Mom Says Son's Life Was Saved Because of Facebook

I am so happy this had a happy ending Let's not poo poo Facebook anymore It certainly has its advantages and if it means saving a childs life, what could be better right?

- Nanci Meek, Probate Fraud

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Wish facebook would have been around when I was a child then maybe my Mom could have posted my baby brothers symptoms on facebook and gotten a better diagnosis. He died on the way to the hospital after a evening of sponge baths to bring down his temperature as recommended by the Doctor. He was almost two, had meningitis and the Doctor totally dropped that ball.

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Would not be surprised if the child had been recently vaccinated.

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Wow. For such a rare disease that ER docs have trouble diagnosing a whole bunch of folks in this one little thread have had it, or know somebody with it.

I wonder how long that photo of her child and his diagnosis will float around the web? Til he's 20, 30, 40? I wonder what other seemingly harmless pictures of sick kids and their medical diagnosis are floating around out there.

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I saw your story on the news. My daughter is 32 years old. When she was 15th months she had Kawasaki virus. I can understand your worry and concerns as I was so scared. She was the first case in the Drs office. She is wonderful; no reprocussions from this virus. She had a mild case and we did follow up heart scans for one year after she was out of the hospital. I wish you all the best and thankfully there were people who could advise you and be so accurate. All the best, Sheila

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Currently there is NO DIAGNOSTIC TEST for Kawasaki Disease. My son, at the tender age of 3 months old came down with very odd symptoms...rash, fever, bloodshot eyes, and really red tongue. In my heart I knew he was very sick. Over 3 days, I took him to see his pediatrician 4 times and they couldn't put a name to his symptoms, so he said "it's just a virus". On Friday, I spoke with the pediatrician and he said to ride it out over the weekend and we he would see him on Monday if my son was not better. By Friday evening, I had enough of the "it's just a virus" and took my son to the Emergency Room. In the ER, the physician could not come up with an explanation or diagnosis-even after lots of blood tests and a spinal tap, so they chose to admit my son. After observing him all weekend and treating his symptoms, they finally had an answer. From Friday to Sunday night/Monday morning there were lots of physicians looking at my son's case and all of his symptoms and it still took them 3 days to say he had Kawasaki Disease. The truth of the matter is, Kawasaki Disease is so rare and is often overlooked--so it's a miracle when a child is diagnosed by the 10th day (which is crucial to not having long term heart damage). As a Mom of a KD survivor, I have learned that Kawasaki Disease has to be "ruled in". It is usually the last thing on a pediatrician's mind, since it is so rare.

Throughout my son's Kawasaki journey, I have learned that you must be YOUR CHILD'S ADVOCATE! My son is 3 years old now, has 4 coronary aneurysms. I am his voice. I am the only one that will stay on top of all medications, doctor appointments, procedures and tests. I do not depend on any physician or anyone else to take charge of his health.

Instead of bashing this Mom about how she posted on facebook to help get some insight on her son's "mystery" illness, we should be saying thank you to the Lord that she turned to facebook to share her son's picture. It is by her friends experiences that she was able to get the RIGHT DIAGNOSIS...not by what her physician said.

I constantly show people my son's "sick" pictures because I want EVERYONE to know what the symptoms look like. I don't want another child or family to go through what we have, especially since there isn't a diagnostic test yet. If you would like to learn more about Kawasaki Disease, there is a WONDERFUL website created by Kawasaki Mom's to help raise awareness to this mystery disease. Please check into it and share it with your friends and family...by raising awareness, more Moms, Dads, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and Physicians can think of Kawasaki Disease early on in a sick child, than as the very last option. The key to not having any long term heart health damage is EARLY DIAGNOSIS, by DAY 10.

www.thefacesofkd.com ~~a website created by KD Moms

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When my son was almost 6 months old he started running a fever on the way home from out of town I took him to the dr the next morning and they did some blood work and sent me home. The next day he was getting worse so I took him back to the dr and they didnt know what is was so we went to the er and they did a spinal tap that came back negative and sent me home, The next day he got worse and refused to eat and was vomiting so I took him in again an they said he had hand foot and mouth and sent me home, When I got home he started puking up blood so I took him to the er, They said he was extremely dehidrated and put in a iv for fluids and ended up keeping him overnight. The next moning his fever spiked to 104.9 and would not drop under 103. At this point the hospital did not know what was wrong. I was loosing my sanity by now and thought I was gonna loose my son. Me and my family where beside ourselves. They ended up doing a second spinal tap that was negative his body was so swollen and his eyes where swollen shut he could not even cry. They had taken so much blood that they could no longer find a vein to get any more. Finally by day 6 of him being sick 4 of which he was in the hospital they called infectious disese and they got together with 2 drs from my sons drs office and 3 sr drs in the hospital and they came up with Kawasaki Disease. Because he was so young they had to give him the treatment very slow. Within 48 hours of starting the treatment he was showing many signs of improvement. It affected his heart at first and he will have to see a cardiologist for the rest of his life. But now 6 1/2 years later he is very healthy and his cardiologist said his heart looks great!!!! He is now 7 1/2!!! We still have to take him to the cardiologist but only every 3 years for a stress test and echo. I will never forget what my baby went through. It was the hardest thing I have ever been through and I am so thankful to have my baby alive and healthy!

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Wow...I feel empowered by the article....i have seen articles on this disease but never stopped long enough to read up on it...thanks!

