Treating a rare scare in children: A look at Kawasaki disease

Abstract

J before Christmas, my only daughter, Nyah, turned 3 years old. I planned a ‘Hello Kitty’-themed birthday party in our small flat with a group of her close friends. The music, games and cake were a hit, and everyone had a wonderful time. However, towards the end of her party, Nyah’s face and eyes became swollen, and her lips dry and cracking. She was extremely tired and her temperature was on the rise. Over the following week, Nyah developed a worrying array of symptoms that appeared to be so varied and disconnected that I could not imagine what was going on with her. Nyah’s fever spiked at 39.9°C, and she soon developed a red and itchy rash. We took her to a walk-in clinic, where a doctor prescribed a 7-day course of antibiotics (amoxycillin) for what she believed was an ear infection. A day later, Nyah began vomiting the antibiotics, and the paracetamol I gave to her to bring down the fever, so I took her to our GP. She said there was no harm in continuing Nyah’s antibiotics, but she thought that Nyah had a virus that was affecting all of her systems, which may explain her wide-ranging symptoms. She advised that we introduce ibuprofen into the mix to keep Nyah’s fever down, and she suspected Nyah would be better in 2–3 days. Nyah spent the next couple of days and nights sleeping, and it was difficult to persuade her to eat or drink as much as she needed in her dehydrated state. Nonetheless, her rash began to improve, and her energy and spirits seemed to rise too. However, her fever was consistently over 38°C, and her eyes became bloodshot and sensitive to the light. She developed pain in her stomach, head and neck, and began excreting white discharge from her red, swollen eyes and cracked lips. She found it painful to walk on her inflamed feet, and by the time she saw the GP again, her neck movement was limited. The GP found it strange that Nyah had not recovered, that her fever had now been ongoing for 8 days, and she worried that something more serious may be the cause of Nyah’s symptoms. It was then that we were referred to SickKids, the Hospital for Aysha Mendes