Hey 👋 (overthinking, paranoid, need to stop googling everything and self diagnosing mother here, that needs help probably physically and mentally but I'll opt for just advice at this point 🤣)
Sorry for the really long post.. congratulations if you get to the bottom and have any advice or been through anything similar that could help me.
My son is 2, I noticed back when he was 14 months old (march last year) that he had a lump on the side of his neck.. at this time I assumed infection and just swollen gland however it never went down after a few weeks, I took him to the doctors in April 2022 and was told that this can happen with infection 🙄 I did explain it's been there for weeks but just fell upon deaf ears 😔
Anyway I took him back to the doctors for a potential chest infection around November time, and the doctor looked at him and first thing he said was "ah yes you can tell he has some sort of infection as his gland is swollen" 😅 I was like no that's been there since march and just never gone down, he then referred him for blood tests.
We had bloods done in January (not sure what bloods they tested though) but they all came back clear apart from slightly low on iron and that was that.
Anyway rolling forward to a few weeks ago, I noticed more lumps around 7 or 8 ... 2 surrounding the one he has always had, 1 at the back of his neck, 1 behind each ear, and 1 at the lower part of his head under his hair at the back, I took him back to the doctors and the doctor said she needed a second opinion from another doctor and would get back to me, I received a text from the surgery saying "please keep an on head and neck lumps and bumps and book another appointment for 3/4 weeks time" I was like what?!? The doctor didn't even know what they were and yet they're going to make me wait another 3/4 weeks?
I asked for a second opinion in person as he was playing with his left ear anyway so needed to check for ear infection also (yes he is literally always poorly but now he just gets on with it, he is such a happy little boy 99% of the time)... I was given ear spray this time around as his ear was slightly red and because he had not long had antibiotics for an ear infection a few weeks prior so I didn't want him to have anymore, but also the doctor finally referred me to whoever they have referred me to regarding said lumps...
Other symptoms I have noticed is bruising all over his legs (but he is 2 so assumed it's from all the knee sliding he has learned and in general just being a toddler) but still quite a bit more bruising than I would expect...
Extremely dry skin - the doctor has given us cream for this as aveeno cream just wasn't working and his skin feels like actual sandpaper (I put this down to seasons changing as he does suffer with hayfever allergies or so I assume given he was the same last year)
He sleeps a lot!! Has done since he was about 6 months but again because he has always been so good it's not really rang alarm bells until all these other symptoms but the other day he must have slept like 19 hours bar a half hour here and there... But that being said when he is awake he is a very active on the go toddler and always happy.. but he is also always unwell... I have 2 other children and they have never been this unwell so it's not like I'm a first time worried parent over something small 😅 that I could understand but I'm being made to feel like it's absolutely nothing to worry about and like I'm wasting time 😅 one lump I could kind of understand but several? Has anyone else gone through this?
Another symptom is his bowels... Most of the time for as long as I can remember he has had awful diarrhea but then other days it's like he is constipated but this is very rare the majority of the time it is just diarrhea (must mention there is NO blood etc in stools though)
He did have a nose bleed last week which he has never had before.. woke me up in the morning standing next to my bed covered in blood thankfully just a nose bleed as it terrified the life out of me thinking he'd hurt himself, was like something out of a horror movie 😅.. but again I put it down to hayfever season.
I just hope someone can shed some light onto what might be going on for peace of mind until I hear from whoever they've referred me to anytime between now and June and that's just for the initial phone call not an appointment..
It could well be absolutely nothing.. but it also could be something because no one can seem to tell me what's what lol!
I'm aware that this isn't a medical professionals group, just hoping maybe someone has seen something similar or going through the same and knows what it all is, I mean this is a bloody big group someone must have an idea.. just put my mind at ease whilst I'm awaiting a referral appointment to come through...
Thank you if you've managed to get this far. 🙏🥰