The Woods: Macie's Medical Mystery

This week we went through something no parent wants to go through...the moment when the doctor says "Lets talk...you may want to sit down."
It all started about a week ago when Macie started having very high fevers when we were in Chico visiting. They were about 103-104 and were accompanied by a bad rash. We finally went to a prompt care center in Chico and they put her on some antibiotics just to be safe. Well the fevers continued to spike to 103 every 4 hrs all the way though Sunday night. So Monday we went to her pediatric doctor for a second opinion. At that time her eyes had been getting very blood shot and the fevers persisted, with the rash. They sent me home and said to come back Wed. if the fevers continued. And of course they did...this is where the fun began.

Macie went with mommy to work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday while daddy was out of town working. What a perfect week so far HA! I started noticing that her lips were very swollen and bright red, and beginning to peel. She was also complaining that her mouth and teeth hurt whenever she ate. So at the Wednesday appt. I explained what I had been noticing and as soon as I was finished explaining and the doctor did a quick check of things she new exactly what it was.

She asked me if I had ever heard of "Kawasaki Disease"...of course I had not. Long story short, she explained, I listened while holding back the tears, and we called the pediatric cardiologist (in San Fransisco) for his opinion as well. All the signs pointed to it so we decided to treat. This disease is very hard to diagnose as there is no definitive blood test etc to say "yay" or "nay." But if left untreated and it IS Kawasaki it can cause heart aneurysms/problems which are usually fatal. So they error on the side of caution and treat if the child has 4 or more of the 10 possible symptoms...Macie had 6. Her symptoms included: High fever, rash, swollen lymph node, strawberry tongue, swollen lips, blood shot eyes. So I immediately said "Lets treat her for it." Aneurysms are NOTHING to mess around with.

So she sent us to the hospital immediately for treatment. The sooner the child receives the treatment the better chances of it working. As I was leaving the doctors I texted Nick to GET HOME ASAP...which is the point that I lost it and started baling! I knew everything would be fine, but its still very scary when your child has to be hospitalized. After calling several people and explaining, I finally pulled myself together enough to get to the hospital. Plus, Macie was feeding off of my emotions, and I did NOT want to upset her anymore.

We got to the hospital at about 1:30, checked in, got in a gown, and waited for the IV to be put in. That was the worse part...her hand is so tiny and it was hard to watch. But she did SO good, she cried a lot, but not a lot of squirming and pulling. She was so brave...and daddy and I were too : - ) So after that, basically it turned into a waiting game...12 hours of IV treatment. She received "Immune Globulin," which is an antiviral blood protein. Nick went home to get a few hours of sleep about midnight and I stayed and slept very little : - ) But come morning, we were done and got released about 11:30. We were exhausted but glad it was all over.

Basically what the future holds for her is this: in 3 weeks we go back for another eco-kardia-gram (or however you spell it!) and see a pediatric cardiologist from San Fran. At that point we hope that there are no changes and if not then we get another one in a few months and then she should be good to go. If she is going to have an aneurysm (there is about a 1% chance with treatment, a 23% without) then it will happen in the first month. This was a very scary few days, but we all survived and we hope that Macie will make a full recovery with no lasting issues : -)

Getting ready for her IV to be put in...she just doesn't know it!