Meningitis? Bum Shoulder?

Last Sunday, Anthony spent the night with Nana and Grandpa. Since he was so eager to get rid of Mark and me on Sunday evening, I was surprised when I got a call Monday morning saying Anthony wouldn't stop crying for me. He was saying his neck hurt and he wanted Mama. Nana brought him home to us and he snuggled in. No fever, but his neck was sore and he wouldn't turn his head left or right without raising a big fuss. Soon after he got home we realized that his beloved George was still at Nana and Grandpa's. Because he seemed to be feeling better we decided to all trek back over there to "rescue" George. Plus, Parrain and Uncle Matt were still there and we wanted to pack in all the time with them that we could.

I started thinking meningitis soon after we got to Nana and Grandpa's house. I would call myself paranoid except for the fact that Grandpa was also having the same thought. A call to the on-call triage nurse at the pediatrician's confirmed that I might be thinking in the right direction. The nurse told me to keep an eye on him, and if he spiked a fever or seemed to get worse to call her immediately. Soon after that, Anthony fell asleep on the floor in the living room. It wasn't even 10 o'clock yet...and that really worried me.

Tired Anthony with George just before falling asleep:


After he woke up from his nap, Anthony seemed to return to his normal self. He played outside with Parrain and Daddy and ate lunch. He refused his afternoon nap because he'd had one that morning. He still didn't have a fever. Finally, that afternoon, we figured out what had happened (or what we THINK happened). While sleeping in his bed at Nana and Grandpa's, he must have fallen out of bed. Either he hit the ground hard or he hit his left shoulder on the nightstand next to the bed. Grandpa had found him standing next to his bed crying around 1:00 am, so that's when it must have happened (hey, Nana! NOT YOUR FAULT, OK?)

Nana took Anthony to the pediatrician on Tuesday just to have his neck/shoulders looked at. The pediatrician couldn't find anything, but told us to watch him and monitor his activity. I started to notice that he won't lift his left arm very high...but only in the mornings and late evening (when the muscles are tight or tired from being used, I guess!). So I'll take Anthony back to the pediatrician today. Especially since last night Mark noticed a bruise on Anthony's left shoulder and then felt the collar bone and felt a lump on the left side. I felt it, too, and the lump wasn't edema-feeling...it was more solid-feeling. Yeehaw.

Other Anthony news: he had his ENT follow-up surgery appointment yesterday. Tubes are in and doing their job. ENT said they look great!

I'll post later with news on the shoulder/collarbone issue!