hsp

HSP or Henoch Schonlein Pupura is the word of the day.  Okay, words of the day.  It has come into our sweet little Carlie, and here she is, two days after diagnosis.

This started Wednesday afternoon, around 4:15 she began to cry, said her feet hurt, would not walk, and continued to cry for an hour.  I was teaching, so I took her to the couch, and talked to her every few minutes, but she would not calm down.  Her left foot began to swell and bruises began to form so fast I could almost watch them form.  But she was just lying there!  Then I noticed bright red spots forming on her legs, again so fast we could almost watch them appear.

Adam came home, and we decided to take her in.  It was 5:05, so Urgent Care would have to do.  We tried to get Carlie to walk, and she could not walk.  Standing her up her legs would crumble, and it looked like she was unable to pick up her feet.  We took her in, where they ordered an x-ray because of the swelling and bruising.  No broken bones, so they gave her benadryl in case it was an allergic reaction of some sort.  We waited, and tried to get her to walk again.  Watching her struggle to walk was most frightening, it looked like someone with Cerebral Palsy.  The Dr. told us it was definitely not Hand Foot and Mouth, or Chicken Pox, and she needed to be taken straight to the Children's Hospital.

We went as a family, in two cars so Adam could feed the other kids who were starving, as it was now close to 7 pm.  At the hospital they checked us in, and quickly got us into a room, past triage, which made me panic a little more.  After talking with two nurses, the third nurse told us about HSP.  It is a disease that causes blood vessels to become inflamed and leak.  In Carlie's case it also caused swelling of her feet, and the bruises were caused from the blood vessel inflammation.  The hospital prepared us for the worst, explaining that she may not be able to walk for two weeks, her pain would get worse before it got better, and the spots would continue and cover most of her body.  Adam's principal, Alan Clanton, joined Adam in giving her a priesthood blessing.

We left the hospital with three prescriptions, one steroid and two pain killers.  That night I tried to wrap my mind around the next two weeks with a very active three year old who can't walk.  I felt like I only half slept, because I knew if she needed to use the restroom, she would need to be carried.  I heard her in the bathroom about 3am and she had walked on her own, and said that her feet didn't hurt anymore.  In the morning, she was again able to walk, she had about half as many spots, and the spots she had were light pink, like the ones in the pictures above.

We feel like we witnessed a miracle.  She was not supposed to be better so quickly, but she is.  Later yesterday she had some more foot pain, but seemed to be choosing not to walk as opposed to being physically unable.  Her Dr told us that her symptoms would come and go, and that we needed to keep her calm and comfortable.  Also, not to push her if she felt unable to do something.  She will need monthly blood pressure and urine tests to check for kidney damage, but there is only a 1% chance of that happening.

We are so grateful for the kindness of others, the prayers, visits, gifts, messages and love that Carlie has received have reminded us of how much we have to be grateful for.  Mostly we are grateful for miracles.