Support Joey after his diagnosis

Hello everyone! This is for our sweet boy, Joey.

Joey has been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (SJIA) and anemia.

Joey has been released from the hospital, and is at home with his twin, siblings and all of his Dinosaurs!

I haven’t seen this playful, happy boy in over 2 months! So blessed, God answers prayers! Keep em coming! Thank you

Now that Joey is home, he still has daily injections, and medications in order to keep his SJIA, anemia and all the inflammation managed. He will also be having routine blood work & Rheumatology appointments to be sure this is the correct treatment, and to be sure Joeys body is responding to it well.

Any and all money donated will be used for Joeys injections, medications, appointments, medical and monthly bills.

Those of you that want to read Joey's lengthy hospital stay, I’ve detailed it in length below.

Thank you everyone who donates!

Joey started getting a little more whiny and clingy than usual shortly after his second birthday in March, but started getting sick in early May, with intermittent fevers, low appetite, more tantrums, very whiny & SUPERRR clingy to me. He then started to get a rash, but it didn’t seem to bother him and it would go away and come back. We’d give him OTC meds and he’d perk up and be normal Joey. Then right back where we started. Over and over again. We just could not put our finger on it. We figured it was growing pains, babysitter AND schedule change, terrible twos, maybe him and his twin played too rough, maybe it’s all the rain and season change, all the things. Finally, I said, mmmmm something’s up, let’s go get him checked out. With Joey's additional recent diagnosis of Autism/non-verbal, he can’t tell me what’s wrong, or how he’s feeling, yet. So it’s really a guessing game/read your context clues, etc.

We took Joey to his pediatrician and it was ruled a virus, based on symptoms. I took Joey to the ER a few days later for high fevers & he was lethargic. He was grinding his teeth and shivering so hard, as his fever got over 103-104. I tried to cool him down, do all the things, and I just kept doing it over and over again. I was scared for him. They swabbed him for flu & Covid, results were negative and told us to go home and treat OTC. He was getting WORSE & WORSE. So, a few days after that I took him back to the pediatrician and told her that there’s something else than just a virus. After she evaluated him, he was given antibiotics and ruled a URI, as he did develop a snotty nose and a little wheeze. Joey was on antibiotics for a week and wasn’t getting any better.

Once again, Monday, June 9th, I took him back to the pediatrician & we were sent to ER Cook Children’s in Prosper. He was immediately taken back. That was the scariest of days in my entire life. My baby, laying there, screaming, crying and so so sick. I’m comforting him but also following directions from everyone needing all different kinds of tests, scans, swabs, samples, etc. from him. I’m hearing all this talk in the hallway and in passing, “we need to get Oncology and Hematology, Infectious Disease & Rheumatology.” I don’t know who cried more those first few days, me or Joey. So much uncertainty, and I just wished so bad my boy could just tell me what hurts, what is it. I pleaded with him in his little scared eyes to please tell mommy somehow, some way... please tell mommy what’s wrong. Telepathically, in sign language, just please baby boy…

Let me tell you, my Joey was strong, he was as cooperative as a scared, very sick 2-year-old could be. Joey was making friends everywhere he went. The day after admission, the ER nurses came up and checked on Joey. The hospital was absolutely amazing, extremely thorough in explaining procedures and results and their meanings. The best bedside manner to our boy. And even though their job was to take care of Joey, several nurses opened their arms for me to cry into. Man, I’m so thankful for them, they were needed.

As we started to get pieces of the puzzle that were going on with Joey, he’s anemic and needed antibiotics for infection.. “okay. We can handle that…”, but for the biggest piece of the puzzle… All they could do was process of elimination at that point. All the scans, and echocardiogram came back normal. No UTI. No cancer, or tumors. No Covid, strep, flu, alllll the things it wasn’t. These things gave me some peace but the question I still had… “what is wrong with my baby?? There’s something wrong, very wrong…there’s gotta be some way you can figure this out.”

Finally on Thursday, we got some relief as Joey's doctors had 2 “could be’s.” One of these “could be’s” is called Kawasaki Disease. If it was this disease, then he needed other treatment. These doctors were in Ft. Worth, and they wanted to care for him in person. So, Thursday, June 12, we packed up & Joey was transferred to Cook Children’s in Ft. Worth within the hour, to be seen by Infectious Disease and Rheumatology. We then got one more, “I’m pretty sure it’s this.” We were at a point where, we were faced with, I think it’s atypical Kawasaki, so he needs IVIG as soon as possible to also protect his heart, along with its other uses. The other “could be” is systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (SJIA) which is an autoimmune disease and he would need daily treatment going forward. It was wise to do both IVIG and this daily injection to help treat the SJIA.

Friday he had one injection for the SJIA, then took blood the next morning to check his levels of everything. Saturday, Joey began the IVIG, and then Sunday morning he resumed his daily injection along with treating his anemia.

Wednesday, June 18th, Joey has been in the hospital for 10 days so far. The doctors need to be sure this medication is right for him, and that the inflammation in his body is going down. As of right now, it is going down, his white blood cell count is back to normal range, and no more infection. His doctor increased his dosage to his treatment and they are very happy with how Joey is responding…he will be able to return to his normal happy life at home with his family. It will look a little different, he won’t like his injections or any of that stuff, but I get to take my baby home. He’s okay, the good Lord answers prayers! We get to go home soon!

Joey was discharged from the hospital on Thursday, June 19th. When we walked in the door, and as soon as Joey saw his twin, they squealed and ran to each other, it was the absolute sweetest! Learning how to navigate all of Joeys needs will take time, but all of this makes you slowdown and really pay attention to the small things. It makes you realize how important or unimportant things are. Our babies are so precious and we only get them one time. Cherish and love your babies!

If you’ve read this far, thank you so much for showing your love and concern for Joey! We appreciate every one of you!

-The Fabela’s