A Scary Weekend

I’m really sorry there will not be a Fun Photo Fun post today as we have not been having much fun this week.

Bob became ill on Thursday. she was generally unwell for most of the day. On Thursday evening Bob had a rash that looked viral. She’s a very rashy girl but as her temperature was 39..4 even after Calpol we called the out of hours doctor at 9.pm. They were unable to give us an appointment until 3am so they advised us to take her to A & E.

The triage nurse gave Bob some ibuprofen. I didn’t realise that ibuprofen helped to reduce fevers, I thought that it helped with swelling. After waiting a couple of hours we were taken through to the 24 hour walk in department as they said that our case was more suitable for a GP than A & E. That was why I called the out of hours doctor.

We waited a while longer and we were eventually seen by the GP at 3am. If it hadn’t been a different hospital I would have thought that this was our original appointment. The ibuprofen had kicked in and had reduced Bob’s temperature to 38. After examining Bob the GP said that it was a virus and it should get better on it’s own but he told us to come back if it got any worse.

On Friday Bob seemed to improve. She was more interested in food and she was happy to play for short periods of time.

On Saturday things were much worse. She slept all day, refused all food (even sweeties) and Calpol and ibuprofen were having no affect on her temperature. By early evening Bob was very hot! Our thermometer was saying that she was around 37 but I knew that it must not be working properly. Another thing that was worrying me was that she had developed a couple of red spots. She still had her initial viral rash but she also had some red spots that didn’t go away when we pressed them.

We called the 24 hour GP and made an appointment. As we sat in the waiting room we took it in turns to hold Bob as she was almost too hot to handle. Also whilst we were waiting I noticed that she was developing another rash under her right arm. This rash worried me as it was made up of small purple dots that didn’t fade under pressure.

When the GP saw this rash it concerned him too. He took Bob’s temperature and it was 40..5. I started to cry when he told me as I didn’t realise that temperatures could get so high. We also told him about the small red marks on her leg. These seemed to confuse the GP. He pressed them for a while and decided that they were more of a scratch than a rash and just as he was ruling them out the red dots came off! It was strawberry! We had tried to give Bob some fruit for her dinner and she was still wearing some of it. We felt a bit silly but I was grateful for the strawberry spots as they had made me go to the doctors.

Bob was admitted to hospital as the GP wanted her to be seen by a pediatrician because of her temperature and her new purple rash. We went to the children’s ward and waited for the doctor.

A man came and said that he wasn’t quite a registrar. He did tell us what he was but I can’t remember. He examined Bob and he also wasn’t happy. He said that he would like the registrar to take a look at her.

The registrar came and she was lovely! She had such a lovely way with Bob and made me feel that we were in good hands. After examining Bob she said that there was a small chance that it could be meningitis but as the illness had initially started on Thursday she hoped that it might be something else. Bob’s temperature was still very high and they also found blood and protein in her urine.

To diagnose meningitis they use blood tests and as Bob is so small she said that she would only do these if they were absolutely necessary. First she wanted to send Bob for a chest x-ray to rule out other infections.

Bob laid very still for her x-ray and when they were finished the lady gave her a sticker. Bob didn’t want the sticker! I started to realise just how poorly she was.

We returned to the ward and waited for the results. It was strange to be sitting there hoping that your child had a chest infection. A few minutes later the nurse came in and started preparing Bob for blood tests. She didn’t tell us the results of the x-ray but we assumed they were clear. They put a numbing cream on the back of Bob’s hands and in the creases of her elbows. The nurse said that it would take an hour to work and then it would last for up to 4 hours. She returned an hour later to remove the cream and the plasters, which Bob hated, and then we waited.

We continued to wait and worry for what seemed like a very long time. I kept watching the clock, keeping an eye on how long the cream would work. I hate needles and was dreading my daughter having to go through that. I also kept thinking the worst but I tried not to.

A new nurse came to introduce herself at 8am. She took Bob’s temperature and it had reduced slightly. I asked her about the blood tests and how the cream would only last for another hour and she told me not to worry as they had a freeze spray that they could use if needed. I wondered why they couldn’t have used this in the first place.

The nurse kept monitoring Bob’s temperature and luckily it started to be controlled by Calpol and ibuprofen. We didn’t see the doctor again until 2pm. She said that as Bob was improving that it must be viral as meningitis wouldn’t improve on it’s own. She said if blood tests had been done overnight she wouldn’t have questioned this but that there was no need to do them now. This was great news! It just would have been nice if they had told us this the moment Bob’s temperature began to drop to save us a lot of worry.

The doctor said that we should stay there until about 7pm so that Bob could be monitored but, unless things worsened, we could go home and manage her temperature there.

Between 2pm & 7.30pm we were hardly seen. I understand that as we Bob was no longer a worry we weren’t a priority but it would have been much better for us to take Bob home at 2pm.

Bob is still unwell but she is much better than she was. We are spending our days cuddling in front of CBeebies waiting for this nasty virus to go away. She has a few minutes when she perks up but she soon gets tired and doesn’t know what to do with herself. Hopefully she will be back to her happy little self soon!