2 weeks ago Sunday, CR went to bed with a rash that we thought was an allergic reaction. When he woke up on Monday morning, the rash had spread to his whole body and he had developed a fever. We quickly realized it did not look like an allergy (mainly because his face was not swollen) and took him to our family doctor. While I was driving, Robbie called from school to say that someone told him it might be Scarlet Fever. I called my sister and my friend, Mendy, to get them to do some research while I was driving. It sounded scary without knowledge, but with a little information, I realized it was completely treatable.
Our doctor looked at CR and said it certainly looked like a case of Scarlet Fever and Strep Throat, but our rapid culture came back negative. At this point, he had a fever of 101, sandpaper rash all over, and one huge swollen lymph node in this neck and all of his joints were beginning to swell. We went home with no meds and just were treating him with Motrin for the pain and fever. His symptoms continued to progress with more swelling and fever of 104.
On Tuesday, CR awoke with still 104 fever, red and swollen feet and hands, and the rash now making his face swollen and eyes sunken in. We decided to go to a pediatrician for another strep test and had a friend call her ped. to see us. We got in first thing and she took a rapid strep test that was positive. We felt so much better to be going home with antibiotics this time.
Much rest was in order for the rest of the day and CR literally slept all day long. He wasn't eating much, which was understandable with strep throat, so we tried our best to get him to drink as much as possible. I went to the store and bought three different types of Popsicles and plenty of Gatorade. By Wednesday morning, he was still having high fevers of 104.5 and the whites of his eyes were now red. He also began to complain that his feet hurt so bad he couldn't walk on them and wanted me to carry him when he needed to get up. I assumed he just needed to let the antibiotics work their magic in him and he would get better.
By Thursday, his symptoms were still not getting any better. His eyes and swollen joints were my main concern, but so was his high fever. He was now complaining of light sensitivity and was keeping his eyes covered at all times. I called the pediatrician's office with my concerns and they told me to wait at least 72 hours after his first dose of Amoxicillin for him to be fever free. That would be on Friday at noon.
Friday morning he woke up with 103 fever, but all the other symptoms were the same. Not worse, but not better either. His lips had started to crack and bled, but I thought this might be from dehydration. I gave him a dose of Motrin on Friday morning and he keep a low fever all day, never more than 100. By 4:00, his fever was up to 101.5 and I decided to go ahead and call the pediatrician to see what we should do. They said to give it some more time, but to call if there were any changes or if his fever continued to climb.
Well, around 7:30 Friday night, we took his temp again and it was back up at 103. I didn't really know what to do, but called the doc to see what she recommended. She called me back and said that she suspected he might have Kawasaki Disease and that we would need to get him to the ER either tonight or tomorrow morning. We initially decided we would wait until Saturday morning to take him, but changed our minds and decided we would rest much better knowing that he was at a hospital getting the treatment that he needed. As we were getting ready to leave the house, CR threw up, confirming we needed to get the ER.
We made it to the ER around 10:00 Friday night and were immediately taken back to the critical care unit to run tests and start an IV. He was scared and didn't really know what was going on or why he had to go the hospital. He fought the IV and tried to take it out - oh how it breaks a mother's heart to see him scared and in pain, but knowing the pain from the IV will eventually help him.
CR in the ER
We waited in the ER till 3:30am when were taken upstairs to a room for the night. The nurses and doctors kept coming in asking the same questions and all poking around on CR who tried to sleep through it all. We ended up getting just shy of 2 hours of sleep before the 7:00 shift arrived to do the same things over again - same questions, same poking, same everything. By the time the 3rd infectious disease doctor arrived around 10:00am, my weekly time line was just a rote recording playing back the same timeline I had repeated close to 15 times in the last 12 hours. This doctor was very confident that CR did in fact have Kawasaki Disease and would need to have another EKG and Eco of the heart along with an IVIG treatment that would drip for 12 hours and a high dose of Asprin . We were told that he would probably be in the hospital for a minimum of 48 hours, but might get to go home earlier if he was drastically better.
CR getting Echo cardiogram - Praise the Lord, it all looked great!!
CR got a visit from a 4-legged friend!
CR was fever free the whole time we were in the hospital and we were looking like we would get to go home Sunday afternoon. Right before we were scheduled to leave, his fever spiked to 103 again. The Docs came to tell us that he would need to stay and spend the night for observation at least one more night. By Monday, he was drastically better. There was virtually no more swelling, no fever, very little red left in his eyes and he was beginning to eat and drink more. We left the hospital on Monday around 4:00 and felt very thankful that all his tests were clear and showed no damage to his heart.
CR controlling the remote in the hospital!
Hambone couldn't wait to come and check on CR! It was so sweet to see her loving her brother, especially since these two have the whole "sibling rivalry" thing going on!
Playing a little PS2 on Monday before we left the hospital! He was feeling so much better!!
That was a long week, but it was so much better with the community of support from our brothers and sisters in Christ. We had family keeping the boys and dear friends keeping the girls. We had prayers and encouragement coming from all over and meals galore when we arrived home. Thank you all for loving us so well during this time of healing for CR! God has richly blessed us with each of you in our lives!
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