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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To have taken this child to a and e

56 replies

UncontrolledImmigrant · 08/01/2017 09:39

One of my children, in the space of a couple of hours developed what led him kee last me an infection - heavy swelling around one eye, and around the mouth, with facial paralysis on that side as well. The eye was running uncontrollably, it loasked as though that one eye was crying heavily

I took dc to a and e as it was 10 pm on a weekend, there is no longer an out of hours service in our area.

Is this the kind of thing that I should have waited and tried to get a gp appointment for? It was the day before New Year's Eve

OP posts:
Original poster
UncontrolledImmigrant · 08/01/2017 10:05

Thank you all, apologies for my posts that are out of sync with your replies- I am glad to hear that most people would have done as we did.

It was scary indeed how quickly it came on. My poor guy Sad

OP posts:
Catzpyjamas · 08/01/2017 10:05

Stop worrying! YOU DID THE RIGHT THING!

PacificDogwod · 08/01/2017 10:05

Why would what you did be 'the wrong thing for the NHS'??
Genuinely, I don't understand.
He needed urgent inpatient help on a weekend night - how else would he have accessed that help?
Confused

OhTheRoses · 08/01/2017 10:07

The problem with OOH is that the call back can take two hours or so and I've never been advised to do anything other than go to A&E (ooh here is v minimal). Surely it's better to register at A&E as soon as possible rather than two/three hours later.

InfiniteCurve · 08/01/2017 10:08

That's what the NHS is for,and that's what A and E is for - so that people who need medical care can get it when they need it.( yes,I know it doesn't always work like that...)
In your case your son needed urgent care,A and E was the right place to be,you did the right thing

PacificDogwod · 08/01/2017 10:10

Periorbital cellulitis is very serious and yes, does come on v quickly.
Bell's Palsy is not as dangerous but the symptoms are of course distressing and alarming.

The NHS is not being broken by ill children and their worried parents - honestly, stop fretting and get angry at decades of mismanagement, political and financial gain being sought via the health service Angry

ThePinkOcelot · 08/01/2017 10:10

I don't know why you are asking either. You took him, he was admitted. Still isn't 100%, so how could that have been unreasonable?!

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 08/01/2017 10:11

I don't get this thread at all. Are you looking for us all to endorse your decision? You called 111 and followed their advice. Well done.

Did the HCPs at A&E say you should have done any different? No. they admitted him and put him on an IV and gave steroids.

Stopping angsting about a total non-issue. You did what you should have done - nothing more and nothing less.

PandoraMole · 08/01/2017 10:15

You absolutely did the right thing. My friend's DC had what sounds like the same thing a few years back.

She's fully recovered now but it progressed very rapidly and they ended up having 2 lots of surgery and a month long hospital stay.

Adelie0404 · 08/01/2017 10:17

Periorbital cellulitis is an emergency and frequently needs inpatient care. Not meaning to scare you (this hasn't happened!) but it can spread to the brain and cause an abscess or meningitis if untreated. The best option you had was ED. If you had been able to get an urgent GP appointment that may have been the quickest route into hospital but you couldn't, so ED was entirely appropriate. Not the wrong thing for the NHS, it is exactly what it is for!!

lljkk · 08/01/2017 10:22

Sounds very uncomfortable, OP, glad you took him.

FFS, the NHS needs more funding: buildings, people, equipment. People trying to manage sudden unexplained and very uncomfortable incapacitating or painful conditions at home is not civilised.

MoreBushThanMoss · 08/01/2017 10:22

Since DS was born in September, he's twice been to a&e.

The first time at 12 days, I just had an undefinable sense something was "off". Mum and DP told me i was being silly. By 9pm I was beside myself though no obvious symptoms... Took him in to a&e - didn't bother with 111- and we were put in a paediatric resus room as his temp was worryingly high. Admitted for observation, and 36 hours later, temp was back to normal and we were allowed home. Drs reckoned he was fighting a virus - and indeed his lymph nodes came up a couple of days later.

second time was Christmas Eve. Small amount of blood in poo. Called 111 who had GP call us back - who insisted he needed a&e - even though I thought it was unnecessary given tiny amount. Took him in, and indeed unnecessary - he had a slightly sore bum (deep inside) and it had bled a little. Took him home inside 45 mins.

