylactically. And he's improving, but that doesn't give me a definitive diagnosis either. They felt that it was likely meningitis, but since he was capable of sitting up and talking (to an extent), his light sensitivity was not extreme, and his neck was stiff but not rigid - they were ok with sending us home with antibiotics rather than to the hospital. They went over the signs that I should go straight to the ER several times though, and stressed the importance of a follow up for further bloodwork in 48 hours. Ah. Thank you for that. I knew it, but needed to hear it stated that way. I think they had enough info to know that there was spinal involvement, and so they treated with the most reasonable at-home first-line defense. And gave me a contingency plan in case it wasn't effective. Thank goodness it seems to be working. The parent of the kids that have all been passing something around has been very concerned that I don't have a definite answer re: the cause of his condition. And I started feeling I'd missed asking something important, or should have insisted on a spinal tap. I understand her concern. As of tonight she's got two kids with similar symptoms - though not all of the symptoms that my son had. If I could choose for her, I'd run them all to the doc. But clearly all I can do is pass on the info and hope no one gets sicker, or passes it along again when DS is over it. I have let all of DS's friends' parents know about him, so they can watch for symptoms. This has been a nightmare, really. We're in a hotel. Very sick child. My mom was having surgery at the same time this was happening. I'm ready for a break!

(Deep breath) Help me out here. DS is being treated prophylactically for meningitis. He is improving, but he was very ill yesterday. This happened suddenly, and I didn't ask all the questions I wish I'd asked. We see the doc again tomorrow, and I'd like to have my head together better. Yesterday I was shocked and worried, and frankly I expected a strep test and a z-pack. But his appt got serious fast. Yesterday, at 4 am, DS woke me. He was ill, running a high fever (by touch, we are in a hotel while work is done on our house). Headache, joint pain, body aches, sore throat, nausea. He has been spending time with a family that has been passing something around for two weeks, so I wasn't surprised. I gave him advil. By lunchtime, when we had a thermometer, his temp was spiking to 102, and his neck was stiff. I took him to an urgent care. They did bloodwork on the spot, his WBC was over 14,000, but everything else was negative. Strep, flu, mono. They ran a test for meningitis, and were sure it would come back positive (I don't know what test they ran). Clinically, they (the doc brought in another, so there were two docs working with us) had done quite a few physical tests, and felt sure there was spinal involvement. The test was negative. He did have a double ear infection, so they decided to treat that, and prophylactically for meningitis. He improved quickly yesterday, and as of today he is much better. Advil keeps the head and neck pain down, and his temp is staying in the 100 range. He looks so much better. They sent us home with specific instructions re: when to go to the er, and with an appt for a follow up in 48 hours. I'll admit it: I didn't even know meningitis could be treated at home. I really don't know much about it, and reading is making me paranoid. He's obviously improving, which makes me think whatever is going on is bacterial. One friend has the same symptoms. Hers started six hours before his, progressed in the same way, and she's being treated for strep despite a negative strep test (her doc didn't discuss meningitis) with the same antibiotics. She's improved exactly the same way DS has. It's remarkable, the similarity. I think they were exposed at the same time. Which would mean Saturday. We also had the family who's been passing germs around over that day, though three of the six kids stayed home sick. None of those kids has been treated, but I have told their mom what's going on with DS and the other friend. Is it possible that DS and his friend reacted differently to this bug than this family's kids? Do I need to worry that they'll give it to him again if they don't all go on abx?!? That seems crazy, but - meningitis. I never want to see my kid that sick again. Is there anything I should ask the doc tomorrow? This isn't our usual doc, though we've seen him before at the urgent care.

This is helpful, thanks! I usually do $5 night in hotel rooms, if we're staying a night or two. But the sheer size of this space made me think more. It's a lot of vacuuming! Yikes. I might just request cleaning every couple days. It feels like overkill to do more. It's nice though. :)