This blockage is very painful and also damaging to the tissue, and it can occur anywhere in the body. However, when Jonee turned two, she started getting sick, and she's been in and out of the hospital ever since. She was pale yellow. I didn't understand what was going on. Mrs. Bradley also explained that a child with sickle cell disease has to be hospitalized every time she gets a fever because it can be a sign of something very serious.
Dehydration resulting from a fever causes the cells to sickle even more.
All normal babies get ear infections, go through teething and have all kinds of things that give them a fever, but since Jonee needed hydration every time she got a fever, they were constantly going to the hospital for the next two years. A year ago, when Jonee was four, she had her first stroke. This, too, was a result of the disease because the sickle cells had gotten trapped in her head and stopped the proper oxygen supply to the brain. I had such sympathy as Mrs. Bradley told me about it. She said that she and Jonee were in the living room and Jonee was playing on the computer.