DC has been having intermittent episodes of severe abdominal pain around his belly button, sometimes radiating into his sides, especially his right side. Each time we've had to go to children's A&E as the symptoms mimic appendicitis. Each time they've done bloods and a urine sample and told us it's mesenteric lymphadenitis.
We ended up there last week with the pain again, they did an ultrasound where they scanned his whole belly (I was there) including around his belly button. They also booked him in for a transfer to the bigger hospital for a surgical consult, working off the assumption that it was appendicitis.
The following morning the other hospital rang the ward looking for DC as he hadn't shown up for his consult, there had been a mix up with the transfer but the details of this mix up weren't fully explained to me.
The doctor concluded it wasn't appendicitis (I agreed) and his pain was on and off rather than constant. Conclusion: he's constipated.
I stated he is not constipated. He takes Laxido as he's autistic and averse to using the toilet, the Laxido is to prevent him getting constipated by not giving him the opportunity to withhold. He had been to the toilet every day for the previous four days, including that morning. They still insisted that he was constipated as the ultrasound report said he had visible poo. He pooped literally ten minutes after we got back from that scan. The doctor did not want to hear this and insisted he is constipated, give him extra Laxido. She admitted that she had not looking at the pictures taken during the ultrasound but had read the written report (I also saw this written report, it said his appendix was not able to be visualised and that he had some fecal matter visible).
The doctor said he did not need the consult at the other hospital and she was happy to send him home. I said that, respectfully, I did not agree with the decision and I was going to have to insist that he was still seen at the other hospital as sometjing wasn't right. She said she would see if their own paediatric sonographer was available and pointedly told me "he's very experienced". I don't know if she did see him or not as nothing further was mentioned about him seeing DC.
We were left sitting in DC's room for over five hours with no update, no one checking on him, no obs. Doctor then came back to say he could go home and to report to children's A&E at the other hospital at 8am the following day. She discharged him.
Next day, the other hospital had no idea why DC was or why he was there nothing had been sent to them about it. A doctor came to see DC, listened to the symptoms and said "that sounds like it could be a hernia". Got DC up on the bed, had a feel, and found the hernia right away - slightly to the left of his belly button. She called a nurse practicioner in and asked her to feel without telling her what she was feeling for. Nurse practitioner also found it straight away. DC is now on the waiting list to see a surgeon.
I spoke to the first hospital and the doctor stated that the scan report did not mention a hernia and that all they were looking at in her A&E was appendicitis and nothing else, he didn't have appendicitis and they were right about that. She could not tell me if the hernia showed up on the scan pictures as she still had not looked at them. She also stated that she did not accept that she was unwilling to listen to me about him not being constipated and that all she was focused on was a yes/no question of whether or not it was appendicitis, that she was not there to look at/consider underlying causes of the pain.
Before I send off my complain and ask to see copies of the photos, would a hernia show on ultrasound does anyone know?