child has Headache 11 days after skull fracture, is it a worry ?

[CharlesChickens]

Dd has a fractured skull. Obviously her head has hurt since, but DH has just gone to pick her up from school as she has gone to the nurse with a headache. Until now she hasn’t wanted any pain relief apart from the first weekend it happened. I know she wouldn’t have gone to the nurse unless it was hurting her a lot, so is that a worry ? I’d stopped worrying about a bleed etc, because now she should be starting to heal.

I would be worried. Do you have a number for whoever she saw in hospital for the original fracture and what was her discharge advice?

Discharge advice was the standard post head injury leaflet, seemed mainly focused on the initial 48 hours or so after discharge.
She was back in school on Monday and that was fine. Yesterday not in school as there was some suggestion she might need an additional neck x ray, (she has a painful neck, but they felt happy that the neck pain is a whiplash type pain -she fell backwards from table height- , rather than spinal. The pain is on one side of her neck).
It is all tricky as the hospital is a long way from us, so it isn’t easy to pop in and ask them. Will call as soon as DH arrives home with her as I am home now too. Last time we called, about the neck, they said to go to the GP, the GP said to go back to A and E, so it became very circular. So yesterday instead we saw a nurse at the local cottage hospital, who was then able to speak to a consultant on the ‘phone and together they made the decision to not x ray her neck.

Given the additional neck pain I would go to back to A&E as GP advised to be on the safe side.

She did have a bad concussion, and she has fracture the thickest part of the skull, so i can see that it is going to be painful, but this is a jump in pain 11 days later.
I can’t post all the details here for legal reasons, I had to get my original thread pulled in case it compromised any legal issue, but it was a very frightening fall due to a total lapse of care by a youth worker, so she is very anxious and perhaps that is a factor.

I would get advice.
it's probably 'just' the after effects of the injury, but since it was quite a knock to the head it's better to be on the safe side.
head injuries, incl concussion can take some time to heal.

I remember your previous post. I would definitely at least call 111 for advice, otherwise A&E.

We’ve been told no activities like PE etc until after Christmas, so she is taking it as easy as possible but she felt well enough to go back to school. It is such a worry. I’ll try and get some advice.

I would also get her checked, A&E, to be on the safe side.

She is back at school after 11 days?
That is very soon after a skull fracture.
Definitely take her back to hospital. Take no chances.

Another vote for A&E. It may be nothing, but why chance it? I remember your other post, really sorry for everything that’s happening

Her head isn’t hurting now, so I think it might be that the position in lessons pulls on the muscles at the back of her skull, the nurse said that position would hurt. She is upset though so I’m keeping her home, calling the hospital and will take her to the cottage hospital or GP if the pain returns.
The hospital said on discharge that she could go back to school whenever she felt up to it, so it was rather vague. She is stressing about missing lessons and wanted to go back ASAP, so we compromised on a week, but she is still emotionally all over the place, and seems very vulnerable. It is half term next week, so if she stays home for the next two days then she’ll not have to go back in until November.
It is so stressful, she had a much less serious concussion as a smaller child, after falling off a sofa onto a stone floor, but that was during the Christmas Holidays and she was fine within a few days. I haven’t dealt with anything like this before, so it is hard to know when to relax and when to take action.

And yes the main hospital is a good hour away, and the wait is normally extremely long, anything up to six hours, so I don’t want to put her through that if it isn’t vital.

And thanks for the kind messages. I’m having nightmares and I am very stressed, husband went very quiet in the days after the fall, other daughter is anxious, because we all had the most enormous fright as she was so terrifyingly unwell on the drive to hospital and the weather was horrendous, we were driving through very high winds and floods. I don’t want to flap into a panic over every small symptom, but it has all been so scary. Nor do I want to dismiss something that might need attention.
The hospital said on discharge she would probably have headaches for a couple of weeks or so, so hopefully it is all normal.

Go to A&E.
They will want to rescan to check for any bleeds (some are slow to develop and can occur up to weeks after a knock), and given the known history of a fracture I would be doubly cautious

She seems fine now , it isn’t hurting any more and she looks fine, she’s smiley and chatting.
We are calling for advice though, to see what they think. I don’t want her to go through the stress of A and E unless it is essential, but I didn’t know you could still get a bleed so long after the initial impact.
When can we feel safely out of the woods ?

Follow the advice of the doctors; you're doing the right thing calling them for advice - i missed the post that you were so rural!
They should be able to give you a more accurate timeline regarding bleeds

If the doctors have concerns they will advise you appropriately.

As a medic we err on the side of caution, but we always take parents' views into consideration because you know your child better than anyone!
It's good that she is her normal self and that's reassuring; sorry if i have worried you unduly!

Well the advice is any headache that doesnt shift with paracetamol, or becomes severe. She isn’t in pain now, no pain all afternoon, mainly she’s anxious and emotional as you’d expect after a fright. We will take her back to A and E if her headaches get more pronounced.
I really appreciate all the advice and support because we’ve all had such a fright from the near miss of what happened. It is bad, but it could have been so much worse. So thank you everyone for posting.