Dean and the mysterious ... illness?

I apologize first off, I know I don't often post on here about my family as it's become a repository for articles from AiC...


Anyhow... Dean.  As you may recall he was pretty ill a while back with an ear infection.


Well it goes from a bad to weird, to potentially worse to a dafuq?


After Dean had finished off his bout of Amoxicillin he starts to get itchy, and then a rash and it just looked ugly.  We take him to the walk-in clinic again.  The doctor believes that he's had a reaction to the penicillin and we can now say he's allergic (tho' not anaphylactic).  Dose him with Benadryl and Aerius and he should be right as rain.  She asks also about if he can walk fine and stuff, which we say he can, and think nothing more of that odd question.


So, yay, more medicine.  We just got over giving him medicine, now he needs more.  Not fun.  He's not buying the 'this is special chocolate milk' anymore either.


Fast forward 2 days and the hives are gone and we stop the medicine.  Then it's on to skating lessons.  I notice he's a little slow going to the lesson... like isn't running or jumping up the stairs.  Then when I put his skate on one of his feet he absolutely just CRIES.  Man that hurt watching him in pain.


So we go home and he limps around.  Absolutely weird.  Next day he's still limping, but this time it's on the other leg.  That's a head scratcher.  And he can't walk, he needs to be carried room to room.  That night he wakes up in just pain and agony and you can hardly move him without him screaming.  Growing pains maybe?


The next day he's fine.  We play most of the day and I give him a hug and he winces, that's when I realize he's not used that left arm all day; he won't pick things up, hold or anything with it.  That's it, back to the hospital.  (We get to see Peter and Carol as they go up to visit Al, although I can't get in to visit him I tell them to send my regards)


Dean does not enjoy this visit either.  Especially as he needs to have blood taken and although he sits very still for it, he is screaming and that look of pure agony will never leave my nightmares.  He demands that the bad ladies are taken to jail for hurting him.


The doctor eventually sees him and he believes it may be a sprain or juvenile rheumatoid arthritis... or maybe a bad reaction to the medicine/ear infection.  Who knows.  Xrays will help eliminate a fracture/sprain.


The xray goes only slightly better with Dean than the bloodwork.  Oh, and we had to do it 2x.  By the second time, Dean's left arm is moving just fine (but now he's really guarding that right arm - and sure enough it now hurts to use).


The doctor says we can't know for sure, but give him some ibuprofen and we'll get back to you.


EVENTUALLY we get our appointment with paediatrics at the hospital (Mandy's doctor, who's Dean's doctor is out of the office as his wife had just passed away -- and we had found out at this time that Al had passed) and the doctor there says that it's a negative for the arthritis as far as their concerned and it was just a passing reaction to the infection most likely.  Sigh of relief, as at this point Dean is right as rain.  "We'll never know" says one of the doctors.


We leave the hospital this time telling Dean he won't have to go back (he was tricked the last time).


Another few days pass to yesterday.  After Al's funeral we pick up Dean and we notice he's limping again.  Today I notice that he's no longer limping and does fine at swimming, but later on his arm is bothering him again.


I am absolutely perplexed... and scared.  The only literal strings I'm grasping at is the fact that  Mandy believes it might be the 'odd vitamins' she didn't think we bought, but found one day in the cupboard.  They're not expired... but who knows?


Here's hoping that tomorrow he'll be just fine again.  *fingers crossed*