My healthy 7 year old son complained of a headache for a week - no fever - no earache - no problems with elimination - activity level normal - slightly diminished appetite, slightly increased contrariness - on the 6th morning, he complained of his throat hurting - i noticed a slightly hardened and enlarged left lymphnode in the neck, but it was when i looked into his throat that i almost fell out of my chair. It looked like he'd grown either a second uvula or a third tonsil! They weren't red, and he said the pain was minimal. I paced the floor until the doctor's office opened an hour later, and we were seen an hour after that. His Pedi is AWESOME and quickly put my fears to rest - apparently, kids experience all kinds of swelling of the parts in the back of their throats, largely in reaction to allergies, changes in the weather, and the body's natural attempt to fight off infection. A lot of people don't know how important the tonsils are to keeping people well. He said the tonsils have a lifespan that they start off small at birth, then grown considerably, peaking during childhood, then shrink as we get older. To notice enlarged tonsils in children is completely normal - it just means their bodies are trying to fight off all the stuff that would cause allergic reactions, colds, etc. I suffered from severe asthma all my life, and my doctor always refused to remove my tonsils, a common practice when i was growing up. She said my tonsils behaved as a filter to much of the things i would breathe, and to take them would be a mistake. I'm 40, and i've still got them! My son's doc suggested some vitamin c, and a little triaminic, cold and allergy, until the nodes shrunk. He let me know that the headache was likely sinus pressure, which ultimately led to the sore throat and the swelling.
I know exactly what you mean about your fear of losing the children. I used to think that i couldn't live anymore if anything ever happened to them. But then my older daughter became a teenager, and i realized sometimes you just have to "let go and let God". It's hard to sit quietly by as my daughter (she's 17 and started college this semester) goes out with her friends, to some other world in which i have no control, and i admit, i don't fall asleep until i know she's safely in her bed - but there's nothing like a teenager to remind us of how little control we have over the lives and actions of others. My little son raises the sun and the moon, and fills my heart and mind with perfect love, just like my daughter does, but i know eventually he'll want to take driver's ed, cut the occasional class to go to a beach with a terrible undertow, and get a job that involves deep frying or dumping things in a desolate dumpster behind a pizza place late at night. Trust in the same God that kept you safe as you were growing up - cmh
