Last week Jacob started complaining his leg hurt. Somewhere below the knee, different leg than the broken bone he'd had in the spring, but the same leg where he had the bone cyst when he was younger. We were hoping it was just mild shin splints or something that would go away, but it didn't and we decided we should probably get it looked at.
Of course, my brain decided to go off the deep end for a bit, and I spent all day Wednesday in the middle of my version of an anxiety attack--completely paralyzed at my desk going through worst-case scenarios, convinced it was bone cancer or something else terrible. This is how anxiety works, in case you were unaware. When Jacob was talking about how it felt like it was in his bone, my brain pulled in the nugget that he's had a small bump on his neck for a couple weeks. I'm pretty sure it's just a lymph node and it has gotten smaller over time, so I thought it was fine, but then those two things together got my brain going. Then I added the realization it was in his leg that's already had two abnormal growths--first the mole he had removed when he was a toddler, then the bone cyst when he was seven. I've always wondered if there's something about that leg that makes it prone to irregularities, and that little realization completely set me off. I didn't start to calm down until I had a lovely work-sponsored walking tour around Mt. Hope Cemetery later in the day, but I still wasn't particularly comfortable after that, just a bit calmer.
Luckily we got him in to the orthopedic doctor on Thursday and that led to a series of imaging. First they did an x-ray which didn't show much. Then they moved on to an ultrasound, which did show some swelling and fluid around his shin. Then there was an MRI that night because they weren't confident they could see everything around all the metal in his leg from the bone cyst reconstruction. When those results came back, at first we thought we were in the clear based on what the report said. But...it turns out that he actually had pretty bad shin splits that could have turned into a stress fracture with a little more time. Well...crap. This poor kid can't catch a break. I guess it was among the best of the scenarios--he definitely has to rest it and wear a brace for a couple weeks at least, but he can still shoot and work out his upper body, and he should be able to be fully back by Thanksgiving. That means he'll likely miss the first couple games of the high school season, but it could have been a lot worse had the stress fracture happened.
Of course, seeing as this is his second bone issue in his legs in the last six months, the doctor wanted to do some blood work on him. Of course, I made the mistake of getting my own blood work done that morning, so I spent a good chunk of Friday also being an anxious mess waiting on results. I'd see a notification in my email that one result or another was in, and instantly my heart rate would shoot up and I'd nervously go look for it. Jacob's was a bit of a mixed bag. For the most part things were normal. His hemoglobin looked better than it did when we found out he was low in May, so even though the doctor didn't check his ferritin, I think that's a decent sign that his iron has to be better. It's actually way higher than mine usually is when I give blood! However, his vitamin D was still low despite us supplementing since May. He had a couple other results that were either off or just barely normal, and while I did all sorts of inadvisable Googling, ultimately it looks like low vitamin D can impact the amount of calcium that reaches the bones. He had an abnormal result on a parathyroid hormone test, which seemed scary but ultimately confirms that the low vitamin D seems to be telling his body (and this hormone specifically) to release calcium into the bloodstream, which means it's being taken away from the bones. It's hard to say why his vitamin D is so low, but Celiac Disease can cause a lot of weird stuff. Also, vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin and he doesn't have a lot of fat for it to latch on to, I suppose. Apparently it's not uncommon for athletes to be low, and I think that's part of the reason--they're just a little too fit for it to "stick" the way it should. So, we will up his supplementation and do blood work again in a few months. Hopefully the higher levels will assist in his recovery and we'll get this under control for the future. It's still a little unnerving, to be honest, because if this doesn't help as expected we might have bigger issues on our hands, but so far the doctor seems to think this should do it.
It's sad he has to keep going through this, and frustrating because he sort of predicted it would happen given how much training has been expected of him leading up to the season. He had to do a mile run the previous weekend and I have to think that didn't help as it seemed to get noticeably worse after that. He's generally training with kids that are about 1-3 years older than him, and I think that year or more makes a big difference on what the body can withstand. By all accounts he's still growing, so his body is constantly adjusting as it is, let alone when the training adds more strain. Not only that, but he's trying to build muscle on a frame that's not particularly bulky, and I just don't think his body can do yet what his fully grown teammates' bodies can do. Give it a couple years and he'll be there, but he's still young compared those guys and a year can make a huge difference at this age. I'm hoping his coach sees now that it's not just a mental thing--he's not wimping out or trying to avoid hard work. His body literally couldn't withstand it. I don't know if it's fair to say that having an autoimmune disease automatically puts him at a disadvantage, but it's not helping and that probably should be taken into consideration. So, now we just make sure he's doing what he can until he heals, including working on his shot, so he's not as rusty or out of shape when the season gets going.
