Kiah was diagnosed with Stevens Johnson Syndrome, which was caused by a bad reaction to a bacteria she came in contact with when we were first admitted to a hospital in Lincoln with pneumonia when her symptoms started to show. Her doctors sent pictures of her to Omaha to try and diagnose what was happening. Stevens Johnsons causes busters to form on your skin, in your mouth, throat, and eyes. After we realized what was happening they wanted to move Kiah to the burn unit to treat her. I was worried that the burn unit would be a very scary place for her so my sister asked the doctors "what about Children's?" Kiah's doctor made a call and it was determined that would be the best place for her. The doctors in Lincoln had never dealt with this before and they weren't really sure on how to treat her. The doctors at Children's Hospital & Medical Center had treated children with this and were concerned that the blisters in her mouth and throat would become so severe that her air way would close. A few hours later we were in an ambulance and on our way to Children's.
From the moment we wheeled her in through the ambulance bay I knew we were in a special place. Kiah had a cool rag covering her eyes because the blisters on her eyes were making it extremely painful to look at light. There were fish hanging from the ceilings and frogs too. Everyone was so kind to us and reassuring. They took us up to our room and immediately there was a team of doctors and nurses there to help Kiah. In Lincoln the doctors couldn't tell me really what to expect and if you look this up online there is some pretty scary stuff. One of the first things one of the doctors did was pull me aside and tell me that Kiah would get better. He also said she would get worse before she got better, but just knowing she would be ok was amazing news.
Everyone was so great they made a very scary situation as good as it could be. I know that we would not have had the same experience anywhere else. Children's is an amazing place for kids who are sick and their families. There will never be enough good things I can say about Children's.
Since our time at Children's, Kiah is almost 100% healed. The scaring left behind on her eyes has blocked her tear ducts. We have tried one procedure and we have another coming up to try and fix it. Thankfully it did not affect her eye sight and the scars on her body have all healed and gone away. Kiah is happy and healthy and I know we are much luckier than a lot of families at Children's that is why it is so important to help them any way we can.