What's wrong with Jack...

A lot of you who follow Facebook know that Jack is sick.

I wanted to write about it on my blog because, quite frankly, I need to get it out somehow. The stress of the last two days is wearing on me, and writing it all down will hopefully help a little.

On Thursday Jack developed a rash on his stomach and back. I didn't think much of it - I thought it was a reaction from wearing too much sunscreen or something.

By Thursday night he had a low grade fever - nothing too serious.

On Friday morning the rash had faded quite a bit and his fever was gone. So Kurt and I both went to work and sent Jack to daycare.

At about 11 on Friday morning I got a call that Jack needed to be picked up. His fever had returned.

I was shocked when I saw him.

His cheeks, ears and the palms of his hands were dark red - almost purple.

The rash had returned. It was darker and had spread.

His ears looked as though they were starting to blister.

His cheeks were peeling.

His hands were very swollen.

His fever was 102.

We took him straight to the doctor.

The doctor examined him for several minutes and kept asking us if he'd eaten anything new, if we'd starting a new detergent, etc. All No.

She asked to look at his feet and I was suprised to see that they were as swollen as his hands. The bottoms of his feet were as red as the palms of his hands.

She said his throat was "fiery red."

She looked concerned - so of course I was concerned.

I could tell she was not telling us everything. It's very frustrating when you know someone's not telling you the whole story. Your imagination immediately goes to all the dark places. She mentioned that it looks like Kawasaki's Disease - but will have to wait for the test results.

She ordered a bunch of blood work, a throat culture and a chest x-ray.

The doctor told us to take him to urgent care on Saturday if the rash/fever/swelling are still there.

So Friday was a very rough day.

The blood draw was the worst. It took both of us to hold him down. They missed the vein the first time - but were able to find it without sticking him again. But not before Jack vomitted all over himself. It was bad. And they took so much blood! 4 vials and a bottle that looked like a miniature Coke bottle.

Throat culture was negative for strep. Chest x-ray was negative for pneumonia. The doctor called us at about 8:30 last night to let us know that his blood culture was negative for bacterial infections and that his white count was good. The news on his white count was especially good because cancer was a concern.

On Saturday morning, the fever/rash/swelling were all present and accounted for. So off to urgent care we went. The swelling had begun to spread up his legs and there was swelling in his groin as well.

The doctor at the urgent care center told us that everything points to Kawasaki's Disease - but they don't know for sure. Kawasaki's is still very new - they don't know what causes is and the only way they can diagnose it is by ruling everything else out.

She did say that if he still has a fever on Monday - we should plan for a hospital trip.

Kawasaki's is treated with IV antibiotics and asprin therapy.

I don't know much about it - I'm trying to search to much on the internet because my experiences have told me that googling symptoms is NEVER a good idea...

It seems like every couple hours or so something new pops up. Like this afternoon Jack all of sudden fell down and said he couldn't walk anymore. He said his feet hurt. At first I thought he just wanted to be held - but when he wouldn't even walk to the coffee table to get gummi-savers, I knew he really couldn't walk.

Several hours later, his feet broke out in a fresh rash - this one was like blisters - and they hurt to the touch. They were big too - one was about the size of a nickel.

I'm tired.

I'm scared.

I'm frustrated.

I'm not coping well.

I ate almost all of the Easter Candy left in both kids' Easter Baskets.

I keep snapping at Hope.

I keep thinking the worst.

If you have a chance, please say a prayer for Jack.

I'm hoping that Monday holds the answers - but Monday seems so far away...