Right now it feels like we'll never forget the details about Sadie's sickness and hospitalization but I'm sure as time goes on we will so I wanted to document it.
The day after Thanksgiving Sadie developed a weird rash while playing with cousins. It was really rough, red and sand paper like.
It was on her stomach, back, arms and legs, even her face and
ears. We gave her some Benadryl and didn't think much else of it until
later that night when it had gotten worse. We debated about taking her
to an Instacare, but she had no other symptoms and said it didn't even itch so we left it alone and
sent her to bed.
About midnight, she woke up throwing up and screaming that her body hurt--bad enough that she wouldn't let us hold her. It was so bizarre. The ER
doc said the rash looked like a classic strep throat rash but when her test
was negative he sent her home and said it was probably a viral illness and that it would take a few days to go away but to just watch and wait. Thanks for that $900 visit...
the only time she gets to sleep in mom and dad's bed
She was progressively worsening over the weekend with higher
fevers, spreading rash, SUPER tired (2 naps a day) and abdominal pain so she got a blessing Sunday
and we took her in to be seen at the clinic as soon as it opened on Monday. By that morning, her skin and eyes were slightly yellow (sign of liver
problems or Mono), her abdominal pain was worse, fever at 103 and she hadn't
had any solid food in 2 days. They ordered some blood tests to check
for infection, liver problems, the Mono virus and CMV (a virus very
similar to mono). Her symptoms were classic Mono or CMV so we were
pretty certain one would be positive, but they were both negative. We were especially happy the CMV was negative since that can be very bad if our unborn baby were to get it, but now we were back at square one with a very sick kid and no answers.
second nap of the day and it was only lunch time
After consulting with GI and Infectious Disease, we did a few more blood tests, an ultrasound and urine and stool tests to try and figure this out. After the mono and CMV were negative, we thought it could be Hepatitis A, but she'd been vaccinated against that and of course, it was negative. Everything was negative and she just wasn't getting better.
At this point we decided it was best to admit her to the
hospital since she'd had symptoms for a whole week without a known cause. The first 2 days in the hospital were pretty hard for her. Her IV, blood tests and blood cultures were especially rough and you could tell she just didn't feel good. She tried so hard to be brave and friendly to the dozens of doctors and nurses, but all she wanted to do was color, watch TV or sleep.
trying hard to be brave at the hospital
We were so glad we admitted her when we did--we had a cause! She was diagnosed with Kawasaki's Disease. It's a pretty mean
disease that presents with a rash, high fevers lasting longer than 5
days, swollen lymph nodes, bloodshot eyes, chapped lips and peeling hands and/or feet. The scary part is that if left untreated, it can do damage to her heart
and coronary arteries. The good part is that they know how to get rid of it. They treated her with tylenol and ibuprofen for the fevers and then IV Immunoglobulin to get rid of the Kawasaki's. She also got an echo cardiogram to make sure there was no damage to her heart. They said the best time for treatment is day 7-9 and we were admitted on day 8 so
we felt blessed that everything happened the way it did.
Her first night there, about half way through the IV treatment, (approx 1:00 am) she spiked a 104 fever and could not go back to sleep. She was awake and ready to play! We colored and watched a movie before finally going back to bed about 3:00 am. Combine that with vitals being taken every half hour and it made for a very long night...
1:00 am coloring and sticker party
Thankfully, the rest of the stay was uneventful. She did spike another fever the next night but it wasn't as high and it came down a lot faster than the previous one. She had to go 24 hours without a fever to be sure they'd gotten rid of the Kawasaki's and they needed to make sure she started eating and drinking like normal again since she wouldn't eat for so long, so the rest of the stay was mostly just watching her slowly get back to her normal self. Four very long days later, we got to go home!
bored of her room by this point...
Going home!!
The peeling skin on her fingers and toes lasted about 3 weeks afterward and we've had plenty of follow up appointments with her Pediatrician, Cardiologist and Infectious Disease doctors to make sure everything is officially resolved. $21,000 later and we're just about done!
Her peeling toes 2 weeks later
We are just SO glad to have our Sadie back to normal and so glad it's something that was treated and done and we don't have to worry about it coming back!
