Local family experiences new COVID-related illness | Local

Fredonia — Like many boys of his age, Kaneker enjoys playing outside, making Lego, and watching TV.

But at the moment, one of his favorite activities is eating.

The 11-year-old Fredonia resident has finally regained his appetite after spending almost a week at UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. He went home on Wednesday.

In the midst of an ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Kane was hospitalized with sick people, and even medical professionals are now beginning to notice — his mother, Mistyker, must be experienced by other parents. I want to spread some awareness before it becomes. Same experience as their children.

Kane is recovering from pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome, or MIS-C. The disease, associated with exposure to COVID-19, causes potentially life-threatening effects on internal organs such as the heart, lungs, and brain.

His match with MIS-C started without much fanfare. On January 18, Kane had a fever of about 100 degrees and had risen to a dangerous 103.8 degrees by the next day. At that time, Misty said he had taken his son to an emergency medical center.

Healthcare providers sent a boy, believing that Kane’s fever was a sign of the flu, probably influenza B. The next day, Kane’s fever was even higher, reaching 104.8. Misty said she worked from using ice packs on her neck, legs and wrists to giving her a cold bath to relieve her fever.

“I didn’t sleep for three days-I was trying everything I could to lower his temperature,” Misty said.

By last Thursday, Kane’s fever appeared to be broken, with his temperature dropping to 98.1 degrees. However, after taking a nap, Misty said his son got up and threw him into the bathroom, complaining of headaches, body aches and chest pains.

By about 4 or 5 pm that day, Misty learned that his son needed treatment and took him to UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. Based on his son’s symptoms, Misty decided that he was more serious than the flu and speculated that he could have COVID-19 even if the symptoms did not match what he knew about the illness. ..

During his trip to Pittsburgh, Misty said Kane was unresponsive and, coupled with his other symptoms, was afraid that his son would die.

Kane said she doesn’t remember much about her trip to Pittsburgh.

“I think I slept all the time,” he said.

At the hospital, doctors diagnosed Kane as an autoimmune reaction called multi-organ inflammatory syndrome. In this syndrome, multiple organs, especially the heart, become inflamed and the arteries around the heart enlarge.

Mr. Misty said there are many unclear points about MIS-C, but it seems to affect children aged 6 to 12 years, mainly boys, and awareness of the syndrome seems to be increasing. During hospitalization, there were about 17 people in the same condition, 7 of whom were on the same floor.

To help treat the condition, Kane was given different medications and two intravenous ports in each arm, and two or three different research teams took blood to help study a relatively new syndrome.

Kane and his mother were separated from other patients and forbidden to meet visitors, but sent a support show to the pair until family, friends, and Misty colleagues checked by phone from the card. So how did things go that Misty said he wasn’t the only one?

“We couldn’t welcome the visitor, but he probably got 28 cards and had balloons. That was great,” Misty said.

Kane tested negative for COVID-19 during her stay, but the syndrome itself was due to her apparent exposure to COVID-19 within 4-6 weeks before the first symptoms of MIS-C appeared. It is believed that there is. Kane’s blood type is O +, and researchers suspect that it may be associated with the syndrome, although there are still many unknowns.

However, medical care will be rewarded as Kane’s condition began to improve by his fourth day in the hospital. But to help spread awareness of the syndrome, Misty called a doctor at the emergency medical center with the latest information and informed them that Kane’s symptom was not the flu, so they are potential in the future. He said that MIS-C can be added to the list of flu diagnoses.

“Doctors said they had never heard of it before,” Misty said of the MIS-C.

Kane’s body was focused on healing and diverting energy from digestion, so doctors at a children’s hospital prevented Kane from eating anything. It changed by Wednesday morning when Misty said his son had eaten three pizzas, and the pair was allowed to go home later that day.

The situation hasn’t returned to normal yet, and Misty is working on a way for his son, a student at the Reynolds School District, to resume education. Follow-up visits to cardiologists and blood tests monitor Kane’s progress.

However, Misty can help warn parents and other medical staff about MIS-C, where his son’s story can have a fatal impact on his child, not yet connected to COVID-19. Said he wanted.

“If I knew what had happened, I would have tried to take him to the hospital two days ago,” she said.

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