My son has been running a fever for about 5 months, swollen lymph node in neck for about 4 months and soaking night sweats and lost 9 lbs in 2 months. The dr wants to send him to an infectious disease dr. Is this the right route? We have no diagnosis yet.

For some reason, the box wouldn't let me type more...lol. To add, my son is 15. We have had him on antibiotics for 6 weeks and no change. He is fatigued all the time, very weak and achy through his back and shoulders. Horrible headaches as well. His CBC was fairly nornal with the exception of his RBC, that was elevated, as was the hemoglobin and hematocrit. I am so worried. I feel that the dr is shooing us off because of his age. Any help or advice anyone could give would be greatly helpful. I just want my son to enjoy this time in his lufe, and he can't when he feels so ill all of the time. Thank you in advance!

Why on earth would a doctor blow off these symptoms merely because of the kid's age? Awful.

Well clearly you have some suspicion that he might have lymphoma or you wouldn't have arrived here. I'm guessing it's the collection of non-specific symptoms, and to that end I don't blame you.

As you likely know, CBCs don't play a big part in determining lymphomas. Some of the values could be suggestive, potentially, but hardly definitive without other things going on. The elevated red blood cells and hemoglobin could indicate something going on in the bone marrow. Do you have his CBC and metabolic panel reports?

The swollen node in his neck, is it sensitive to the touch or hard and rubbery? The weight loss and night sweats should be alarming to any doctor. Those are considered B symptoms of both Hodgkins and non-Hodgkins, along with the fatigue, but they could also be related to an infection. Skeletal tenderness is another B symptom.

All that said, in the US each year about 500 males under the age of 20 are diagnosed with Hodgkin's, and about 1,000 with non-Hodgkin's, and I pass along these figures for two reasons: 1) lymphoma is very rare among people his age, and 2) because of this, it may be that a pediatrician or primary care doc doesn't take the possibility into consideration.

At the very least you should press his doctor to explore the possibility. Your son sounds miserable, and maybe his doctor needs a kick in the ass to recognize this.

Thank you for your response. I took it upon myself and got my son an appointment at Hopkin's Children's center. Squeaky wheel and all that. The oncologist actually called me back himself, which surprised me. He asked me a bunch of questions and then said that he would see him and that he would run all the appropriate tests and if, hopefully, it wasn't lymphoma, he would steer us in the right direction.

To answer your questions, the lymph node in his neck is not painful or sensitive, it is hard but moveable. The night sweats don't happen every night but they do happen several times a week, to the point that he has thought that he had peed the bed. the back pain has gone from achy to just plain painful. He describes it as "just pain, like my bones hurt". I do have his CBC. His white count was normal but the hematocrit and hemoglobin and total RBC were all elevated.

I asked the oncologist about the fact that our family dr had recommended an infectious disease dr and he said that he didn't think that was the right place to start, but he would refer us there if he thought it wasn't cancer. At the very least, I guess we will have a battery of preliminary tests to go on. I am trying to stay optimistic but it is very hard. And my ex-husband is totally against me having him seen at all. He thinks that our son is fine and that this is needless. I hope I am doing the right thing.