Aubrey's Story

---

My daughter, Aubrey, was diagnosed with Kawasaki Disease on December 15. 2011 at the age of 2. Her symptoms came on extremely hard and fast and was able to begin treatment within 48 hours of onset of symptoms. She first presented with a high fever that I was unable to bring down with over-the-counter medications. I called her Pediatrician's office and they recommended I wait 3-5 days to bring her in if the fever persisted. By the next day she was covered in a rash, had red/swollen hands and feet, red rings aroud her eyes, and a fever so high she was delirious. I called the Pediatrician's office once again and this time told them I was bringing her in and needed to be seen by whoever was available. She was so weak at that time that she couldn't walk, but her body hurt to be touched which made it difficult to move her. The doctor took one look at her and immediately mentioned Kawasaki Disease. Of course, at that time, I had never heard of this disease before. We were sent to see a Pediatric Cardiologist in the same hospital and then immediately admitted. An Infectious Disease doctor was sent in to look at her and he agreed that this was in fact KD. At that time, her fever was over 106 and she was presenting as a classic case with all 5 major symptoms. She was treated with a round of IVIG and her symptoms began to fade and fever disappeared. We were kept in the hospital for 48 more hours to make sure they did not return before discharge. However, almost right at the 48 hour mark, her fever spiked to over 103 and it was clear she needed more treatment. In the end, she had 2 IVIG, 5 IV steroid treatments, high dose Aspirin, and spent almost 2 weeks in the hospital. She was discharged on a tapered oral steroid and low dose Aspirin. Thankfully, while they did find fluid surrounding the heart and a mumur that cleared on their own, she did not suffer any coronary involvement. Her road to recovery was still not over though. While in the hospital, she had lost almost 1/3 of her body weight. It took her 8+ weeks to begin to act like her normal self again.