Kawasaki Disease

I should be sleeping right now, considering the lack of sleep I have experienced the last 4 nights, but my mind has been racing all night.  Tomorrow morning we will take our sweet boy to the children's hospital to find out what illness has been tormenting his tiny little body.

Rhett and I ended up in the ER on Tuesday night after his fever spiked above 104*.  They took ultrasound picts of his giant lymph node and gasped and awed over how large it was.  Praise the Lord, there was no infection in the node itself and nothing was abscess.  They also did blood work just in case the ultrasounds came back with something to worry about.  They let us go before the blood work came back and told me he most likely had Adenovirus.  His eyes were very red, high fever and throwing up.  These are all symptoms of Adenovirus.

Today we had an appointment to follow up with our Pediatrician and Rhett has still had fever and has been acting miserable.  We walked in to our Dr.'s office and right away I could tell he was concerned.  He had gotten the blood work from the hospital and said that Rhett's white blood cell count was very high...too high to just be a normal infection, he said.

He believes that Rhett has Kawasaki's Disease and needs to be treated at the Children's hospital by the only children's Infectious Disease Dr. in our area, Dr. Chang.  He will be given an IVIG (?, don't really know what that is), and that will help kill off the white blood cells that are taking over in his body.  Basically, from what I understand, Rhett's body is fighting against itself instead of fighting off this disease, his white blood cells are taking over.  It started with an ear infection, and this other disease develops from some sort of infection in the body.  Some of the symptoms mirror those of Adenovirus.  Rhett has four of the symptoms of Kawasaki Disease; high fever, fever for over five days, swollen lymph nodes, and very red eyes (the whites are VERY red).

So, we will be at the Hospital at 7:30 tomorrow morning for more testing and will know if he is in or out of Children's by 11:30.  Dr. H wants to have him treated no later than 12:00 tomorrow afternoon.

I had planned to take him to Children's right away, but Dr. Chang thought it best to give his body 12 more hours to fight off whatever this is, do blood work in the morning to compare to blood work from Tuesday, and if his white count is the same or increased, we will admit him immediately for Kawasaki Disease treatment.  If is count has decreased, it is likely another virus.

Basically I was completely filled with fear when I heard about this disease and the plan Dr. H has to treat him.  Now I am filled with Faith and hope.  I know that our little boy is going to be just fine and that he is completely covered in prayer.  God has a plan for his little life, and He will be faithful to complete it.

I called some people and emailed my bible study girls, family and pastors for prayer. Our Children's pastors came over tonight and prayed over Rhett and are believing for healing.  Rhett was running around, jumping, playing, talking and EATING by the end of the night.  He has not eaten more than a bite in 4 days. He has seriously laid in my arms listless for four days.  His lymph node is barely noticeable anymore, and he lit up like a Christmas tree when Dallas walked through our front door after being out of town all week.  Even if the tests come back with high white blood cell counts and he needs to be treated, I know that all will be okay.

Please say a prayer for Rhett.