Have you heard of Kawasaki Disease? I have never heard of it until my daugher got it just before March break.
It sounds very scary to 'catch' something called a "Disease" and yes, the consequence of leaving it untreated would be very severe however, it is not contagious. Since it is very difficult to diagnose, I would like to share with you all my experience.
At first, my daughter started with a low grade fever PLUS a stiff neck on Monday afternoon. How could a 4 years old got stiff neck? Since her pediatrician was on vacation, I took her to a friend of mine who is a family physician to have a look at her. My doctor friend suggested to give my daughter Advil. That was the 2nd day of her fever.
On the 4th day, I took her again to my doctor friend as the fever is still persisted. This time, my daughter had been prescribed with anti-biotic as the doctor suspected she had bronchitis. Then, that afternoon, some rash appeared on her neck. Her fever gone up to 104C that night...... She also got red eyes and I thought it was because she didn't sleep well......
My husband and I decided to take her to the walk-in pediatrician clinic on Friday evening as my doctor friend left for her trip already. It was at the clinic that we've heard of Kawasaki the first time. And, rash was found on my daughter's body that evening. However, the pedicatrician didn't suggest us to go to the hospital right away. Instead, he told us that my daughter might have Kawasaki or might be allergic to the anti-boitic. He told us to go back on the following Monday.
Meanwhile, my daughter's fever was getting worse even though we had been given her Tylenol and Advil alternatively. We stopped giving her the anti-biotic as the walk-in pediatrician said she didn't have bronchitis. I was exhausted and tired and confused. Who should I listen to? What should I do? Obviously there was something going on and I didn't think I could wait until the following Monday.
Thankfully, I was managed to get an appointment to see my family doctor. So at 4:30pm on Saturday, when my family doctor look at my daughter, she strongly recommeded us to go to the Sick Kids Hospital as she suspected my daughter has Kawasaki Disease. We rushed downtown, got admitted right away and stayed in the hospital for 2 nights.
Here's the link from Sick Kids about Kawasaki Disease.
http://www.aboutkidshealth.ca/HealthAZ/Kawasaki-Disease.aspx?articleID=8691&categoryID=AZ1i
My daughter was on Asprin for 5-6 weeks. We visited the Kawasaki Clinic 2 weeks ago and were confirmed that my daughter is recovered.
There is no test to confirm if the child has Kawasaki or not. It is diagnosed by symptoms. The only symptom my daughter didn't have is fussiness. Doctors and nurses said usually children with Kawasaki are very irritated but not my daughter. She was very irritated only at night time and she would woke up and cried like crazy without any reason.
Since then, I've heard from friends' friends about their kids who got Kawasaki. Most of them are lucky as they got treated on time (within 7-10 days). The age of the kids ranged from 5 months to 12 years old. Lot of time, I've heard that parents went to Emergency but were sent back home until they finally got to Sick Kids.
In case you speak/read Chinese, I have made my daughter's story in detail on the following blog:
http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/hanabiba
Hopefully this information can help all the moms and dads to be alerted.
Take care
Denise
