A mother’s instinct cannot be denied, and I am so glad I trusted mine when my son, Jayvion, became ill. It was early August, and my wonderful 12-year-old son started complaining about these painful sores in his mouth. As the days went by, the sores did not improve, and Jayvion also developed a sore throat, a fever and swollen gums.
Given his symptoms, I presumed it was strep throat, or maybe a gum infection at most. But the thing is, his condition just got worse over the following days. By August 5, when it was clear that he still wasn’t getting any better, I took Jayvion to the dentist for reassurance.
Following a brief assessment, the dentist prescribed him some antiviral medication and mouthwash containing lidocaine to ease the pain. Yet even with the prescription medication, Jayvion was in a lot of pain, and he was struggling to swallow. I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was more than we were being led to believe, and I hated seeing him suffer.
So, the following day, we made our way to urgent care. There, doctors performed a test for strep throat, and it came back negative, so we were sent home with medication to treat a sinus infection. Still, something felt off about it.
Jayvion took the medication he was given at urgent care, but hours went by, and he didn’t see any improvement or pain relief. Knowing that he needed more testing, I drove us to another hospital because I couldn’t sit by and watch my son get worse. By this time, Jayvion could no longer swallow, so doctors ran tests for strep and mono, both of which came back negative.
At that point, they did not think of running a complete blood count, and they just sent us home with the exact same medication Jayvion was given at the dentist’s office. It was infuriating to see my son struggling so significantly, and yet no one was listening to us. By August 9, Jayvion had been exhibiting symptoms for over a week and showed no signs of getting better.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
