What could be going on??

[jeniryan]

On Tuesday, 1/12/10, my daugher was sent home from school with a temperature and an irritated throat. The fever was running between 102-103. On Wednesday her temperature started elevating reaching near 105. The fever would come down with Motrin and Tylenol but as soon as it would wear off, the fever would return. I took her to her pediatrician that same day where they did a strep test which came back negative, prescribed omnicef and sent us home. The next day her temperature just kept skyrocketing, getting up to 106. That night I took her to the ER at Children's in Dallas where they ran another strep test, mono, flu, and cbc. Her mono, strep, and flu all came back negative. Her white blood count was at 21. They gave her a shot of rocephin, told us to continue the omnicef, sent us home. There was no improvement on Friday and her temperature kept rising. That Saturday I took her the ER at Medical City in Dallas. There they ran another set of the same tests, all coming back negative, her blood count was at 12. Said it was likely a viral infection and sent us back home. Saturday and Sunday go by, she is still exhibiting all of the same symptoms while I am still continuing the omnicef and she has had a shot of rocephin. On Monday I noticed that her lymph nodes in her neck were swollen something terrible. She was still running the high fever and is completely lethargic and weak. I took her back to her pediatrician on Tuesday where they were very alarmed at the size of her nodes (they are HUGE), checked her spleen, and said that all of her clinical symptoms point to mono, yet - mono keeps coming back negative. They advised me to take her back to the ER, worried that the swelling in her neck would obstruct her airway. So, I did. At the ER they ran all of the same tests that they had prior, plus did a CT scan on her neck, and tested for mumps. Once again, all of the test results came back negative and her WBC was at 14. There was no sign of an abcess in her nodes from the CT scan. With nothing coming back positive on each visit, they diagnose us as having a "mysterious viral infection" and send us home with antibiotics. The Dr's. truly seem a little puzzled as I stated before, all of her symptoms indicate mono, but all four mono tests administered have come back negative. This time, they prescribed cleocin. It is now Thursday, 10 days after this all initially began. She is still running a fever, her nodes are still swollen, and there are still puss pockets in her throat. She has been extremely fatigued and sleeps the majority of the day. I am frustrated, confused, and a little scared. I really do not know what else to do besides what I have already done, but, she is not getting better. Has anyone else ever encountered anything like this? She is 5 years old.

We are currently waiting on the results of the EBV test, that is the only thing pending from Tuesday.

[9DodgeFan]

Hello, sorry I didn't see this sooner!  I guess I can't necessarily say what your daughter has contracted (I'm not a doctor, btw), I can tell you that I never tested positive for mono via the monospot test when I had it, and I was tested 3 times (initially, after a month, then after a couple more months).  I had high EBV tests, but never the monospot.  The symptoms your daughter has sound like mono/EBV, but they seem rather intense for someone her age.  So that would lead me to believe it's something other than mono; however, EBV (which causes mono) can be quite severe, so it shouldn't be ruled out either.  I sincerely hope your daughter is doing better now.  Please let us know if you have any updates!

[FunEmom]

I hope that by now your daughter is better.  We had similar symptoms with all three of our kids, which turned out to be swine flu.  We were particularly concerned about our daughter who has a tendency to run high fevers anyway but it was our youngest who ran a 104 fever while alternating ibuprofen and acetaminophine.  I found my 12 year old face down in the hallway carpet, half in the bathroom and half in the hallway. He got up to use the bathroom and was too fatigued to even walk the 5 steps to his bedroom. The 12 year old had huge swollen lymph nodes as well.  The high fevers, extreme fatigue and lethargy, swollen lymph nodes quick onset and length of recovery were very scary for us.  Fortunately for us, our area had a HORRIBLE outbreak of swine flu with half of the student body sick from both the elementary and middle schools so it was easy for the docs to diagnose.  The symptoms sound so familiar but there are so many viruses and mutations that it's sooo frustrating to pinpoint which one.  Good luck to you and your daughter.