I'm posting this after the fact, but wanted to document what happened. Last Monday, my little Joey developed a fever in the evening. It wasn't terribly high and he was still in good spirits, so we decided to not treat it and let his body fight whatever was going on. Dad came and checked on him and confirmed he seemed o.k. but to watch him. He slept with us that night and I checked his temperature constantly. He was getting high (around 102) and was breathing heavily, but I was hoping that he would start breaking the fever and just kept watching him. Darryl left early the next morning to Asheville and Joey still didn't seem well, but woke up and requested Blue's Clues, so I figured it was still o.k. He still had a high temp(around 102.5) but he was drinking and talking so he seemed o.k. I got up and brushed my teeth and got dressed and as soon as I came back into the room, things changed. Joey started seizing and convulsing. I jumped up and grabbed him and ran out of the room. I told the boys to call 911. We had workers here building a deck so I screamed for them to call 911 was well. It seemed like the seizure would never end. I kept calling his name and crying, but he wasn't responding to me. I truly felt helpless and thought my sweet baby was going to die.
He finally came out of it, but then went limp and tired. Finally the fire truck and ambulance came and I was screaming to take him to the ER. The ambulance EMT wanted to run some tests and apparently, his fever had shot up to 106. They got him in the ambulance and tried to cool him down with washcloths and then we were off. They wouldn't speed or put their lights on and I was really upset and frantic about that, but thankfully we made it to the hospital without another seizure. His temperature dropped to 103 in the ambulance and by the time we got the hospital, it had dropped a bit further.
Once we were admitted, the questions and tests began. Since Joey is not vaccinated, they wanted to test for everything. They told us he could have anything. We were worried it was Kawasaki disease again. They ran blood work tests and everything came back normal, so they said we had to test for meningitis. They test for it by putting a needle in your spine and collecting fluid. Needless to say, it's very painful and uncomfortable, but we agreed to do it. We would have to wait for 48 hours for conclusive results, so they admitted him and started him on antibiotics in case it was meningitis. I am very, very scared of things like meningitis, so needless to say, I was a wreck. I was also super scared it was Kawasaki disease again and prayed it was not that. All those past fears came back and I was on the verge of a breakdown. Being pregnant doesn't help... Darryl finally showed up and I know he was so worried and felt so helpless being so far away, but thankfully Dad was there with me.
We got some help with the big boys from our sweet neighbors and between them, some other wonderful friends and dad, the boys were lovingly taken care of and I could focus on Joey.
After 24 hours, the preliminary meningitis tests came back negative, so we could breath a little better, but his fever had shot up again to 104. So, now Kawasaki was not off the table, but he wasn't exhibiting any of the other symptoms of Kawasaki like red eyes or strawberry tongue so it gave us some hope there. Finally, his fever started to break and he went 12 hours with out a fever and we were feeling a bit more hopeful. Then it shot up a little again afterwards to around 100.9, but nothing as high as before. On Thur. morning, he requested food and milk and was eating a playing. His temperatures had gone away and he was starting to get back to normal. All the rest of the meningitis tests came back negative, so we were thankfully cleared of that and because his fever had gone away, Kawasaki disease was off the table. It was diagnosed as a virus. We were discharged that afternoon, Praise God!!
The next day, Joey had no more fever but broke out in a rash on his body. I called the hospital and the doctor and both felt that was because of the virus. I did look it up and he had most of the symptoms of a virus called Sixth Disease. It even noted the febrile seizures because of the temperature spike. So, while it will never be conclusive what he had, I'm leaning toward Sixth Disease.
Whatever it was, I'm soooo glad it's over. I'm so glad my sweet Joey is better and home with us. I'm so thankful for a healthy child. I'm thankful the hospital was there. While, I don't believe in everything some doctors believe and while I try to make wise decisions about modern vs. ancient medicine, I'm grateful to have access to the medical community when we need it. I'm thankful for the nurses and the doctors that helped us get through this. I'm thankful for all the prayers of my friends, family and community. I'm thankful to God for allowing my sweet baby to heal....
