This month has been a very hard month in this house. There always seems to be someone sick. The boys have been sick for over a week now.
I have a kidney infection from hell.
Anna almost broke her foot in the sledding incident of 2010.
And the most upsetting thing is that Amanda's illness is coming back. I never really talked about her illness on here. In February 2008 my healthy 16 year old daughter turned into a very sickly dependent on me for her care girl. She has something called Sydenham's chorea. Yesterday some of her symptoms have came back. Tomorrow we start the rounds with the doctors. Please keep us in your thoughts as we deal with this once again.
Nic
Sydenham's chorea is a neurologic movement disorder characterized by irregular, abrupt, relatively rapid involuntary movements (i.e., chorea) of muscles of the face, neck, trunk, and arms and legs (limbs). Additional findings often include diminished muscle tone (hypotonia), muscle weakness, and emotional and behavioral disturbances, particularly obsessive-compulsive behaviors. Sydenham's chorea most frequently occurs in children or adolescents between the ages of 5 to 15 following acute rheumatic fever (ARF). ARF is an inflammatory disease that develops subsequent to throat infection with certain strains of streptococcal bacteria (i.e., group A beta-hemolytic streptococci).
In patients with Sydenham's chorea, choreic movements usually begin gradually, progressively worsening over a few weeks to a month. Associated findings may be extremely variable, ranging from relatively mild incoordination to severe disruption in conducting voluntary movements of multiple muscle groups, potentially affecting speech, arm movements, walking, and the ability to perform certain activities of daily living. In some patients, Sydenham's chorea may a self-limited condition, usually spontaneously resolving within about nine months (average duration) to two years (about 50% of patients); therefore, treatment with certain medications may be restricted to patients with significantly impaired function resulting from severe chorea.
