I mentioned LB's recent check-up a few posts ago, but I wanted to mention one other thing of note that actually happened a week after his checkup. He had a reaction to the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine. The pediatrician warned us that he might spike a fever 7-10 days after the vaccine (which he actually didn’t do), but they didn’t say anything about any little marble-sized lumps that might start appearing on his head and neck. Thankfully, with my brain already prepared for a fever in 7-10 days, I thought to check the vaccine info sheet for other reactions before panicking about whether this might be tumors or cysts or other scary things and I saw that this lumpiness was one of the common reactions. It actually happens in 1 out of 75 children.
It was the weekend when it happened, so we called the pediatrician on Monday morning to ask if there was anything we should do. They wanted to see him, so I took him in for a quick visit and they confirmed that he has swollen lymph nodes all over his body (neck, head, armpits, groin) and those big lumps that we noticed were probably just the most pronounced. The lymph nodes have a role in immunity so the fact that they got all swollen after the vaccination likely means that he’s having a good immune response to the vaccine and will develop solid immunity to the MMR diseases. She reassured us that there was no reason to be concerned unless they become red, hot or uncomfortable which could indicate that they are infected (which she said is very uncommon for lymph nodes that are activated by vaccinations). The best thing to do is to ignore them and not prod at them too much because that will only prolong their immune response reaction. If they are still very pronounced in a month (right around when we’ll go back for his 18 month appointment anyway), it might be a reason for concern. They will likely just fade away between now and then, though.
The lumps don’t seem to bother LB at all, so that’s good and they seem to already be fading a bit, which is great. I just wish that these medical statistics would give the poor kid a bit of a break – 1 in 17,000 babies in the U.S. have MCADD, 1 in 75 kids can get lumpy reactions to the MMR vaccine…does that mean that LB’s now 1 in 1,275,000 kids with MCADD who gets a lumpy reaction to the MMR vaccine? Really now, let’s not do this to him! He’s too busy of a kid to have time for all of this. =)
Seriously, though - we definitely believe in vaccinating our children and that was the plan for our kiddos before we ever knew anything about MCADD. Even with this reaction, we still believe it is best to give our kids (especially our kid who ends up the hospital with possible life-threatening consequences when he's sick!) the best line of defense against disease. I know this is a hot topic and everyone is entitled to their own opinion on this, but from my point of view, vaccination helps not only your own kids, but also provides an extra line of defense for the weakest children in the community. Luckily, we have kids who can benefit directly from vaccinations, but some children legitimately cannot get them due to various health conditions. These families depend on the indirect protection their children get from these ugly diseases by living in a vaccinated community. I'm happy to know that having my kids vaccinated is helping protect those children, as well.
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