Cat Scratch Fever? What is it?

[paigevz]

Besides a great song I mean. One of my students was diagnosed with it and now has to have all kinds of testing done by a communicable disease specialist. But the school nurse says it's not communicable. Then why does he need that specialist?

 

[Taylor]

If you are asking what the song is about you won't get an answer here. This is a family board.

 

[kdibattista]

I had it about 8 years ago. Although I don't really remember much I do recall that it was very similar in symptoms to mono... in fact, my mono test came up positive. I don't believe it's communicable and I don't think I ever had to go through any other testing. The way it was diagnosed was having a lymphnode removed from my neck and tested. They thought it was Hodgkins at the time but it came back Cat Scratch Fever... I have yet to live it down .

 

[paigevz]

Yes, he had a swollen lymph node for 3 weeks, just getting bigger and bigger. Finally pushed mom into taking him to a dr. we set up an appointment with, and he scheduled surgery to remove it. Now came back as this, but they said it's not common, so they want to do testing.

By the by, I'm supposed to make sure the dressing from his wound drain stays on, and I'm having a devil of a time. The tape they gave just won't hold the gauze on, and the nurse in griping at me for sending him down so much. Any suggestions?

 

[kdibattista]

By the by, I'm supposed to make sure the dressing from his wound drain stays on, and I'm having a devil of a time. The tape they gave just won't hold the gauze on, and the nurse in griping at me for sending him down so much. Any suggestions?

I would actually use a gauze wrap instead of tape. I can't stress how important it is to follow those instructions. My surgery went smoothly, however I developed a nasty, nasty infection that caused my neck to swell up so bad I was unrecognizable. I ended up in the hospital for a week with drip antibiotics and thankfully, it didn't abcess. They thought they were going to have to go back in.

 

[paigevz]

Well, I'm just going to keep sending him down every time it comes loose and she can just deal with it or ask for other supplies. I don't want to be responsible for any problems. His first day back, we had a field trip to the park to look for insects. I told his mom, she may not want him to come until the next day, but she said it'd be fine. The other teachers and I spent so much time taping and retaping him. I was just really paranoid.........especially because there was a sand volleyball pit all the kids wanted to play in. Amazingly, each time we'd go to change it or retape it, it was just crystal clean. I still made sure he saw the nurse just as soon as we got back to check it/clean it/redress it.

So why do they think they need to do lots of tests? Just for his safety? Like it might have started an infection elsewhere? The school nurse talked like they wanted to find out how he got it.