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Kawasaki Disease

How Much do You Know About This Infectious Illness?

By Jenn Director Knudsen

As Rowley explains, the infection that causes Kawasaki disease attacks the blood vessels in the whole body, including those feeding the heart. Inflammation of the coronary arteries makes it harder for the blood to travel smoothly through them and can – rather quickly indeed – lead to coronary disease, a blood clot or an aneurism that risks bursting.

The longer a child's fever goes on, the more inflammation is occurring within her body. That's why a swift diagnosis is imperative to the child's heart health – there have been cases of children dead from Kawaski in two weeks' time.

Willie Dwyer underwent a 24-hour hospital stay and, according to his mom, "was back into action within a week." After a couple of years, he no longer had to visit his pediatric cardiologist; his heart was perfect. He had no recurrence of Kawasaki, and his sister, Maggie, now 11, never got it.

Alyssa's situation has mirrored Willie's. Nearly one week into the disease, my daughter received the standard treatment for Kawasaki: She was hospitalized; blood tests were performed to rule out other infectious diseases and pinpoint Kawasaki; and she ingested high doses of baby aspirin to keep inflammation at bay, coupled with a 12-hour drip of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG).

The hand and arm that received this transparent, liquid medication was Alyssa's left one. While observing her muster through the treatments, I kept thinking how fortunate we both were she no longer needed that left thumb to muddle through the overnight hospital stay that included a laundry list of tests and tubes snaking in, around and through her zoo-motif hospital-issue two-piece pajamas. Most of the tubes led to machines that beeped, incessantly.

What did get her through was the endless supply of snuggles from me and chocolate pudding and milkshakes (the only sustenance that her desiccated throat could handle). The coloring books, crayons and markers, dollies and special stuffed bear that she named, appropriately enough, Angel Bear (and who also got its very own hospital bracelet) sure helped, as well.

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• Check out our Article Library.
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