Kawasaki Disease: Phase 2

There are three phases in Kawasaki Disease:

First phase
Signs and symptoms of the first phase may include:

• Fever, which often is higher than 101.3 F (38.5 C) and lasts one to two weeks
• Extremely red eyes (conjunctivitis) without a thick discharge
• A rash on the main part of the body (trunk) and in the genital area
• Red, dry, cracked lips and an extremely red, swollen tongue ("strawberry" tongue)
• Swollen, red skin on the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet
• Swollen lymph nodes in the neck and perhaps elsewhere
• Irritability

(see pics below)

Second phase
In the second phase of the disease, your child may develop:

• Peeling of the skin on the hands and feet, especially the tips of the fingers and toes, often in large sheets
• Joint pain
• Diarrhea
• Vomiting
• Abdominal pain

Third phase

• In the third phase of the disease, signs and symptoms slowly go away unless complications develop. It may be as long as eight weeks before energy levels seem normal again.

So it's been about 3 weeks since Ethan came home from the hospital. We are now in Phase 2 of Kawasaki Disease which is 10 days to 4 weeks. So far, Ethan is feeling better. The first couple of weeks his skin was peeling and was still pretty miserable with some stiffness and joint pains.  Thankfully he's pretty much back to his normal self as of this week. I must say he's pretty resilient. With Kawasaki, we look for improvement week-over-week vs. day-after-day.

We followed up with Infectious Diseases and was told that Ethan was doing well. We will not need to follow up again unless he breaks out into another rash. We are now waiting to follow up with Cardiology which is crucial.

For now we are taking it day by day. We are grateful that E is back to his happy self. It's a scary situation, but we are confident he will be fine. I mean, hello, he has ME for a mom, what more can I say? (SMILE).