Numbers are good!!!

We went to see Dr. Stone this morning. My heart skipped a beat when they took her temperature and it was 99.1. He told me not to worry about that, he would consider 100.4 a fever. He checked her over and sent us to Candler for more blood work. Once again, she handled that like a champ! He just called and said everything is starting to come down. He will order more blood work next Tuesday and we hope the numbers will all be normal! GOOD NEWS!

We see Dr. Long on Thursday, I will be sure to post the results from that visit. Let's pray the Echo Cardiogram will show positive things.

All is clear!

No fever!!!! She looks good, Dr. Stone said to just keep an eye on her and he would see us in the morning.

The fever returns

We thought we were in the clear, but on Saturday the fever returns. I'm on the phone with Dr. Stone and explain what is going on. He wants us to monitor her through out the night and he would call us at 7am Sunday morning and admit her if the fever was still there. It's not uncommon for one to have to receive another round of treatment with Kawasaki's Disease. Meanwhile I can treat the fever with Tylenol and should still give her asprin twice a day.

We are off to Memorial

Chris and I were up at 6am for the hospital. Our plan was to leave at 7:15 that morning. A friend from the neighborhood was nice enough to watch the other 2 that day along with her 2 (thanks Rebekah)! Another neighbor, Shara, brought her 2 over to help out and assist with lunch and so forth (thanks Shara)! I have to add a side note here, It is awesome to live in a neighborhood and to be part of a community that is supportive in every way. From the moment we thought we would be going into the hospital a list of people started a meal calendar and babysitting services for us. We were told not to worry about anything at home, just take care of Kendall. My playgroup, church friends, and multiples club is made up of the most caring and thoughtful people I know.

We arrived at the hospital and got checked in. Kendall was in good spirits and handled everything with ease. She was not thrilled to get her IV or to have her blood drawn, but she layed there and just cried. She did not throw herself off the table or pitch a fit, but took everything they did and ran with it! Our nurse was Tonya and she was great. She took great care of us. Almost as soon as we arrived we were taken to X-Ray for a chest x-ray.

She is not that upset being at the hospital. Think about it, they give her a really cool bandage, band aids, a bracelet with her name on it, food just arrives, toys are brought to your room, and you get to give yourself medicine. How cool is all of that for a 2 year old! Once we were back into our room, Stephen our minister at church stopped by to see Kendall and to pray with us. It was nice to see a familiar face and for him to remind us that prayer works and the Lord knows what he is doing. I checked on the other two, Rebekah said things were going great, not sure if she just said that, or if she was being nice, but I knew mom would be there by 3pm and she would take over from there.

We had a visit from the Infectious Disease doctor, I won't go into detail. Her visit was not all that exciting. The tech from Pediatric Cardiology came by to the cardio echogram. Kendall was great, she sat in bed and just stood still. Around 5 that evening, Dr. Long came by and told us that she had a small blip on the screen which was the start of a cardiac anurysim. He then told us that based on her symtoms and the echogram he would diagnose Kawasaki. Whewwwww, we had a diagnosis! Dr. Stone during night rounds wrote the orders for treatment.

Mom brought Isabella and Jake up to the hospital to see Kendall. They were cute and had a good time playing with the buttons on the bed and the new toys the hospital provided.

Treatment didn't start until midnight. This treatment is known as IVIG. It's done through an IV and is painless. You have to look for reactions like a rash and itching. Kendall did great with no side effects. Here was the problem, for the first 2 hours you have to check vitals every 15 minutes. Sleep was not an option that night!

The next morning we had a another echo cardiogram around 6:30 and a visit from Dr. Stone. By this time, I was exhasted. It was 2 days of no sleep and I was out of it. I was looking for backup and called Chris and pretty much told him I needed to head home and clear my head. He arrived around 10am and I drove home. During the time Chris was there Dr. Long, pediatric cardiologist arrived and said things look the same, but the good news was the blip on the screen had not grown. It could take awhile for that to reverse.

Kendall was looking good. She had a good attitude and her eyes seem clearer. I arrived back at the hospital and I was told we could go home. Dr. Stone said all they would do there would be monitoring for fever, we could do that at home. They drew blood and the test results were about the same as when she was admitted into the hospital. That was good news and bad news. The good news was the numbers had not gone up and the bad news was they had not gone down. We made an appointment with Dr. Stone for Monday morning and he said he would recheck her blood test then. We are then released from the hospital!!

Kendall

It all started about 11 days ago. Kendall woke up and seemed fine, I noticed though she didn't eat breakfast. I checked her head and low and behold she felt hot. Nothing new, dosed her up with Motrin and then 3 hours later dosed her up on Tylenol. We did this for the next 3 days. Durning this time she was very lathargic, she would not go up or down the steps and had no interest in playing with the others. By this time I was worried, this was unusual and my gut told me this is not an ordinary illness. We took her to Dr. Stone and based on the finger prick and the lack of symptoms she was showing he thought it was viral and would just have to run it's course! That was on a Friday and by Monday we were back in his office. Dr. Stone looked at her and then looked at me and said it seems it could be Kawasaki Disease, but I doubt it. I ran her over to the lab at Candler and they took 3 vials of blood and by 7pm that night the numbers were not good. Here was the problem, Kawasaki is diagnosed by observation of the patient and blood work based on a few tests. There is not a signal blood test for this disease. Kendall only had a couple of symptoms, they prefer 4 out of 5. To make things more complicated, her physical symptoms were improving. By Thursday we decided to admit her to the hospital and start treatment.

Welcome

Hi all,

Lately, it's been difficult to keep everyone updated on what's going on with us! I thought this would be the best way to ensure information is shared with all who are interested. Let me know what you think, I'm new to "blogging" and could use help!

Neena