Bri - Glandular fever & Tonsillitis
Just wanted to share our story. We are both pretty traumitised. Bri especially. She is terrified of the word medicine.
Well Bri stayed at mum & dad's on Friday...well all the kids did. Jesse came homa at about 3am.
That night Bri had a slight fever. Mum brought her home at about lunch time, by then she started to get a sore throat. Had some panadol & was ok. Just kept the panadol/nurofen going.
Sunday we went to a friends place. Gave her a dose of panadol first & she ran around with the other kids like she was fine.
That night she was warmer, I could tell she was sick, with the flu. I think it was that night she got up with the runs. Sat on the toilet for a good 20 minutes, then came to our bed. Had to put her in her own coz Jesse woke up & wouldn't go back to sleep.
She was really sick that day. Her temp was over 39, she was very red in the cheeks & she started refusing panadol & hardly drank.
Anth went away with dad for the night to get some fire wood, so she slept in my bed that night.
I did everything I could to cool her down without panadol. She slept with a cool washer on her forehead.
At 4am she woke up & vomitted. She's been tossing & turning in pain all night, but I thought it was more the fever making her uncomfortable.
So we got up changed the sheets & I went to give her a shower. No hot water...great. Sponged her down with the washer again & went back to bed. We had a pop top of juice in bed with us & some panadol hidden in it & she (finally) drank it. Skolled the whole thing.
She slept til about 9.30am on Monday. Woke up & came out & slept on the lounge. She pretty much slept all day, snoring really loud & had her mouth hanging open all day.
That night I had an appointment with my gp for Jesse, so I took her in too. He looked her over & told us she had Tonsillitis. That itself was a bit of a shock for me. I still thought it was just the flu. He told us (mum was with me) that we can't underestimate it. She is very sick. Prescibed 10 mls of penicillin twice a day. 2 that night to get a start on things. Asked us to bring her back Wednesday for a follow up as Glandular fever has the same symptoms as strep tonsillitis.
That night I tried so hard to get the ABs into her. I tried it straight. I tried it in milk & I tried it in juice. Out of 20, I only got 3 - 4 mls in her that night.
I persisted over night. Got some panamax into juice & got her temp down to 37.2...finally! We are getting somewhere. Just to get more juice & water in, some ABs & we'll be ok.
The break in fever lasted 2 hours. Straight back up to 39.2. And she'd only been to do a wee once that day that I could remember. Early in the morning.
So I rang my gp. Didn't hear back so I rang mum. She got home from work at about 4 & by then I was already half packed ready to spend a night or 2 in hossy. JIC.
Gp rang back. Agreed if I was worried to take her in. But we did still have our appointment the next morning if I wanted to wait. I just wish now I'd thought to ask him to ring the hospital ahead.
5.40pm we got into Macksville hospital. Filled out the form, told them what was happening, sat down & waited to be assessed.
About 7pm a woman came in pregnant. They came out & asked how she was feeling. 10 minutes later took her in. Thought to myself, well ok. Maybe she's in early labour or something & hoped she was ok.
About 7.30 a woman came in with a nose bleed. They came & spoke to her, we still hadn't even been acknowledged.
About 8 - 8.30 we finally get assessed. Didn't look in her throught. Just did obs. Sent us out again. Waiting waiting...
10pm I've had enough. You could see just by looking at Bri how sick she was. I went to the desk & asked how much longer...'about half an hour.' I asked if that was all coz I was considering taking her home. I had a gp appt in 12 hours anyway.
Well finally something happens! The nurse decided she'd just do her temp & obs again. Oh, & decides to get Bri an icy pole & gets the doc in.
Its decided that she is dehydrated, drip needs to go in & we need to go by ambo's up to Coffs. (No kids ward in Macksville)
By now its about 11pm. Our ambulance shouldn't be long.
While we sit there waiting there's an argument in the private room. We hear 'as if I'm going to kill myself with a child growing inside of me'. Umm, ok. I was wondering where the pregnant chick had gone. Thought she'd been sent off to Coffs already. It was kind of obviouse then that there was nothing wrong with the baby, no labour or anything. They weren't doing obs on her or anything, just had a security guard outside the room. I'm guessing suicide watch??
