I'll not give the detailed version of the day's events just say that it was an emotional roller coaster for both of us. An unsuccessful visit to the student health office, a rush to get Lei to her first pre-semester class, meet her advisor, her First Year Seminar professor, welcome parents/students reception and off to a dinner on the grass for all and the students. They then broke out into groups in order to assist in the new student assimilation process. All this and more while my Leilani is looking like a teenager with the worst case of acne explosion of anyones life. This on a girl who has had perfect acne free skin her whole life. Her misery and self consciousness about her appearance were palpable. Her first day at college did not go well at all.
We made it through the day as best we were able. The following day held even more traditional events the new students were to be part of. Friday morning was to begin with the signing of the enrollment book followed by shaking the hand of the school president and then the new enrollee ringing the school bell signifying their start at Pacific University. As I prepared to leave the hotel for the ceremonies I got a frantic call from Leilani telling me that the rash on her skin had gotten worse, it had spread over her whole face, arms and chest and legs. And her face was intensely hot and painful. I met her in her dorm and was shocked by her appearance. Her entire face was covered in red blisters, they trailed down her chin to her chest and began to flow over her arms and legs. I touched her cheek and felt the heat emanating from her skin. My god, what it must feel like to her!
She looked desperately at me for an answer, a course of action, a plan of attack. "Help me daddy" her eyes said "You always have before...what do we do now?" I wasn't sure, I had to think...OK, first thing we need to do is get you to a real doctor, not a nurse practitioner at a college health center. This proved to be a good idea, but one that led down a path of phone frustration and anger. Twenty phone calls and an hour of "Press one if a limb has fallen off, two if your vision is cloudy, three if..." and I finally got a real person on the phone. Her name was Nichol and she was in obstetrics with Kaiser, our insurance company. I said to her: "Please Nichol, you are the first human voice I have spoken with, my daughter is sick and I need help, can you please put me in touch with someone who can see my daughter?" She did, and I was able to make an appointment for later that day. I took Leilani back to my hotel room, gave her ice packs and ibuprofen, it was ten AM, was I going to just sit there and watch her pain until our our appointment later that afternoon. No, back to the phone. I tried every dermatologist listed in the phone book. The best I could do was find one who would be able two see her in two weeks! Meanwhile the rash was spreading and I couldn't decide what to do. Is this an emergency room type of ailment? I didn't think so. We decided to go get some lunch and hang tough until the Kaiser Dr. was able to see her. Needless to say she missed all of the orientation and welcome ceremonies for incoming freshman.
Each of the receptionists and nurses who saw Lei and heard her tale of waking up her first day as a college freshman looking like an escapee from Kaulapapa reacted with deep kindness and a female only look transmitting understanding and sympathy. They each wanted to give a hug and tell her how sorry the were that this had happened to her. The Indian lady doctor was equally concerned and perplexed at her condition. Not to get off topic, but I just thought of something: over the previous three days of our endeavour at college I am the only male in the story. The roommate, check in ladies at school, waitresses at the restaurants, front desk clerks at the hotels, dorm house assistants, receptionists and nurses and doctors at the school student health clinic and Kaiser...all women. How the hell did I end up here?
Back to the story. We were told that it looked similar to a terrible case of Chickenpox, or maybe Shingles, a virulent herpes syndrome, a viral skin infection and a few other gruesome but unremembered sounding ailments. A culture was taken, but would not yield results for at least a week. The Dr decided that although she knew not what it was, she would treat it as a viral infection and prescribe a antivarl medicine. Made sense to me. We were told that she should see no further increase in symptoms and healing would begin in forty-eight hours or less. We were bouyed by the diagnosis and felt the worst was behind us. I was scheduled to leave for Hawaii the following morning and felt all would be well. Lei and I had a nice goodbye dinner and I choked up as I said goodbye and told her how proud I was with how she had handled herself the last couple of days. Tough kid that one, reminds me of me. I left for Portland to stay at the Country Inn by the airport before taking the early flight home.
