Acute Lymphadenitis

[YorksLass]

Has anybody had a child/toddler with acute lymphadenitis and can you tell me outcomes?

I noticed a swelling on my 21mo daughter's neck two weeks ago, took her to the docs and they said it looked like a swollen gland and to leave it two weeks to see if it went down. It started to get larger and turned red, so I took her back and they sent us straight to A&E. She saw a maxillofacial specialist and they thought it was two or three lymph nodes that had enlarged. She was given some antibiotics to take.

The next day, she was sent to a clinic, initially for an ultrasound, but they never actually did that, just had a consultant feel it again and said they'd bring us back for another appointment.

That night, she started vomiting and couldn't stop... so we were back in A&E on Sunday after calling them again. She ended up being admitted overnight and on a drip as she was dehydrated. They gave her the antibiotics intravenously. The next morning she had an ultrasound and they said it was definitely lymph nodes and they've mentioned either draining them or removing them. They've discontinued antibiotics as they said they weren't doing anything. They say the vomiting was completely unrelated - just a stomach upset that coincided with it. The notes called it 'acute lymphadenitis'. She's had no other symptoms with it, really - no colds or obvious infections, no fever... all her obs were fine in hospital.

We've now had an appointment come through for us to take her to the dental part of the hospital on Tuesday, I assume for more consultation (and presumably no sooner because it's Easter weekend). In the meantime, we think the swelling is getting bigger and she's wanting to sleep more than usual and is back to breastfeeding every 5 minutes, but we're not sure if there's anybody we can call to ask about that without ending up in A&E again.

Obviously, we're extremely worried about it all and just looking for reassurance from anywhere. We've had no solid answers about cause or treatment. Has anybody known anything similar?

Thanks

 

[Kholl]

Oh my gosh how scary! I am SO sorry, I really hope she’s feeling better and I’m sorry I can’t be of any help. Thinking of you!

 

[YorksLass]

Thank you Kholl - hope you and family are doing good, I remember we were pregnant roughly the same time!

We had her appointment today and the doc we saw is pretty sure that it's an atypical bacterial infection of some kind, but it seems to have been contained in the lymph nodes affected and isn't going further. He thinks it's stabilised and that the lethargy was her getting over the sickness, which has definitely gone now. Her appetite is totally normal now and she seems happy and playful, although napping a little earlier and still clingy and wanting lots of milk. I'm inclined to agree with him.

They want to be conservative about treatment as she's so young, so they want to hold off doing any surgery if possible - he's advised to give it another week or two to see if the swelling starts to subside on its own. They'll have us back for another ultrasound soon and a checkup. So we just have to wait... and watch out for any other developments.

Hopefully she can just come through it without any aggressive surgery. Mainly, I'm just relieved to know he doesn't think it's something underlying that's more serious or life-threatening. I feel I can relax a little now!

 

[Kholl]

Hi yes, my youngest was born in early September of 2016!

You know, one of my best friends went through this with her toddler (he was roughly 18 months old at the time) and it was terrifying. He was over at our house and one side of his neck was grotesquely swollen. She works with sick kids too and she was convinced it was cancer, I couldn't talk her out of it. He was totally fine! After antibiotics and time, the swelling went down to normal.

All my kids' doctors have emphasized that underlying scary stuff presents with multiple symptoms; cancer in particular, you won't just see swollen lymph nodes, you'll also see lethargy, lack of appetite, scary body bruising (like giant bruises on the trunk, where kids don't bump into things, as opposed to the millions of little bruises they get on legs/knees/elbows from playing), unexplained long-term fever, stuff like that. Doesn't stop me from panicking, but it does help to keep that in mind.

How is she doing now?

 

[YorksLass]

Of course, the mind races straight to cancer with lumps and lymph nodes! I know you shouldn't do Dr. Google, but actually that reassured me early on, as all the really nasty things seemed to be accompanied with high fevers and all, and she had nothing like that. So glad your friend's toddler was ok too.

To me, the lump still looks like it's getting bigger and redder, but only very gradually. I keep willing it to start going down. We have another appointment now on the 17th and I suppose the doc'll make some decision about it then. He mentioned another ultrasound in which he could possibly try to use a syringe to drain it off if the circumstances are right. I'd hate for her to have to go through having them removed!

It turns out my partner's guitar student actually used to work with the consultant who's seeing to her and he says we have absolutely the best guy, so that's reassuring.

Apart from all that, you'd never know anything was wrong with Rowan - she's just as normal, being silly and running about, eating fine, chatting away constantly too (her speech has come on a lot in the last month - pretty much full sentences and everything!)

 

[Kholl]

Hey YorksLass! How’s Rowan now?

 

[YorksLass]

Ack, didn't spot your message Kholl! Thanks for asking after her. She's doing much better.

We ended up under the care of a maxilofacial surgeon and he wanted to avoid going down a surgery route but to leave it without intervention to see what happened. About 4 months after first noticing the lump, it is finally going away of its own accord!

She still has appointments to monitor it, but I think he'll be discharging her soon... Yay!

Hope you're well too

 

[Kholl]

So glad it’s goig away!! My son has a pretty big lymph node that refuses to go away (it’s been swollen like 6 months by now!) but doctors seem pretty unconcerned if it doesn’t get bigger and there are no other symptoms. Sure is unsettling though!