Need some advice on poorly DD ... Please!

[ShadowsShadowsEverywhere]

DD had been really poorly with virus since last weekend, running a fever, not eating, barely drinking, runny nose and coughing non stop. Thurs night an ambulance was sent when I called OOH because the coughing had stopped but she seemed to be working a bit harder to breathe than normal. Paramedic said her oxygen sats were a little low but that she didn't think she needed to go into hospital because she was able to cry (which IME with asthmatic DS isn't always accurate but fine) they advised we take her to OOH doctor instead. Her dad took her and came back with amoxicillin. We are now on day three of the anoxicillin and there's still ho improvement at all, still running a temp even with calpol, still barely drinking, very little food at all (think maybe a yoghurt a day if I really force the issue) but obv I'm more concerned about fluids. She's still having periods where I'm not happy with her breathing but think it's probably a lot of phlegm that she can't shift making it harder to breathe as she's avoiding coughing because she says it hurts.
She has just been sick again and she's burning up yet again so it's back in a tepid bath and more calpol to try and bring the fever down.

My concerns are as follows. I don't feel this is "normal" toddler illness, to be running a fever for 7 days, same symptoms, same severity of symptoms for all tht time doesn't seem right. She's not moving around at all during the day, spends all the time laying on the sofa dozing. She's sleeping 14 hours a night. If it were an infection I'd expect to see a slight improvement by now with the amoxicillin?

I don't drive so getting her to the doctors again is problematic so I wanted some advice before I drag her back in. Does this sound right for a virus? Am I right to be concerned?

It's worth mentioning that DS and I were both ill with the cold symptoms at the same time she was and have both fully recovered, although I know everyone reacts differently.

Any advice would be gratefully received. TIA

You could try ringing ooh back to see if they know how long before they arrive. They might know by now.

Just had call back from nurse, they're admitting her to Paeds ward after initial assessment at the hospital - well she said they likely would be which I'm taking as them not being able to say for def without having seen her. Taxi on way, am frantically packing bag. Thank you everyone!

Hope she is ok Shadows

I hope she is ok op, she will be in the best place, always follow your gut feeling.

pack snacks and water bottle, I always forget them x

Hope she is ok shadows well done for sorting it out so quickly tonight. X

Glad they have acted so swiftly. I hope you get settled in ok.

Do you have anyone who can look after your younger child while you are at the hospital? I ask because if your dd stays in for a few days it is unlikely your younger child will be able to stay too. If not your DH may have to take time off work to help.

ooh doctor said she was fine!! so I walked straight out of ooh and into A&E. they've put her on oxygen and a neb, waiting to see if they'll admit her. I breathed such a sigh of relief when they got the oxygen mask out, I KNEW her breathing wasn't right. temp is 39.5

they think its a chest infection. she's on the ward still on oxygen, had xray in her room as too poorly to go down to xray. she's on a fluid challenge or they will put iv in and oral anti Bs, the amoxicillin still plus another one which is a once daily dose. I have had zero sleep but she's been dozing
thanks to the medical people who posted. it was off the back of what you'd said that made me walk out of OOH and straight into A&E.

Hope she is feeling better now :)

well done for sticking to your guns, try to catnap if you can

You are a tiger mummy - good for you!!! I honestly wonder about the 111 and OOH services, i have never had a good experience and would probably err towards A&E which is bad because its under enough pressure as it is. It is a system that needs sorting - to me it seems geared towards NOT seeing people at all cost.

I am glad your DD got the treatment she needed and hope that she feels better already. You did the right thing.

Poor little thing. Hope she's feeling better soon.
Thank god you took her into A&E!

Thank goodness she is getting the proper care now.

Thank goodness, hope she is on the mend soon.
Make sure you make a complaint about OOH.

How has your dd been today Shadows? Was thinking about you today at work, hope she is on the mend.

It is shocking that OOH thought she was fine with those symptoms, if you have the time once your dd is better I think a complaint would be a good idea.

Good morning, we are home!

No oxygen needed since lunchtime yesterday and she went from her making the monitor thing beep every time she coughed to the numbers moving but not enough for the monitor to beep (hah, sorry for non medical knowledge!!)
She was well enough last night to ask to go down to the play room and didn't want to go to bed, eating again. She was still struggling with fluids but we really pushed it towards the end of the day and she managed 500ml of dioralyte via syringe. I'm still having to push the fluids but she's taking them without a fight and urine output is normal so she could come home.

Her temp finally came down yesterday as well which was a huge relief as it still wasn't shifting. The two anticbiotics together seem to have tipped the balance and she's fighting it off.

OOH was beyond a joke. Saw a middle aged male doctor (relevant I feel as if they were very newly qualified for eg I might be able to understand the error). He wasn't concerned by the temp which at that point was 39.7. He had a listen to her chest and said it was fine. I pointed out the tummy breathing and he said that's normal when a child has lots of phlegm. He said her ear was red and that it was therefore an ear infection but that the vomitting was likely an allergic reaction to the amoxicillin and to reduce the doses from 5ml to 2.5ml and finish the course. I pushed the breathing and the dehydration but he said as she was able to shout "let go" at him when he examined her that was a sign her breathing was ok (just like the paramedic had said) and that her eyes and tongue were wet so not dehydrated. That was that.

