[deadcat1]

Okay, this is my first post of something other than comments....I really don't run across all the stuff people find and put up on here, however, I did have a child go through a medical crisis....and thank you Kelly (DR Queen) for helping me...although I didn't quite get how to put the pics in the right spots according to the story ~ so sorry all ~

So, on December 5th, 2008 my son was with his dad (we share joint custody), had been complaining of a headache and dad took him to the family doctor.... The doctor concluded he had a sinus infection and prescribed antibiotics... Dad gave son his medication....night fell, bed time.........in the morning my other son (younger) was up first (NOW that is a shocker as the older always gets up early) and had gone downstairs where dad was getting up also....

Dad asked younger son to go upstairs and let older brother know it is time to get up, as he was getting his medication out for him to take.

Brother went upstairs, tried to wake brother up, noticed brother had a swollen right eye....went and told dad who came upstairs to see what was going on...was able to rouse him enough to talk...asked him what happened to the right eye....response was I must have fallen out of bed and hit it...

Throughout the day, older brother was feverish (103+) and somewhat delirious... also was going through bouts of diarrhea and vomiting.... also talking crazy stuff about buying a school book for $80 (that kid hangs onto his money and can usually tell you to the penny what is in his savings) and he would NEVER offer to spend $ on school stuff knowing I would....

Dad contacts me, tells me he has a bump over his right eye, can't keep anything down, had multiple bouts of diarrhea, was in the tub to get washed off and just got more incoherent. I tell dad to meet me at the hospital (one of the better in the state~not the local one).

I arrive and find my son in the ER, I approach him, he barely is aware of what is going on, and the doctors are prepping to do a spinal tap.

They say he has meningitis, and we are able to go to the specialty hospital in the area (via ambulance) and is admitted directly to PICU (pediatrics intensive care unit).

Due to the meningitis he is placed in a room for isolation so no one else can be exposed.
Bacterial meningitis occurs in approximately 0.8 to 1.5% of individuals undergoing craniotomy.
The first picture is a before shot...

When I arrived at the hospital, my baby looked like he took a round of pro baseball to his face...

He had 4 antibiotics running, fentanyl, and two IV lines running at all times….

Then he started having Grand Mal seizures…..due to fever being almost 104 constantly, swelling inside his head…. Had metabolic acidosis, and a ton of other issues…. Here are some pictures we had him sitting in the hospital chair, trying to make a normal environment and have him moved around, these are right before he started going through bouts of Grand Mal seizures…

They decided to operate on his eye, so he had ENT specialists, and an Ophthalmologist: is an eye M.D., a medical doctor who is specialized in eye and vision care. Ophthalmologists are trained to provide the full spectrum of eye care, from prescribing glasses and contact lenses to complex and delicate eye surgery. They may also be involved in eye research.

They did a lacrimal duct abscess drainage to his right eye….

Later as he was still not making much progress, the ENT specialist came back and did a double irrigation of his sinus’
Complications
A bad abscess in the frontal sinuses can drill through the bone and come out above or into the eye. (ALREADY BEEN THERE)
In extreme cases of sinus infection, the infection can spread and do horrible things - they can even infect the brain. These conditions are rare, however, and most patients with serious infections respond to antibiotics.
I have no pics of the procedure, but it was a painful process for him, they punctured through the sinus cavity and then irrigated it with saline….on both sides~
Throughout all these procedures, he ended up with meningitis, MRSA, staph infection, he ended up with pus swelling his right orbital cavity, he also had pus in his brain and lungs…all this after 5 CT scans, 2 MRI’s, multiple IV’s, and they did a craniotomy to release the pressure in his head…

So, after two weeks in ICU, multiple antibiotics, surgeries, etc…. and he finally came around and got better….

So, he ended up with a PICC line for 5 weeks….but he seems to be all better, even took him to the University for an IQ test a month later and he came out normal…

However, my ministrations exposed me, I ended up getting an abscess in my forearm and MRSA along with it…. Dang, those drugs cost tons!


And during all this, I was doing finals (A&P) and getting ready for my wedding….. I figured out how to cover this bulging swollen spot on my arm for the wedding…gloves!

So, yay, my own story turned out well, however it was a scary time…..

[Faline]

I am really glad that your son is ok now, when i saw the pic of him smiling i felt relieved. SO scary when your child is seriously ill.

[deadcat1]

Originally Posted by kelly ↗

I am really glad that your son is ok now, when i saw the pic of him smiling i felt relieved. SO scary when your child is seriously ill.

Thank you ~ yes, now all's well I don't feel bad posting his pics....

ALSO~FYI for all who have kids, one of the first things you should ask your child is if they can put their chin to their chest, if too stiff and painful, that is one of the meningitis things to look for...

[.spork]

Poor baby :( Thats so much for a kid his age to have to deal with. I'm sorry you had to go through that, but I'm so relieved to hear hes alright now!
I love the pics of him smiling! He looks like such a sweet kid

[EternalAbyss]

Jesus! That's horrible :( As someone who's had life-long difficulties and many hospitalizations I really feel for him! If I had a child and he/she were in this situation I'd be so terrified. The pics broke my heart but the ones of him smiling are so precious, what a little trooper! I just wanna squeeze him :)
Wow meds are ridiculously expensive! Where do you live, the U.S?
I must add that you look absolutely gorgeous! Congrats on your marriage, and good luck to you all. I hope your arm is/gets better, and I'm so glad things worked out and your son is okay! You have a beautiful family <3

[Shelbeano ^-^]

Great parenting skills! Had my son had a swollen eye like that, I would've gone off on the dad for taking his sweet time to call.

[wickedqueenwicker]

Meningitis is bad shit. My best friend was born with it, fucked up his nervous system horribly. He feels no pain and is strong as a bull. Sounds pretty cool, right? No. He can't feel it when he's sick, if he's having body aches and pains, he doesn't feel it. I once watched him step on the bottom of a broken glass bottle and get it stuck in his foot and he didn't even know it until he went to take a step and heard it clanking on the driveway.

[Maeven]

OMG .... so glad to hear he's ok what a lil trooper.
Hugz to him. Thanks for sharing the story and the pic's great thread because it is so personal.

M.

[deadcat1]

Thank you all for the kind comments....

I think some parents would go immediately and some would see if it was just a fluke and hit his eye (okay, I'd still go even with a swollen eye as we use more % of that sense than the others) but what was done was done... I had some animosity at first, but he genuinely loves his boys, and I hadn't answered his text right away cause it was a general no emergency responce required like "911 call me" which I would have immediately then.... I'm used to the random text questions back and forth about the schedule, etc...

Anyway, the past is that---past---

He sure is back to how he was before, but had we waited, who knows.....

[gorewhore]

Wow, you managed to use your sons near death experience to post a pic of yourself all dolled up. Its amazing how you tied the two storys together. Kudos 'mom smiling in pics with her dying child cause she knew from the start she was gonna post them on some lame site' Kudos.