So as some of you know... most of you know... I've spent the last 4 days in hospital with DD1 who is almost 5 with viral meningitis.
I'm on a soap box atm, so just hear me out and become familiar with symptoms and signs of meningitis so they can act quickly if something happens.
We were lucky, it was viral meningitis and I caught it early.
DD1 on Thursday morning was a bit crook, DH took her to the GP when he took DD2 and her temp was 39.5 while he was there an hour after panadol. On Friday early morning around 2.30am she vomited and had a temp of 40.2. We kept treating the temp as there weren't any other signs.
*side note* DD1 does not exhibit many signs of pain
DD1 on Friday struggled with the temp, I gave panadol and neurophen and tried to get fluids into her. At 1.30pm I gave her neurphen because her temp was 39.7, I hopped in the shower with DD2 who had croup on Thursday and I was still worried about her. We came out of the shower & DD1 was huddled under a blanket. She said the light hurt her eyes. I phoned DH who said not to worry, blah blah blah. I told him I was going to pack up and head to the hospital and to join me in an hour or two. Nothing to worry too much about.
We got to the hospital and DD1's temp was 40.2, her heartrate was high, her BP was high. They put her straight through the ED into an isolation room. They took bloods and found her white cell count was enormous. They scheduled a lumbar puncture and CT scan. While we were waiting, she perked up and started telling me fart knock knock jokes. They observed and called off the tests but gave us a diagnosis of viral meningitis. She had a headace and enough symptoms. They scheduled another lumbar puncture test for the next morning.
The next morning the paed & I talked about what was going on. Apparently her blood tests showed a child who should be near death. Who should be unable to move and completely flat, and yet DD1 was sitting up and talking with me. So they were deeply concerned, but didn't know what to do. We decided against a lumbar puncture because her bloods were too severe to put her under a general anaesthetic, but she was too bright to put a needle into her spine.
So the next 3 days were spent with extremely high temps up and down and a febrile convulsion or two. She wouldn't eat and couldn't do much at all. It was extremely scary.
I just want people to be aware of meningitis. So they too can move quickly and keep their kids safe.
I just wanted to offer huge to you.
My brother suffered meningitis at 4 months old & my BIL is left mentally disabled after also suffering it as a baby.
I hope your DD is ok & that you are too.
Oh Christy, what a rough ride you've had this week. My heart goes out to you Thank you so much for sharing your information and personal experience.
And what an amazing DD you have there (but I know you knew that already)!
*hugs* christy, I hope your DD is feeling a lot better today, and you are too. Isn't it annoying that a LP would diagnose properly, but you've either got to be well or very sick?
Whoa there! I'm so glad she is better. I checked out your FB link about it, very good - it's locked in my brain now.
It's very hard with a child with a high pain threshold. DD1 had a broken jaw and I didn't see her shed a tear. She was just quiet. It wasn't until I noticed her jaw in a particular light when she lay down I the couch that I could SEE it was broken.
I always watched her extra closely after that.
Hugs for you hun, I hope you get a nice deep sleep tonight xoxoxoxo
Thanks for sharing that info Christy... sometimes it's so hard to know what's *just* a temp and what requires immediate attention. Thank God you caught it in time, and followed the prompting to get her to the hospital
Christy, thankyou for sharing your story hun.
I know how scary it is when you don't know whats wrong. When Jack was only 10 weeks old he had extremely high temps for a few days (and also very high white cell count) with no other symptoms and they thought he may have had meningitis, unfortunately he had to go through the pain of a lumbar puncture to find out (fortunately) that it wasn't meningitis and that he had a UTI.
Like M, Jack obviously has en extremely high pain threshold. The doctors couldn't believe how well he handled it, they were poking and prodding him and he just grinned at them, LOL. They said he should have been vomiting and in lots of pain (especially when he wee'd).
I hope M recovers quickly and everything gets back to normal for you soon. for m and for you.
Last edited by Marlene; April 20th, 2009 at 10:32 PM.
That's just it Marlene... it could be anything. Luckily they did a wee sample and cultures & sensitivities for other forms of infection in the bloods or urine. So we ruled all that out on Sunday.... But it wasn't until Sunday that we knew for sure that we ruled out most other things.
Christy, I know what you are going through.
We went through this with DD2 when she was 4 with bacterial meningitis.
Just watch her closely this winter as she may pick up every bug that is going as their immune system is lowered due to the illness. Not sure if this happens with viral.
For yourself, get some rest as you will need it in the next week or so as she starts to improve and reaction sets in.
If you can get by with out the lumbar puncture that's great. Thankfully we didn't have to have one as the culture showed a positive reading.
A word of warning with anyone who thinks that their child may have it, they don't always get a rash or vomit. The main signs are a temperature that climbs and eyes that are sensitive light. If in doubt, don't leave the hospital or Dr's until you are ready. If I had left when I was told to we would not have our DD.
Unable to tolerate bright light, or any light at all (photophobia);
High-pitched, abnormal sounding crying;
Headache;
Neck stiffness;
High fevers;
Bulging fontanelles in babies;
Pain when chin is moved in towards the chest;
Petechial rash, a type of rash that is made up of tiny, pin-*****ed sized bruises under the skin, from ruptured blood vessels. The best way to tell is to press a drinking glass against the skin and look through the glass. A normal rash should blanch, or turn white or fade away; a petechial rash will still be visible.
Meningitis
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