There are only two kinds of phone calls that come in at three AM: bad news and someone from the East Coast who doesn't understand how time zones work.
When I finally found the evil cell device shrieking at me at three I saw that the call was from Lei and I knew she wasn't calling with good news. "Dad! My whole face...my whole head is swollen! I look like an ugly cartoon! It hurts Dad...my entire face hurts so bad, what should I do?" Yeah, it sure as hell wasn't good news that was certain.
Well, I did a bunch of calm questioning as to the facts, assured her we'd get this figured out and that we'd take care of it, we'll make this work somehow. "Go back to your room" I told her, she told me she was so freaked out about anyone seeing her she had snuck out of the dorm and was sitting in the dark under a pine tree in the quad. "Call me back at six and let me know if it has gotten better or worse, I'll know what to do by then".
I didn't exactly roll over and slip into a restful slumber as you might have expected of me. No, I got on the phone, canceled my reservation home, arranged for a rental car, reserved a hotel room in Forest Grove with two queen sized beds and a living room area. I rebooked a flight for Tuesday figuring either it would all be solved here by then or she would be heading home with me. No matter, Chikako was heading back to Japan on Tuesday for a month and I had two other kids requiring my presence in Hawaii.
When I arrived at Pacific University, the entire area was filled with hundreds of red t-shirt clad freshman all a-gathering for the traditional planting of freshman trees on campus. I looked up the steps of Lei's dorm just in time to see her hat covered head bowed in humiliation trying to invisibly pass by her fellow classmates unseen. She jumped into the passenger seat of the rental car without a word to me and as I closed my door she tearishly asked me to please just drive us away. When we were out of the school parking lot I looked at her and was beyond shocked. Had I not known it was her I never would have recognized my own daughter. Her face looked like red splotched Puffer fish that been manhandled to the point of maximum puff. The poor kid looked dreadful! And the sheer misery in her eyes as she looked up had me nearly made me cry, I couldn't talk for a minute.
Well, the next twenty-four hours were as they now say, "challenging". I'll not give the blow by blow, just say that it was an emotionally and physically rough patch of road for the both of us, well emotional for me and both for her.
Lei slept for 15 fours Saturday night and woke Sunday mid day unable to open her right eye due to the increased swelling. Back to the phone I went and then off to Kaiser Urgent Care in Beaverton. There were three different doctors who came to see her in a half hours time, each as perplexed as the others as to the ailment. Calls were made to the CDC to see if there were some unknown skin disease afoot. Blood, urine and skin samples were taken and rushed off. Side bar: Leilani has no fondness for needles and as such asked if she could hold my hand during the blood draw...I am just now days later beginning to feel the tips of two of my fingers again. Quite a grip the girl doth have when impaled with a needle.
At the end of it all the doctor (Another woman from India I kid you not!) felt that the swelling was an adverse reaction to the anti viral drug prescribed to her on Friday. She confiscated the pills we had paid thirty bucks for, called a nurse to give my daughter a shot of Epinephrine and Progesterone and wished us good luck, and she'd call if she heard anything frightening from the lab. Otherwise expect it to take about two weeks for Leilani to return to her normal appearance. We left the urgent care facility in somewhat of a daze but optimistic that it would all get better sometime soon.
The next morning Monday the first day of classes, her facial swelling was reduced by about thirty percent and the red color had left the bumps. She was on the mend, no doubt about it. After four days of each hour bringing increasingly bad news and pain, this was a true relief. I took her
back to school so she could attend her first day's classes. She was still a ghastly sight, but the knowledge that the worst was truly over flooded her with confidence and good humor.
That afternoon we had a second goodbye dinner once again at The Grand Lodge. She was cheerful and optimistic about the coming year. It was good to see her smile through the remaining bumps and swelling. I took her back to the dorm, hugged her and told her to call me anytime and I would be there. She told me she loved me and thanks for coming back to take care of her. My eyes watered, my throat closed down, I kissed her on the forehead turned and headed back to Portland and then home.
Brian
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