New Year's day all three boys started coming down with colds. We dind't think too much of it but just kept monitoring their temps. By Wednesday Jake's temp started climbing higher and would go down for a short period of time with Tylenol but would be right back up within an hour or two. Chrissy took him to the clinic on Saturday morning to see if they could find anything wrong or if it was just a really bad virus. She drew blood to check his white blood cell count and noticed it was elevated. She said to start giving him Motrin because it sticks with a child longer than Tylenol and doesn't have to be given so frequently. So we stopped at the store and picked up some Motrin. We started teh first dose as soon as we got home and within a couple hours he was kind of playing but definately not up to par.
By Sunday, Chrissy was so tempted to bring Jake into the hospital because we were finding it really hard to keep his temp down and he wasn't sleeping real well anymore but was VERY lathargic. Matt said to just wait and see how he does and we will maybe bring him back in to the clinic on Monday.
So Monday came and Chrissy went to work but as soon as she got home she called teh clinic to schedule an appointment. We went in and they did more tests like RSV (which thye thought was somewhat likely), Mono, Influenza, a blood culture, Ebstein Virus and a few others. Everything came back negative for the rapid tests but the nurse reminded us that it doesn't mean that it is 100% positive That really didn't ease our mind. So she sent us back home and told us to come back Tuesday around noon to do a few more tests and recheck Jake.
Tuesday we went back in and Jakse wasn't any better, maybe even worse. They ran the RSV rapid test again and it still came back negative. Our nurse practitioner asked a couple other doctors what their thougths were and they came up with Kawasaki disease. This is not terrible if treated within the first 10 days. If left untreated or not treated within the first 10 days it could lead to thining of the artery walls to the heart and eventually aneurysms. So we were admitted to Children's Hospital in Mpls with that assumption or that it could be Adneo virus which is just a really bad virus with no treatments. The docs decided to wait to start any treatments for Kawasaki since they didn't know for sure if it was even though he was showing 5/6 symptoms of the disease. This was day 7-8. There is no test they can do to dtermin Kawasaki or not but it is usually just treated around day 9-10 in hopes that if it was the IV treatments would be in effect. The treatmens do come with possible side effects such as high fevers and allergic reactions so it would be better if it wasn't Kawasaki because we didn't know how Jake's body would react to the treatments. So we spent Tuesday and Wednesday in the hospital not knowing what it really was but thinking it could be Kawasaki disease. Thursday one of our docs from the clinic came in and said that she has some good news. The cultures came back and they know it is not Kawasaki but it is mono! So we could have been realease on Thursday evening if Jake would have started drinking quite a bit but since his throat is so swollen it is very difficult for him to swallow, hence he hasn't really eatten or drank anything for over a week (not good for someone who is already underweight).
So the doc from teh clinic came in on Friday and we were hoping to get the go ahead to pack our things and go home and he suggested they give Jake a steroid to hopefully reduce the swelling in his throat so he would feel more like drinking and without so much pain. So we started the steroid through the IV late Friday morning and be released on Saturday morning. The doc also said that this is one of the worse cases he has seen of mono in someone so young. He usually only sees these bad of cases in those 18, 19 years old. Recovery will be slow and he will more than likely take any sickness such as colds a lot harder than the other two for the next year because his immunity won't be as good.
Wow, what a rollercoaster! We are just happy that he is recovering. CLICK HERE FOR PICKS
Well it has been over a week since being released from the hospital. He was released on Saturday, January 14. When we first got home Jake didn't want anything to drink or eat which is not good. We fed AMJ lunch and then put them in their cribs for their nap. Jake screamed for about 30 minutes until Matt took him out and decided to take a nap and Jake could just lay with him. So everyone finally fell asleep. After their nap they had their snack and Jake still didn't want too much milk or anything to drink but he did try something at least. By supper he ate and drank more. His appitite continued to get better with each meal. He was also drinking almost like he used to so that was a relief. He has been a lot more crabby than usual but the docs said that would probably happen. He still thinks he needs to be carried everywhere. That is not going to happen.
On Wednesday, January 18 we went back into the clinic for a checkup for Jake and he weighted 19lbs 1oz which is a gain of 1oz which doesn't sound like much but it is actually good considering we are guessing he lost weight during his whole ordeal so for him to be above what he was is a plus no matter how little of an amount.
Jake is continuing to do better each day. He is starting to interact more and more with Aaron and Mitchell like he used to but still seems somewhat distant, hopefully this will change even more in the days to come.
Mitchell was playing with one of his wind/rev up trucks and he got Bouncing Tigger out of the toybox and stood him in front of the truck and reved the truck up and crashed into Tigger to make him fall down. When Tigger fell down Mitchell would say "OUCHH." That has been one of his favorite words for the past few weeks now thanks to Mom who always says it.
Jake is still continuing to do well although he has more crying spells (crabby) which the staff at the hospital said would likely happen. He also has been waking in the early morning hours frequently but we think it might be from the nurses coming in at all times of the night while he was in the hospital to get stats and give medicine. We did go back into the clinic today for a checkup and he gained weight. He was at 19lbs 1oz 9 days earlier and today he was 19lbs 14oz! WOW 13oz in just over a week!
We are still planning on seeing a dietician. They will be calling to schedule an appointment soon.