Our 10 Yr Old Was Just Diagnosed with Covid-19

Posted by fiesty76 @fiesty76, Jul 18, 2020

Thanks to hyper-vigilant parents, we got a fast diagnosis. Our little guy complained of stomach ache before bed. Next morning he had a slight temperature. Call to Boulder pediatrician for testing revealed that it would take 7-8 days to receive results. However, if taken to Denver hospital, the results could be given in 24 hrs.

The dad is a surgeon and the family began self-quarantining, ordering online deliveries of food and supplies early in the outbreak. With the exceptions of allowing closely supervised play dates with 2 separate 10 yr old friends, the family has not congregated with others outside their immediate family.

The 15 yr has gone for 1 hr daily football practices at his new high school...with distancing, laps, exercises and no onsite showers. Both boys attended one week of private tennis lessons and the 10 yr old attended an ice hockey camp with 10 other little guys.

Mom also received test with negative result the following day; however, my grandson tested positive. No information on his "viral load" and we don't know how long he was asymptomatic before the stomach upset. We, including his pediatrician, were thunderstruck! On diagnosis day, both dad and 15 yr old brother were tested and received negative test results the following day. Daughter contacted all whom family had been in contact with over past two weeks the day of diagnosis. The family will return for a ff-up test later next week.

Had this been our 15 yr old complaining of a stomach ache, his temp would probably not have been taken the next morning. At younger bro's age, older bro was "prone" to stomach upsets on days he didn't want to go to school. Stomach upsets are not one of the predominant signs but more is beginning to be published now about it.

This google search revealed that 1/3 of children under age 18 in FL had tested positive for covid-19. https://www.yahoo.com/news/nearly-third-florida-children-taking-171404135.html

The good news is that our 10 yr old has not experienced increasing or different symptoms and may be toward the end of the virus. We simply do not know. My daughter has often sighed and rolled her eyes at times over the years because of hubby's hyper-vigilance and concerns about any family health issues. This is one time we are all so grateful that testing was done as soon as it was.

It pays to know the differences in our children and to also be alert to any changes in health they experience. Sharing this out of concern for others and symptoms that could easily be overlooked. Best to all.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Post-COVID Recovery & COVID-19 Support Group.

The testing/notification process and language/cultural barriers are part of the problem.

Example: My daughter's health care system has made the decision not to give out any paper instructions due to fear of spread of fomites (virus particles.) Instead they have signs posted at the testing sites telling people to log onto their portal and read the instructions.

Huh! You have an ill person, or someone with sick kids in the car getting tested. You may or may not be fluent in English or have access or enough knowledge to use the health care portal. You may not have anything to write the information on.

The tester might say "Someone will call with your results in 3-5 days. Self-isolate" - without defining it. Nobody tells them "Go home. Stay there until we call you with results. Everyone who lives with you must also stay home until we call, even if they don't feel sick now. Don't let anybody who doesn't live in your house come in." They are already out driving around, and think, "Oh we might as well stop and get [groceries, lunch, Tylenol...] on the way home" or "Dad feels fine, he can go to work until we know" or "Junior is fine - he can go to football camp." By the time the results are in, dozens more people are exposed.

These are real life examples - the best answer is to give people the information they need, immediately on the spot, on a brightly colored piece of paper, and tell them to read it and post it on the front door or refrigerator. It needs to be in plain language, not using any unfamiliar terminology. In communities like ours, they may need to print it in MANY languages.

Not everyone sits and watches the news, or understands the difference between isolation & quarantine, symptomatic & asymptomatic, etc.
Just my 2 cents worth for the day.
Sue

REPLY
@zep

I am going to say what no one else seems to be saying here. Best practices were NOT followed, at all. The youngsters, if I understand it correctly, went out into the world among other kids, and/or adults, to participate in three different sports activities. That doesn't sound cautious to me. Maybe I'm reading it wrong. If so, please correct me. It seems like there's no reason for surprise here. I wish them all the speediest and most thorough of recoveries, with no relapses or long-term effects!

Jump to this post

@zep, Nope, you didn't read my report wrong. However, I suggest that you do not know all of the underlying circumstances pertaining to this one family and their reasons for making the choices they made. Just as health conditions affect each individual differently, so are decisions made individually by those most concerned about their children's overall health and well being. If more families in this nation were adhering to the same precautions this family has taken and continues to observe, I can guarantee that there would be far less spread of the pandemic and far fewer lives lost. While it is easy to be quick to judge, it is far harder to understand until one has walked in another's moccasins. Thank you for your wishes for our little guy's speedy recovery, no relapses and particularly, no long-term effects.