12am..ambo's pull in. Yay!
They come in asking about Bri, but no. A last minute decision has been made & the pregnant chick heads off to Coffs in our Ambulance. By now Bri & Jesse are finally both asleep. Jaz is home with DH.
More waiting. Empty vending machine & no cups for coffee machine, we are hungry & dry ourselves. One of the nurses offers us a coffee. PLEASE!!
2am our second ambo's finally get there! Bri & I hop in, mum has to follow with Jesse. Poor mum. I feel bad. She has to work the next day.
We get to Coffs, mum leaves at about 4am. We head off to our room & bed. 5am we can finally get some sleep.
Just as I am getting settled Bri starts crying that her arm hurts. The nurse comes in & says that penicillin can sometimes hurt as it can corrode their veins. Undoes everything & there's a huge lump where the canula is in.
The canula was put in wrong. Its not in a vein. 2 lots of penicillin & 4 or more hours of IV fluids going into tissue. Wasted.
The nurse unhooks everything & is going to take it out, but there is so much tape on her arm. Poor Bri is screaming in pain, so he leaves it to be done in the morning.
9am the pead comes around. He says it looks like typical glandular fever. Bri is pinned down yet again while he looks at her throat & takes a swab. (It took 4 to hold her still enough.)
Then its time for the canula again. Wrapped her & held her down (prepared with 4 holding her again.) A good 30 minutes or more just trying to get a visible vein.
Then the trainee pead attempts to get it in, while the other one watches & guides. Can't do it. So Dr Naidoo (paed) has a go. Noone can believe it. they give her a shot of anaesthetic, waited & had another go. She's still screaming in pain & can feel it.
Another lot of anaesthetic. Numbs for about 15 minutes. Not long enough. They can't get it in, so they give up & decide on a nasal gastric tube. The nurses tell me if Dr Naidoo can't do it noone can.
Dr Naidoo heads off & leaves it too the nurses. Pin her down again, put the tube in & it stops... Again & again they try. It won't go down. Poor Bri is screaming for them to stop. Begging. Telling them she wants a drink & to go toilet coz she knows thats why they are doing it, hoping they'll stop.
Eventually they give up. Her poor little throat is too swollen.
Throughout the day more pinning her down trying to get her to have panadol & ABs. They can't get over her strength. She's famous by the end of the day, lol!
The nurse in charge of the ward also dropped by to let me know Jesse can't stay. Breastfed babies are ok, but not toddlers.
I came so close to breaking down. I didn't know what to do. Jesse didn't sleep through without BF yet. Mum & DH both work. We live 70 kms away from the hospital. They couldn't just drive him up for a feed in the middle of the night, or to drop him off & pick him up before & after work. I felt like my only choice was to take Bri home. I couldn't leave her there alone. That just wasn't an option.
She heard me crying to someone else about it & decided to email her boss & 'sweep it under the rug'.
Later on Dr Naidoo comes back. Its either get the tube down, or get an anaesthatist to try & get the canula in. Thankfully after only about 15 minutes he gets the tube in. Relief.
All medicines, fluids, food everything goes down the tube. Everything is going good. Only problem is her refusal to eat & drink.
She had a 330ml bottle of lemonade over 2 days & some ice. Thats it. Thursday night she had about 1/4 of a pie. We got all excited thinking we could go home Friday, but that was the end of it.
All day Friday with nothing. That night mum brought macca's ;) It worked! 4 nuggets & some chips.
They left her tube off all night Friday night :) She still didn't have brekky, but she had strawberry milk & that was enough to keep the doc happy. We were allowed to go home!
While we were in there we got the results of the swab back. She tested positive for glandular fever on Wednesday, so ABs were stopped. But then on Friday she also tested positive for the strep tonsillitis. I wish they'd kept her on the ABs JIC. She might've had enough by now.
But she's on the mend. Eating & drinking well. Almost back to normal.
We came home with about 8 trauma teddies & a bravery award, lol. And a bravery award. & even a small bottle of coke as a reward for having her ABs. Even if she didn't know ;)
Wow! This is a heck of alot longer than I thought it'd be. If anyone reads, thankyou :)
