Hudson's Kawasaki Disease Story!

Hudson's Kawasaki Disease Story!
Hudson's KD Story
by Hudson's mommy

On Saturday January, 17th, 2009 we had a small birthday party for Hudson. He was supposed to be celebrating his 1st birthday but everyone could tell he just didn't feel right. He was cranky and didn't want to be held, but cried if you put him down. He didn't want to eat and just wasn't the happy Hudson we all knew and loved. I blamed it on teething since he had no fever at this point. On Monday the 19th though Hudson woke up around 5 AM with a 102 degree fever and a cough. I gave him some Tylenol and put him back to bed. The next day his fever seemed to go up and down but mostly up and he still wouldn't eat. I started to notice sores in his mouth so I called the doctor. He spend his Wednesday January 21st, 2009...1st birthday...in the doctor's office and then at the hospital getting chest x-rays and blood work. Everything came back fine and we all seemed to think it would pass.Then on that Friday the 23rd I woke up to Hudson trying to cry but hardly making noise. His eyes were red, his lips were dry and cracking, the diaper that he had worn for nearly 7 hours didn't have a drop of urine it and he had a fever of 104.8, we were off to the emergency room in about 10 minutes flat. Once we got to the hospital they redid blood work, more x-rays, tried to get a urine and stool sample and started an IV because he was so dehydrated. After about 3 hours in the emergency room we were taken to Pediatrics and admitted. He spend the next 2 days at Firelands Regional Medical Center in Sandusky, Ohio. In those 2 days he not only had the red eyes, fever and bright red cracked lips, he had now developed a horrible rash, his hands and feet were nearly double their normal size and he had ulcers in his throat causing him to just moan and refuse to eat anything at all.Finally on Sunday the 25th we were transferred to Rainbow Babies & Children Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio nearly 2 hours away. As soon as we got settled into the room a doctor came in took one look at him, flipped through some papers and "He has Kawasaki Disease, he needs an IV now." I said, of course panicky at this point, "He already has an IV!" I was then corrected that he needed a 12 hour IVIG treatment. It was already late and we had a very long day so they decided to start the IVIG the next morning since they would have to be checking his vitals every hour while it was done. On Monday they did the IVIG which Hudson handled well and started him on Aspirin. The next day, Tuesday, they sent him to the Sedation Unit for an echo of his heart. They sedated him with Propofol which made him like a little rag doll, it was so scary to watch him just laying there not moving at all. They even decided to move his IV while he was under sedation because it was starting to blow from being in for 5 days straight, it's the weirdest thing ever to watch them poke and prod trying to get a needle in and he just laid their sound asleep. The results of the 1st echo were great, everything looked perfect! By Thursday the 29th Hudson was feeling better and looking better and was able to be out of bed and play in the playroom. It was so nice to see him smile again! The next day Friday the 30th we got to go home! He was to continue on the Aspirin until his next visit with the Pediatric Cardiologist.On Tuesday, March 17, 2009 Hudson has a follow up appointment with the Pediatric Cardiologist, Dr. Zahka at Rainbow Babies & Children Hospital. They did another echo and this time we didn't get as lucky as we did for the first one. He was diagnosed with dilated coronary arteries and fluid around his heart. We continued the Aspirin and were to come back in a month to make sure the fluid and dilation didn't get worse.On Tuesday, April 21, 2009 we were back to Dr. Zahka and the fluid around Hudson's heart his gone and the dilation stayed the same. We are to come back in a year and keep on the Aspirin until he is seen again in April 2010.