REPLY
@merpreb

@gingerw- I know, huh! Thankfully they are across the country. I really believe now that if we don't follow the rules by dotting every I and crossing every T then we are asking for COVID. It's that lethal.

Jump to this post

@merpreb, Merry, I so agree with what you posted. Covid-19 is lethal and no one is immune even though a very large percentage of the nation seems to think it won't/can't infect them. I just don't get it!

REPLY
@fiesty76

@zep, Nope, you didn't read my report wrong. However, I suggest that you do not know all of the underlying circumstances pertaining to this one family and their reasons for making the choices they made. Just as health conditions affect each individual differently, so are decisions made individually by those most concerned about their children's overall health and well being. If more families in this nation were adhering to the same precautions this family has taken and continues to observe, I can guarantee that there would be far less spread of the pandemic and far fewer lives lost. While it is easy to be quick to judge, it is far harder to understand until one has walked in another's moccasins. Thank you for your wishes for our little guy's speedy recovery, no relapses and particularly, no long-term effects.

Jump to this post

@fiesty76 - The virus was acquired somewhere, from some other person. Rationalizing the choices that were made, after the fact, is not useful. The second paragraph of your earlier post says the children/families (numbers of people) at hockey/football practice may not have been restricting activities. That's the core of this dilemma. Choosing to send one's children among other people who may or may not have been isolating was the error. It doesn't matter what the underlying circumstances are, or the reasons for making the choices. The parents went against the science, period. They took a chance, several times, apparently. The sooner people realize there are no exclusions, the virus will attack anybody, no matter how nice, even the children of doctors, the sooner we can get through with this horror. What you say is exactly the opposite of the truth. If more families in this nation were "adhering to the same precautions this family has taken" then there would be MORE spread of the pandemic and MORE lives lost. I am not trying to be cruel, only to speak the truth, and have logic prevail. You cannot let down your guard, with your own life, or your child's, even for a second. "Children's overall health and well-being" has to take second place right now to children's actual ability to remain alive, and to their not becoming spreaders to other people and other people's children.

REPLY

@zep I agree with @fiesty76 that you do not know why the family made the choices they did.

I will tell you that depression and anxiety brought on by isolation due to Covid-19 have been wreaking havoc on several members of my own family, to the point that intervention has been required. Deciding what's worth risking in those circumstances is complicated and carries some danger of infection, but there are other factors like long term mental wellbeing to consider as well.

And right now if you don't have an ongoing relationship with a mental health provider in our area you are not going to get an appointment unless you are truly suicidal, so you do the best you can.

It sounds to me like the family weighed their choices and still got infected, but are dealing with that properly.

At some point in this pandemic each of us will be making our own decisions on the amount of risk we can or must accept, whether to work, go to school, seek medical care, or preserve our mental health or that of our children. We cannot all stay home and out of harm's way awaiting a vaccine or a cure. We can only make the best choices out of a menu of bad ones.
Sue

REPLY
@sueinmn

@zep I agree with @fiesty76 that you do not know why the family made the choices they did.

I will tell you that depression and anxiety brought on by isolation due to Covid-19 have been wreaking havoc on several members of my own family, to the point that intervention has been required. Deciding what's worth risking in those circumstances is complicated and carries some danger of infection, but there are other factors like long term mental wellbeing to consider as well.

And right now if you don't have an ongoing relationship with a mental health provider in our area you are not going to get an appointment unless you are truly suicidal, so you do the best you can.

It sounds to me like the family weighed their choices and still got infected, but are dealing with that properly.

At some point in this pandemic each of us will be making our own decisions on the amount of risk we can or must accept, whether to work, go to school, seek medical care, or preserve our mental health or that of our children. We cannot all stay home and out of harm's way awaiting a vaccine or a cure. We can only make the best choices out of a menu of bad ones.
Sue

Jump to this post

@sueinmn @zep @fiesty76 @merpreb The old saying "It's water under the bridge" seems to apply here. We were not there to know exact precautions taken. In spite of, or because of, doesn't apply now. It happened. This family has the opportunity, and more than likely has taken this chance, to tell as many others as they can, what happened to them. It's a precautionary tale in these times. It underscores the insidious nature of this infection. There are many people walking around each day, asymptomatic, who may be passing the infection on. We, as an individual or a family unit, make the decisions on our everyday life.

