My 18 month old daughter was seen by her pediatricians' office (Dr. Mariwalla, Dr. Nagpal, and Dr. Cerniello) in West Islip for small red bumps on her legs after having had strep throat. We were afraid that it was a reaction to her antibiotics, but Dr. Mariwalla immediately told us she suspected it was HSP, a somewhat rare autoimmune disease brought about by upper respiratory infections. That evening my daughter ended up in the hospital where she was spinal tapped for meningitis and seen by numerous physicians and specialists including an infectious disease doctor. By this point she had bubbling open lesions all over her legs and was in excruciating pain. After one full week in the hospital and not one hospital worker ever being able to pinpoint what was wrong with her, we were sent home. Every day of our hospital stay we were visited by all three of our pediatricians each morning. They reassured us that they were sure it was, in fact, HSP. They contacted doctors all over the country, sending them pictures to gain their insight. Throughout the scariest times, when different hospital doctors were terrifying us by giving us conflicting information with one another (their lack of diagnoses almost causing us to transfer to Cohen's Children Hospital) it was our pediatricians who kept us informed and calm. They stuck to their guns, insisting that it was HSP and that she would be fine. Many days after being discharged from the hospital, my daughter's biopsy results came in and it was in fact HSP. It is times like these (that we pray as parents we never have to experience) that we need full confidence in our pediatricians and my husband and I have often stated that we could move hours away from their practice and still go back to them as our children's medical care providers. read more