I'm a first time mum , and if I've learned anything its trust your instincts ~ if you truly believed he needed urgent medical attention - you did the right thing Smile

GnomeDePlume · 08/01/2017 10:24

You did the right thing and it was the right thing whether it was the first time ever going to A&E or the first time that day. There isnt a limit to the number of 'goes' you get. This is the marvellous thing with the NHS.

Lorelei76 · 08/01/2017 10:29

You did the right thing
Tbh I don't know how the NHS threads here could have worried you
No one has said you have to be gushing blood to go.

Floggingmolly · 08/01/2017 10:31

Of course you weren't in the wrong. That definitely comes under the heading of Emergency; not minor injuries. But you know this, surely? Confused

EweAreHere · 08/01/2017 10:32

They admitted him and he was on iv antibiotics over 24 hours. The paralysis persisted for the last week - no movement on the left side of his face at all. It is now showing gradual improvement

Of course you did the right thing. Imagine if you hadn't!

The NHS guideline list for A&E that someone posted is very helpful, but, at the end of the day, if you're still not sure and have no one (nurse friend, etc) that you could ask for input, go with your instincts. You did here, and it was the right thing to do, clearly.

I hope your child makes a complete recovery from the facial paralysis.

Yoarchie · 08/01/2017 10:35

It's a very dangerous thing. Ok some people are going to A&E to get free calpol but others are afraid to go when they are in an emergency situation. I know someone who did not go when they were in an appalling state and waited for a GP to come out, at which point they were ambulanced to hospital, had a major emergency surgery and stayed in hospital for 10 weeks! You did the right thing OP don't give it another thought.

ATruthUniversallyAcknowledged · 08/01/2017 10:37

If you are genuinely anxious about whether you should have taken him to a&e (rather than anxious as he is ill) you need to go to your own GP to discuss your anxiety levels. That won't be a waste of NHS time either.

juls1888 · 08/01/2017 10:39

Of course you did the right thing. Stop tormenting yourself. It sounds like you are worrying that there's some sort of tick chart using up your a+e credits, there's not. For example, my husband and I have never had to call an ambulance in our lives however my husband has developed a heart condition therefore has been blue lighted to a+e 3 times this year until he waits for heart surgery. The 4th occasion I took him rather than call the ambulance and got roasted alive by the a+e staff, cardiologist and GP for not following the correct process. I was, like you, trying to help and reduce the burden on our NHS.

crashdoll · 08/01/2017 10:41

Please stop worrying. This was clearly serious and he was admitted which proves that it was. Ignore people on here. You didn't go because your child sneezed, you went because your child had a medical emergency and you'd sought advice from 111.

I hope he is on the mend now. Wish him well.

JerryFerry · 08/01/2017 10:43

Ah ok, cross posted.

My brother had BP and the paralysis lasted 6 weeks. He used acupuncture to treat it. He's had relapses but at least he knows what it is and how to treat it now.

Aftertheraincomesthesun · 08/01/2017 10:44

You never wait with eyes, this stands for animals as well as humans. Well done OP. Your instinct was right.

PacificDogwod · 08/01/2017 10:45

Having established that the Op did the right thing and WNBU, I do think there can be an issue with how confident parents can be in dealing with minor illness and being confident enough to, say, give a dose of Calpol to a miserable child and see if that perks them up.
Not in this set of circumstances and not when a sudden decline happens quickly, but there is an issue with feverish children being taking to A+E (and to GPs) when they have literally had a temperature and a runny nose for a couple of hours and they have not been treated with anything at home.

I cannot help but wonder how parents in the 60s/70s coped and whether the demand on urgent/immediate medical assessment was quite the same.

There is too much fretting over 'have I done the right thing?' rather than being confident in a parents' gut feeling. Experience does help, of course, and I also think we are lacking 'the village' to raise our children. The experienced gran who in the past would have either reassured the worried new mum or, in fact, have said "take him to the dr's, and take him now!" is not the same central figure in many families (and she can get it wrong of course too).
The point I am making is that there is a difference between a miserable, 'hingy' child and an unwell child and the 'end of the bed test' i.e. what do the look like? is reasonably reliable.

MoreBushThanMoss · 08/01/2017 10:48

pacific was that aimed at me?? Of so, just so you know, babies at 12 days should not be given calpol, and until 12 weeks parents are advised that even moderate fevers should be assessed by a doctor

PacificDogwod · 08/01/2017 10:52

Nonono, it was not aimed at anybody!
Well, at society at large, maybe Grin