He got there at 5:10 p.m.
The entire family was immediately caught in the bustle and swirl of the emergency room on a busy Monday night.
A deadly discovery
Nadia was one of nearly 76,000 children to pass through CHOP's ER in 2006. The doctors and nurses treat everything from sprains and sniffles to gunshot wounds, failing hearts, infectious diseases and brain tumors.
Even so, Nadia was unusual, a jaundiced 5-month-old with apparent liver disease. She seemed too old for the problem her symptoms suggested.
In a tiny triage area behind the waiting room, a nurse assessed Nadia's condition as "acute," the second-highest level, due largely to her breathing difficulties.
Nadia was quickly moved to a treatment room and assessed again, first by a resident and then by two physicians. They drew blood and took an X-ray.
When a nurse inserted an IV, Joe realized it was going to take more than a couple of pills to set his baby right.
Allison and Joe did their best to answer the questions flying at them while tracking what was done to Nadia.
When did you first notice the yellow in her eyes? How long has her stomach bulged like that? Was her breathing always this labored?
Nadia had been yellow for months. Allison wondered: Should they have caught this sooner? Could they have prevented her baby's illness?
The doctors reviewed the ultrasound. Nadia had an enlarged spleen and liver, high pressure in her liver's portal veins, and fluid buildup in her abdomen.
The X-ray came back. It showed the low volume of Nadia's otherwise clear lungs. That accounted for her troubled breathing.
The tests were ruling out problems: No heart ailment. Clear lungs. No evidence of serious infection.
Then, in the small ER treatment room with barely enough space for the Kadis to stand on one side of Nadia's gurney, Allison looked over at the female resident checking her baby.
Was the young doctor crying? Oh, God!
"What's wrong?" Allison demanded. "Why are you crying?"
The resident denied she was upset. But when Allison pressed her, the resident reluctantly looked up at the young mother.
Her liver is failing, she said.
Allison began to cry. She left the room to tell her parents. Before long, they were all in tears.
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