As for me, my blood work was mostly fine, although not as reassuring as I was hoping for. This was stemming from an issue I had over the summer, and my doctor figured while we were doing one test, we could throw in a few more we hadn't done in a while. I ended up waiting to get it done to get one thing out of my system that could impact the thyroid results, but then I got busy, and then I got sick, and then we were on vacation and I didn't feel 100% after that so I kept putting it off. But on Friday I was feeling a bit better from whatever cold I had been fighting off, and my flu shot got done so fast that I decided it was time. My thyroid level was a bit low but within range. My mom is on medicine and it turns out that was a menopause thing so I wouldn't be surprised if mine is starting to tank as I get closer to that stage of life. Everything else looked fine except that the Celiac test looked extra low. Normally that would be a good thing, but the previous times I had it done, my levels were between 2-4, which was still solidly negative. This time they were pretty much undetectable, which seems odd since I'd only really expect them to stay the same or rise, as my diet hasn't changed. Most of my Googling only found that they would be undetectable if I was a Celiac now eating a gluten-free diet, which is not the case. The test can be rendered invalid, however, if this one antibody level is too low. Mine was just below normal last time, so I suspect it could be lower now. That doesn't mean I have Celiac, it just means that I might have an IgA deficiency, which happens with people with allergies and respiratory issues, which is definitely me. That might explain why I have had a lot of cold symptoms lately, too. For some reason they didn't do the IgA level this time, so I suspect I should have that tested and get the other type of Celiac test that low-IgA people get. I haven't had serious issues but my digestive system can be a little funky at times so it probably wouldn't hurt to double check. I somewhat suspect I have a recurrence of the small intestine bacterial overgrowth I had a number of years ago, and/or I could have leaky gut, which might explain my tennis elbow issue over the last 11 months or so, not to mention some of my deficiencies in iron, ferritin, and vitamin D. So, more work to do there, and I don't relish that this might be a bit of a wild goose chase that could involve some diet restrictions if things don't go well. With already not having my smell--and therefore taste--plus the dietary restrictions for our family meals, the thought of restricting my food for non-family meals as well is exhausting and depressing. Let's hope that's not the case. On top of that, I've been dealing with some head pressure and jaw pain, which I thought might have to do with the arthritis I have in my jaw (that I only knew I had from a sinus CT scan years ago, though I've dealt with a periodic clicking jaw since I was a teenager). The other night I woke up from a dream and realized I was clenching my jaw so hard. I've never noticed that or suspected I grind my teeth, but that was crazy and explained the tooth pain and headaches. I might just deal until my next dental appointment in a few months. I don't want to sleep with a mouthpiece, though! Overall, I feel like I haven't been the same since COVID (although I think either Disney adrenaline got me through that first week). It's nothing major that I can pinpoint--just generally not feeling great. Being extra tired every evening is really the one thing that I can firmly say has been happening and is decidedly different. Unless I have the energy to work out, I am falling asleep in my chair by 9pm. It's pretty frustrating. The rest is sort of changeable by the day or hard to describe or pin down. But if I get something of a bit more substance that doesn't make me sound purely like a hypochondriac, I will definitely mention it to my doctor.
It's just so frustrating to deal with medical stuff on top of normal life stuff. I'm a worrier and clearly my brain is prone to going to weird places. And then when you hear stories of people who had seemingly innocent issues turn into something major, it just validates those fears even more. My boss' niece who's my age just got a terminal diagnosis with a lung issue she's been battling since she got COVID that made her autoimmune problems flare up and attack her lungs. Stuff like that happens and you never know when it's your turn. We had our seven-year-old have major bone surgery, for goodness sake. My dad had quadruple bypass without ever having a heart attack. I've had numerous friends have kids with cancer. Sure, most things turn out to be nothing--how many times have I panicked about myself or my kids and it's ended up fine--but you just never know. Sometimes I think half of my problems are caused purely by the stress of assuming something is wrong. I do enough worrying to change my digestive system, and wouldn't be surprised if headaches and other things could come from that stress as well. I'm just trying to find a balance between being aware and letting it take over. I'm glad Jacob's stuff seems to be okay (long-term) this time, and we'll see what happens with mine, but this is why we try to live life to the fullest, right? Speaking of which, Carter and I finally got out on another adventure this weekend. More to come on that...
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