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My daughter was 18 months old and had a fever of 101 for a couple of days and we took her to the doctor. He said she was coming down with a virus. She continued w/fever but no other symptoms so we took her back to the Dr. He said maybe bladder infection, That night I woke her to give her the antiboitic and she was burning up with a fever of 105. We rushed her to ER and by that time was up to 106 and very dark red lips. They admitted her right away and luckily we live near Baltimore and the hospital had doctors from Johns Hopkins Childrens Center there and suspeced Kawasakis right away. After she developed other symptoms-strawberry tongue, rash on her back, very red eyes, they started her on the IV treatment. She went into shock so they had to lower the speed of the IV. Very traumatic experience. She had an echo cardiogram in the hospital, and another one 2 weeks later and then again a year later and she is fine. She just celebrated her 9th birthday 3 days ago. You want to believe your doctor but your intuition tells you something different. There was no facebook back then but I did express my concerns to a lot of friends & family that she still had a fever but no virus symptoms. I would have probably done the same thing if there was facebook then.

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TG for FaceBook! He could have died otherwise, do to incompetent doctors!!!

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Welcome to the new age Knitting club, Tea party social, and Coffee clutchers, table cloth bobbing sessions. In 2011 the twenty-first century your social gathering place is your computer and your freinds could be right next door or 15 thousand miles away. Just because you don't hug them at the door when they come over or actually drink tea with them eye to eye at the same table er give that one some time I am sure someone will make it that virtually possible. Wii I am confident will make it happen. But for now we post pic's, type out our discussions, and wait for esponses. Such is the social happy hour of the modern world. No less real and alot bigger. Oh by the way Kawasakies disease is so rare that the poor kid could have gone to the E.R up to five times before they even came up diagnosing him by which time his liver could have all but been destroyed. Good Job Facebook team. Ya done your buddies proud.

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Kawasaki's is a disease that is diagnosed by excluding all the other possibilities. Therefore, doctors don't think of it first. They are taught "when you hear hooves, think horses, not zebras". Add in insurance companies who will not pay for tests just to rule out something they consider rare. This mother had probably been "re-assured" by the doctors, but still felt concerned. She was right to go online & search for info, as well as post on Facebook. TG she did, as Kawasaki's can cause cardiac problems as well. I don't criticize either the doctors or the mother. I commend the mother for doing everything to help her child.

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It's not uncommon for a child to be treated for another illness before Kawasaki disease is diagnosed. It is not even considered as a diagnosis until a child has had a fever for 5 days or longer. When you take your child to the Dr if they aren't responding to the prescribed treatment then take them back. That is when other tests are ran and another diagnosis can be considered. I don't see how facebook played such a pivotal role. Surely she would have taken her child back to the Dr and since Kawasaki isn't diagnosed until a fever from 5 days to 2 weeks I don't see how the misdiagnosis of strep even affected the outcome. This article makes the pediatrician sound negligent when he wasn't.

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To those who feel the need to criticize allow me to invite you to come off your high horse and read your idiotic posts. It takes all of about 30 seconds to upload a photo to FaceBook from a mobile phone. You act as if this woman was sitting on her computer for hours streaming the social network while her child lay ill in bed! I ask what greater good could you be doing instead of coming to this post and bashing this mother? Do you have children? Should we criticize you for not being by their side at this very moment? And what is so terrible about posting your child is ill. I posted every update I could when my son was born premature. It kept close family and friends "in the know", provided my husband and I with words of encouragement and support and left me more time time with my son than picking up the phone and calling everyone did. Her posting her son's welfare status on a social networking site does not translate into her failing to seek medical attention for her child. As a matter of fact, if she got her son diagnosed within 5 days she was way ahead of the norm for most diagnoses of Kawasaki's. I wonder how high one's pedestal must be to make them so quick to judge another. Tsk, tsk.

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Great thing the internet! The mother is a very smart mom. Much smarter than those that cannot read a paragraph correctly and would rather chastise her for being concerned to her friends. To those that would rather condemn than praise her I say sc%^w you!

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Cool, hope he does great. Facebook can actually help people. Funny how so many people can find bad in anything.

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This happened to my son a month shy of his sixth birthday. We were told he had scarlet fever with strep. A few days later he threw up in bed and never woke up. I knew something was wrong. I called the doctors office, and this time we had a doctor who has practiced for years.(our regular doctor was on vacation) He took one look at my son, stepped out of the room for a moment, and when he came back said we needed to take him to the hospital for a "treatment". I expected they would give him something and send us home. Next thing I know we are signing release statements for blood product transfusions. Cardiologist came in they had to watch over him while giving his transfusion. His rash started to fade while in the hospital, but his skin peeled from head to toe. He will have to go for testing the rest of his life, and we caught it early!! Some are not so lucky! THERE IS NO BLOOD TEST TO DETECT THIS!! They can only tell by the symptoms the child presents with!!! This is also why kids would just drop dead in their early 20's. They had this and it was never treated. Fever, rash,strawberry tongue, eyes that look like pink eye with no discharge, throwing up. More likely they are under the age of 4,but my son was almost 6. That is why they didn't think he had it a first.If this is not caught early it can be deadly! Or cause permanent heart damage!! They are placed on high dose of aspirin for a long time after to keep their blood thin, to help artery walls heal. This is nothing to joke about. I don't blame her for asking her "facebook friends" If people watched the interview, they were in the medical field. Besides, some doctors Google your symptoms when you go to the doctors anyway!! I just hope the word gets out about this disease, I had never heard about it before my son had it! I am happy to say Tyler just turned 15 a few days ago, and got a clean bill of health at his last stress test! He will always have to be checked the rest of his life!! Tell all your friends with young children. Spread the word about this because the sooner it is caught the better the long turn outcome!

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everyone is equally.so are the children.we should take more care about them.

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