I should've started this several days back when we first got admitted into the children's hospital, but that just wasn't possible.
Here's a quick run through on how we got to day 5 in the hospital with Hunter.
Emma had a fever Sunday, leading to Hunter getting one Monday... Emma seemed to manage hers fine, but Hunter's continued to rise and he started getting worse. Jake was in the field all of Monday until late Tuesday night when I begged him to come home early because I was starting to worry. Wednesday morning Hunter wakes up with another high temp, but completely covered in a bumpy rash. I only noticed his checks at first, but then I saw it was on his belly, arms, and legs. Pediatrician appt. made and daddy rushed home to watch the girls. Our new pedi is a good 40 min away(a big deal when you're used to Tulsa/Owasso) and after 2 doctors checking him out there, we were told Hunter had Kawasaki's Disease.
This is what he looked like pre-pedi appt and while we were at the pedi
Now, off another 20 miles down to Wilmington for an Ultrasound on his Lymph Node and blood work. Before we even made it in to get the ultrasound I begin to question just taking him to the ER. He is burning up, even after Motrin, he's completely covered in a red rash and he's basically out of it. The doctors office was nearly impossible to get ahold of and I am starting to meltdown(I rarely meltdown). By this time it's 4:00pm and we've finished lab work... now we wait in the CVS parking lot for an hour for the results. Thankfully, a kind friend of Jake's meets me with a phone charger because my phone is quickly dying, I still haven't heard the results, and Hunter is getting worse. Once again, I have to call the doctors office to see what the next step is. Basically, he gets admitted for dehydration which is fine with me... we HAD to be admitted!
IV's started(this process took forever) and a lot of observation and waiting. His rash is out of control by this point... belly, back, groin, legs, arms, face, head. His hands and feet are swollen and bright red. His lips and tongue are also bright red. His mouth is swelling and his eyes are slowing beginning to close. But, for the most part he was still sitting up in bed and playing with his toys.
Day 2 in the hospital only puts us at day 4 of fever so treatment for Kawasaki's cannot be started yet. We are given a list of what he could "possibly" have and basically continue to wait. They end up starting Doxycycline for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and this is where we start to get bad. My MIL thankfully/luckily/graciously flew in from Tulsa and stayed with the girls so Jake could come stay with us and bring us some clothes. Now, to lighten up the mood... I send Jake with Hunter at 4am for blood work so I can get some rest. I was sleeping so wonderfully until I hear a nurse, "Ma'am, you're husband just passed out." Are you kidding me!?! I run down the hall to see my big, strong, Marine husband completely passed out on the floor with 4 nurses around him. Hunter is screaming from his failed blood work attempts and with only 2 nurses with him now, Jake is on his own! Apparently the nurses were really worried about him though, I guess he hit his head really hard on his way out of the room.
Day 3 in hospital and day 5 of fever... which reached 105 by this time. We're on our 3rd IV(12 failed attempts) and his eyes are completely swollen shut. They start his IVIG treatment which runs over a 12 hour period and this should make him feel 100% again. I think there was about a 10% chance we'd need another round of treatment since so many Kawasaki's patients take to the first one. Once it was finished we saw a good improvement, but within several hours his fevers began to spike and his rash came back.
His lips and eye lids started to peal. This was his rash coming back... not good, but no where near bad.
Day 4 in hospital and I finally get to see my baby girls!! Becky brought the girls up to see us while she asked all the medical questions. Hunter was in an unbelievable amount of pain from his Doxycycline IV and his temp was still rising. That evening they started his second round of IVIG and ran it quickly through the night so he wouldn't be hooked up when he woke up for the day.
Day 5 in and after his second round we can see a great improvement with H. His eyes are beginning to stay open longer and the swelling is almost gone. His rash was almost gone and he was sitting up in bed more. They took him off his IV to promote more drinking and eating, but later on in the day he got several more fevers and his rash came back. We decided to just let his body try to correct itself with Tylenol and after some low grade temp reads, he stayed completely fever free all night!
Thank you ALL for your prayers and encouraging words. I'll keep you posted on when we get to leave this place and I can finally finish up the details for the girls' party on Saturday!
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