8 Year old can barely walk.

Hoping someone can give me an idea as to what is potentially going on with my son... he will be 8 next month.

Here's the timeline:

  • Last month, my son was feeling sick, typical cough and sore throat so we figured it was a cold or something viral. Weren't super concerned until he had a 105*F fever one night. We took him to the ER where they said he was positive for strep and flu A. They prescribed amoxicillin and a steroid. He started taking those and felt better a day or two later.
  • Back to now, on 1/8, he woke up in the middle of the night, saying his legs and arms hurt. He has had growing pains in the past so we thought it was that, gave him a heating pad and some tylenol and he went back to bed. Here's where it gets weird.
  • The next morning, he woke up and still had this pain in his arms and legs, like to the point he can barely walk. He doesn't want to straighten his legs all the way and won't raise his hands above shoulder height. Any movement results in him crying. When he walks he looks like a little old man, hunched over and hobbling. He would also occasionally mention his stomach or throat hurting.
  • So from 1/8-1/10, we would give him tylenol and take his temperature, it would stay between 101-103 (went down slightly with meds), until it went back up to 105 on 1/10. We went to the urgent care and they tested him for all the things again. Negative this time for strep, flu and covid. They gave him another antibiotic anyway while we waited for the strep culture, because with the fever and slight redness in his throat, they thought he maybe had a false negative strep test. They called me yesterday and said the strep culture was negative too. They attributed his leg pain to general body aches from fever...
  • Nothing had improved and he kept throwing 104-105 fevers in the evenings, so my husband took him to a different urgent care on 1/13 (this monday), where they AGAIN did all the tests, and AGAIN they all came back negative. (strep, mono, flu, covid, uti, they did an x-ray to check for pneumonia and it was totally normal). Because he had been having a fever for more than a couple days, they suggested we go to the ER for blood work. We go to the children's ER, where they do an IV and take blood, and the doctor says his blood work came back normal except for a SLIGHTLY higher white blood cell count which he attributed to "some type of infection" that they can't identify. Again, they did an X-Ray which was normal. No pneumonia. He said he thinks the leg/arm pain is left over lactic acid from when he had the flu a month ago.
    • Why would the lactic acid build up from a month ago suddenly make him hurt NOW and not around christmas? It's now been a week, how long should it take for the lactic acid to dissipate?
  • Everything I've been reading in my researching says growing pains or lactic acid aches should resolve in a day or so, and it's been a week of him BAWLING whenever he has to move. He has an appointment with his pediatrician tomorrow so I'm hoping she will order some further testing because this poor kid has been feeling like crap for DAYS.
  • Fun fact (hopefully unrelated): His elementary school is currently under investigation for their drinking water because several (like FOUR) kids have come up with leukemia since August. They think there is an issue with formaldehyde in the water. I am skeptical that this is what's going on because he's always had a filtered water bottle that's HUGE and he never drinks the whole thing. I fill it with filtered water every morning, so he SHOULDNT be drinking much (if any) of the school's water. He always brings lunch from home, no school lunches.
  • He has no rashes, swelling on his arms/legs, no lethargy. He DOES have a lack of appetite.

If you've read this far, thank you - if only for hearing me out. I'm at such a loss with what to do and how to help him feel better.