Sean's Story
On a Monday morning, my baby woke up screaming and was burning up. He had a full body rash and a fever of 103. I gave him Tylenol and made an appointment with the doctor for that afternoon. Our regular pediatrician was out of town, so we saw a different doctor. Due to his age and not yet having received his MMR shot, we had to rule out measles first and wait for the culture. They checked to make sure his eyes were not red. The fever continued even with rotating doses of both Tylenol and Ibuprofen. He was inconsolable and by Wednesday he had conjunctivitis in both eyes. I went back to the hospital and got a second different doctor. He said that they had ruled out measles but that 5 days was a long time for a baby to have a fever so to come back Friday if it hadn’t gone away.
We came back Friday and the doctor stepped out of the room and came back with the pediatric cardiologist and explained that he thought we were dealing with Kawasaki Disease. My toddler was with my in laws during the appointment. The doctor told me that they needed to admit Sean but that there were no beds available at the hospital, so I had to drive him to another hospital about an hour away. All I had with me was his diaper bag and my purse. They treated him with IVIG that evening for 12 hours, and by the next morning he was so much better. His rash was gone, his fever was gone and his eyes were back to white. He presented atypically with only 4/5 symptoms (fever, rash, conjunctivitis, and swollen lymph nodes). Thankfully, no coronary aneurysms.
Misdiagnosis?
Treated with IVIG on Day 5
Current Conditions
No coronary effects, echocardiogram at 6 years also clear.