I walked straight into A&E and made a bit of a fuss about how we had just been in OOH but I wasn't happy and wanted to get her seen by a diff doctor. Site manager took me and DD into an examination room off the waiting area I think with a mind to kindly tell me to sod off but did listen to me. Checked her temp "oh it is very high", went to listen to her chest and saw her tummy working hard with each breath as I'd lifted her top up and then his tone changed, took a load of details quickly, sent us straight through and she was straight onto oxygen and then a nebuliser. We were transferred up to Children's ward on a trolley with oxygen en route and she had to be xrayed in her room as wasn't well enough to go down.

The one thing I've learnt from this is to trust my instinct. My DS (younger) was admitted with breathing probs a few months ago. He had a slight wheeze and was tummy breathing then. The paramedics then said he was fine as screaming his head off but I insisted they take us in to be checked over as I couldn't afford taxi so they did and he was also straight onto oxygen but needed puffers with a spacer in the end to get his breathing sorted and is now on montelukast at not yet 2yos.

It was that experience that made me doubt myself with DD - I thought what are the chances that they've both got breathing issues months apart, I was overreacting because of how poorly he had been etc. but clearly not. I've been asthmatic since 3yos so I clearly DO know how to recognise changes in their breathing and I'm going to make sure I take either of them straight to A&E every time I think they're struggling rather than worrying about being that neurotic mum. The site manager came to see us before we were discharged and said he was sorry that I'd had the experience I did with OOH, that I'd done a great job at advocating for DD and that he wished us all the best which was lovely. I can't fault A&E staff either, they were fab.

Thanks for all the advice and help that night everyone

Oh forgot to mention what they diagnosed in the end!
They think chest infection. The X-ray showed something on the right lung. No white area which apparently indicated pneumonia so thats def ruled out. Nothing at all wrong with her ear, def NOT an ear infection. Or a UTI which was the other idea floated by the OOH. OOH GP had also said that if her temp was still high by the morning (after having said it was normal for a child with an ear infection) that I should take her to see my own GP. So I think maybe he just didn't want to have to refer? He did say if he sent her to Paeds they'd just send us home which, along with the diagnosis of the ear infection on "it's a bit red" had the reg on A&E trying to stifle a snigger and he said it was, and I quote, "what they in the medical profession call 'a load of baloney'" so I think that speaks volumes tbqh!!

So pleased she's on the mend :)

Just a word of warning re. Montelukast - your ds may be fine on them, but if you see any behavioural problems (anxiety, meltdowns, sleeping difficulties), please be aware that monte has some awful side effects that medics often won't acknowledge.
Sorry, I know that sounds bossy, but so many people don't know about it.

the phlegm thing annoys me (had many experiences of being fobbed off by doctors, as I have asthmatic children) - it might be the cause of the laboured breathing, but it doesn't mean it isn't there, does it? Laboured breathing is laboured breathing, and all the consequences that come with it, regardless of the cause! Glad you got it sorted out, OP

Oh wow thanks for the tip off Dishwasher. He's not been on it long and has is about to turn 2 and teething so difficult currently to pinpoint whether it's having that kind of effect but I shall keep an eye on it. I didn't know. I don't think when I was little they used it, or if they did, I wasn't given it. I used to have pink tablets that dissolved in a drink along with a brown puffer morning and night which is not a route they wanted to go down with DS being so little still. Do you know what alternatives I could push for in the event that montelukast did have a negative effect on him? He still needs the puffers fairly often and they won't even give me a repeat for him, I have to hook an appointment every time he needs a new puffer which isn't ideal.

Well yes exactly pfft, she needed oxygen regardless of whether a manic monkey! or phlegm or severe pneumonia were causing the shortness of breath!

IMO brown inhalers would be far preferable to monte. Monte should only be used as a last resort under supervision (but I say that as the parent of a child who had extreme side effects!)
Side effects of a low dose steroid inhaler are generally minimal.
A small percentage of dc who have side effects to monte are affected for years, possibly permanently. (Ds2 is three years off it and still affected)

See I asked for brown inhalers. That's what I understood from my own treatment as the next step in managing asthma, so when the doctor did that new thing they do where they say "what do you think we should do next" (which annoys me no end as often I don't have a bloody clue, not being a medical professional!!) I said brown inhalers as a way of reducing the vast amounts of sabutamol I'm currently pumping into his system. He was all oh nooo he's not even two, we can't actually diagnose asthma yet as he's too young to technically be asthmatic, we will do montelukast, bring him back every time he needs a new puffer and we will review with an aim of weaning him off the inhalers! I mean, that's bollocks. He's blatantly asthmatic, every time he's out in very cold air, or been running around giggling for a long time he needs a puffer! Often two, with the spacer, to get his breathing back to normal and he still sometimes does that cough cough cough thing at night and I go in to find he's wheezy. But the montelukast use has been a bit sporadic as yet because I have to put it in yoghurt, and at bedtime he doesn't want to eat yoghurt! He wants to sleep!

I may leave it for a bit and have a chat with a diff doctor at his next review.

I would do some of your own research about the options. I'll pm you later with a FB support page, they have loads of collated info. You could also ask their opinions, there are some parents who have had to become real experts about their dc asthma.
I know if I had my time again and id had the opportunity to learn about monte, we never would have allowed ds to take it.

Disclaimer: our experience has been bad, others are not, so I do come across as the voice of doom here'