Re the concept of testing and notification process, we have parts of our society who not only have no access to internet or have a language barrier to cross, also may have the inability to read/comprehend the written word, regardless of the language presented in. We are in a dilemma of proportions noone saw coming.

My two cents worth....
Ginger

REPLY

***Moderator's Note***
This post has been removed. Please consult the Community Guidelines, especially point number 2.
2. Remain respectful at all times.
Exercise tolerance and respect toward other participants whose views may differ from your own.
- Disagreements are fine, but mutual respect is a must.
- Personal attacks against members are not acceptable. Such posts will be removed.

REPLY

MODERATOR NOTE
Please consult Mayo Clinic Connect's Community Guidelines https://connect.mayoclinic.org/page/about-connect/tab/community-guidelines/
Personal attacks against members are not acceptable. Such posts will be removed.

If anyone would like to discuss this matter further, please contact me using this form https://connect.mayoclinic.org/contact-a-community-moderator/

Colleen Young
Community Director
Mayo Clinic Connect

REPLY
@sueinmn

@zep I agree with @fiesty76 that you do not know why the family made the choices they did.

I will tell you that depression and anxiety brought on by isolation due to Covid-19 have been wreaking havoc on several members of my own family, to the point that intervention has been required. Deciding what's worth risking in those circumstances is complicated and carries some danger of infection, but there are other factors like long term mental wellbeing to consider as well.

And right now if you don't have an ongoing relationship with a mental health provider in our area you are not going to get an appointment unless you are truly suicidal, so you do the best you can.

It sounds to me like the family weighed their choices and still got infected, but are dealing with that properly.

At some point in this pandemic each of us will be making our own decisions on the amount of risk we can or must accept, whether to work, go to school, seek medical care, or preserve our mental health or that of our children. We cannot all stay home and out of harm's way awaiting a vaccine or a cure. We can only make the best choices out of a menu of bad ones.
Sue

Jump to this post

@sueinmn, Sue, I cannot fully express the depth of my gratitude for your posts, particularly this latest one, regarding my young grandson's diagnosis.

Not only did you "read between the lines of my original post with empathy and understanding", you and other mentors and members have written to express concern and also encouragement during this very frightening time for me and my small family. For a concerned out-of-state grandmother, your support and kind responses truly help.

The word: "connect" is defined by Webster as "to bind, to fasten, to join". To associate with others experiencing serious health issues who can share and support with possibly different approaches but with mutual respect in a "safe" place is the single most important tenet of the Mayo Support forums. Thank you.

My dad, who was a life role model for me, told me many times over my growing up years that: "if you can't say something nice, say nothing". I've tried to live by that and would suggest that some would be better served if they adopted that as a mantra, too.

REPLY
@fiesty76

@sueinmn, Sue, I cannot fully express the depth of my gratitude for your posts, particularly this latest one, regarding my young grandson's diagnosis.

Not only did you "read between the lines of my original post with empathy and understanding", you and other mentors and members have written to express concern and also encouragement during this very frightening time for me and my small family. For a concerned out-of-state grandmother, your support and kind responses truly help.

The word: "connect" is defined by Webster as "to bind, to fasten, to join". To associate with others experiencing serious health issues who can share and support with possibly different approaches but with mutual respect in a "safe" place is the single most important tenet of the Mayo Support forums. Thank you.

My dad, who was a life role model for me, told me many times over my growing up years that: "if you can't say something nice, say nothing". I've tried to live by that and would suggest that some would be better served if they adopted that as a mantra, too.

Jump to this post

@fiesty76 You are welcome. I appreciate the kind words. How are your grandson & their family doing?

I understand how hard it is to worry from a distance, as that is my life for half of each year. I am sure from your description of how careful your daughter & son-in-law have been, they are devastated by this turn of events, and probably feeling guilty as well. I think as Mom right now, your role is to reassure them that they are not bad parents - just good parents who made what turned out to be an unfortunate choice in a bad situation.

Take care & stay safe - this too shall pass.
Sue

REPLY
Please sign in or register to post a reply.