Every parents worst nightmare

[areweonabreak]

Sorry for the Daily Fail link, but I saw this on GMB this morning and I've been crying on and off about it.

Sepsis is without a doubt a killer, my DD was very very ill with it when she was 10 months old. We'd been told by 3 Dr's - 2 GP's and 1 A&E doctor that it was just a virus. For background she'd been poorly for quite a few days with a high temperature but no other symptons. We just couldn't get her temperature down. She was a prem baby and very small for her age but up until then she'd been doing very well.

It was only when I saw a Registrar walking past that had looked after her in SCBU, I insisted that she take a look at her. She also said she didn't look septic but she couldn't dismiss what I was saying. She did a quick blood test and her CRP levels came back at 260 (if you know you know)

She was immediately given a shot of antibiotics into her cannula and then blue lighted to a larger hospital where she underwent a lumbar puncture as they were then convinced she had meningitis. Thankfully she didn't. We never found a cause for the sepsis (as it's normally a secondary reaction) but it is thought that it was probably a urine infection.

At this time when our A&E is in crisis and you could be sent home or not taken seriously the one bit of advice I'd give to anyone who thought that their child was seriously ill is to insist on a CRP test. This can be done very quickly and will give Dr's a very clear indication of how poorly your child is. If the CRP levels come back below 10 then this is a very good sign. We were told that the threshold for starting intravenous antibiotics was a CRP of 50 and my DD's was 260!!

I don't want this to come over as alarmist but that simple blood test could have saved this little girls life 💔

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11919361/Jason-Watkins-admits-blames-daughter-Maudes-death-Sepsis.html

As PP pointed out, CRP is a vague indication of inflammation in the body which could have a number of causes. Doesn’t definitively indicate infection and certainly not sepsis. It’s not a case of sepsis being missed because HCPs aren’t doing one simple blood test. If only it was that easy!

thats right, but a very poorly child who also has a high CRP reading is to be taken more seriously surely? On it’s on it cannot be definitive but with other symptoms and evidence parents are presenting it’s a pretty strong case for Dr’s taking it more seriously

No one is advocating that, what we are saying is that a simple blood test could help build up a more extensive picture. I was told time and time again that it was viral, as soon as the blood tests came back it was panic stations. If the CRP tests came back very low then that builds up a different picture.

but not immediately considered septic…

Not immediately but if not treated correctly could lead to sepsis

I was still a teenager when I had my first and the midwives and HV weren't very nice, it was almost like they wanted me to fail. Then I saw a HV who was like a Joyce Grenfell character, sort of posh and old and I thought here we go again. She was lovely and so supportive when I was struggling to breastfeed and my GP said I was the expert about my baby and to trust my instincts and he'd always listen. I was very lucky.

I had a mare of a time getting medical attention for my daughter who was 9 months. She caught chicken pox and impetigo at the same time. She was so acutely unwell but I couldn't get any doctors, nurses, receptionists, out of hours GPs to hear past "chicken pox"- "we don't see kids with chicken pox", "chicken pox is just a childhood illness, have you tried Calpol?"

This went on for 7-8 days, turned away from doctors, minors and A&E. Eventually I phoned up my doctors and basically said "she's had a fever of 39 for 5 days, she looks like an extra from the walking dead. I am scared if I don't get her seen she is going to die".

Suddenly an appointment was found, the doctor took one look and phoned the paeds ward "I'm sending a 9 month old in. I've got no idea what it is. Prep an infectious disease room for her".

And there we stayed for 5 days in our own little room with her on IV antivirals, antibiotics, blood tests.

We were never really told officially what was actually wrong. I suspect chicken pox for sure because she had it again recently but it was incredibly mild and completely disappeared after 4 days, but impetigo is a working theory. Her skin looked utterly flayed though.