Non-Fatal Illness That Would Keep a Child Hospitalized for a Max of Three Years

[inmh]

This would be set in 2000-2003 in the U.S. (Massachusetts, specifically), with a five to eight year-old child as the patient. I tried looking for varying combinations of "illnesses" "hospitalization" "children" "years" and "time-frame", but nothing I came up with was very relevant or helpful for what I'm looking for

Comments

[sashatwen]

How about acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)? It's a common cancer in children, but it's got a very good prognosis nowadays and is very treatable. (See the wikipedia entry for details)

She would not be advised to visit other patients during certain chemo cycles, when her immune system is very fragile, but she would be able to walk around most other times.

Three years is a rather long stretch for treatment, but leukemia can go into remission and return, even several times, before it is healed. Maintenance therapy runs for 2-3 years, during which she would have to visit the hospital weekly, but would otherwise be living a normal life. (She would not, however, be able to do extensive traveling due to her therapy schedule. Hence I could see her wanting to catch up after she's done with chemo.) Once she goes into (permanent) remission, she will be able to live and travel normally.

[sleightly]

Exactly what I was going to say. :)

[inmh]

This works fantastically for what I have in mind, so thank you very much! :D

[emerald_green37]

This. Plus, if she's being hospitalized often enough, it would make it difficult for the State to find her foster parents and they might just keep her in the hospital for even more extended times (or whatever the plotline requires) Being bounced between a hospital and a nursing home is also another option.

[haldane]

My husband had an "unexplained seizure" as a child, and was put into hospital for observation. Of course it didn't recur while anybody was watching, but he had to take some absolutely foul liquid non-convulsant for years afterwards. If he'd had repetitions of the seizure on an irregular basis he would have been kept longer, and without an established family to return to I can see the arrangement just drifting along for years. This would be useful if you wanted something non-specific so that nobody could call you on medical details.

Oh, he did have an EEG abnormality at the time, but nobody could decide exactly what it was. Seizures are more common in children, so it is something you can 'grow out of' without any long-term effects.

[inmh]

Thank you! I'll consider this one as well!