We started our day like “normal”, Hannah was still running a mild fever and the rash had not changed.

We sent her sister to school, Dad went to a meeting with a client and Mom stayed home to monitor Hannah.

Dr. Kessler called after lunch to check on Hannah again. Mom filled her in on the situation and Dr. Kessler decided Hannah was not responding quickly enough to the steroid and asked us to come back to Children’s Mercy Hospital and be admitted for the weekend.

The doctor was concerned that Hannah could be at risk of having macrophasia which means that the high antibody count plus high fever can damage the liver.

Dr. Kessler ordered 3 large doses of steroid to get her body back on track.

Mom called Dad about 20 times, texted him about 20 times asking him to call home immediately. This time, Dad had left his phone in the car to charge and didn’t get the messages until after the meeting.

Mom informed Dad that we need to go to Children’s Mercy Hospital immediately.

Dad went by the Elementary School and picked up “R”, and by the time he got home, Mom had a couple of overnight bags packed and we hit the highway for the trip to the hospital.

We all arrived around 4 pm at Children’s Mercy Hospital and weren’t sure what to expect.

We were given a room on the 5th floor and waited for the Doctor to come visit, she happen to be on call all weekend so it worked out really good.

While we waited, we were shown the “Welcome to Children’s Mercy Hospital” video on the TV. We learned all about the wonderful services at Children’s Mercy Hospital and also learned about the Ronald McDonald House. We were able to stay at the Ronald McDonald House if we drove over 50 miles to be there with our child.

Luckily, we were able to get a room for Dad and “R” to stay in, that night. Click here to read Dad’s story about the RMHC.

Hannah was taken to Rosie the Hippo’s room to have her IV put in and more blood work done.  (Hannah named the hippo Rosie).  During this time Pink Bear is always by Hannah’s side.  (she has had pink bear since she was a few weeks old so she is very important.)

Dad and “R” headed to their room at Ronald McDonald House for the night and Hannah and mom tried to settle into their room.

Hannah had a very rough night of itching, different bed and just not comfortable.  At 9:30 pm they began her 1st round of steroids it went good, she slept through the whole process.

Hannah woke up with a rash from head to toe, plus a fever to boot.   Her fever is hovering between 101 and 103.

No School again today, however, more blood work went to Stormont Vail so the doctor could have same day results.  Hannah is becoming a real trooper with blood work, but it gives the doctor answers to what her body is doing.

Her rash remained the same still head to toe and very itchy.  We are not really sure that the flu shot contributed to this, but it may have in our non-medical opinion.

Dr. Kessler called in the afternoon after getting the blood work results to see how Hannah was doing.  We told her about the spiking fever and the growing rash.

Hannah complained throughout the day that the rash was more itchy than normal.  Poor baby Benedryl is not cutting it for her.

(This was written by Dad and Mom.)

(Author’s Note: This is actually a back-dated post by Hannah’s parents.)

We were asked to come to Children’s Mercy Hospital in KC on Wednesday, October 16, 2013.

Dr. Kessler gave us the diagnosis of Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA), she will begin taking a steroid until we can begin a more long-term treatment than take her off of the steroid and let the main drug do its thing.  We are hopeful that after a year of no symptoms we will be able to take her off of all medication and she will be in remission.  We did catch it early, however, she will be more incline to get infections because her immune system is fighting against her instead of with her.  Which is also know as Autoimmune disease.   

Hannah was a real trooper today, had more blood work, x-ray’s and a flu shot very proud of our girl, now to begin the healing and relief process.

When we got back to town, we picked up “R” from Grandma and Grandpa’s house, Hannah had had a very big day and was very tired and proceeded to lay on G & G’s couch while we filled them in on her diagnosis.