Child mental health after short-term acute illness/hospital stay

[GrammerPedent]

DD (7) was ill and in hospital for 9 days. She had sepsis which was picked up and treated quickly thankfully before it had the chance to become imminently life-threatening but she was seriously ill with a bacterial infection which got into her bloodstream and into her leg. Due to the latter she will have to use crutches for a few weeks so 'getting back to normal' isn't really available to us yet. Energy levels are still recovering too. She is back at school but on a reduced timetable for now.

I'm a bit concerned re her mental health. She is thinking a lot about how she wishes she was still in hospital. I think due to the secure feeling there and the fact that it was all quite low-key and 'nice', so if you forget the traumatic medical stuff, her days consisted of sleeping, eating, drawing, puzzle books, playing games, watching films. Lots of people being nice to her and bringing her whatever she fancied etc.

I feel as though if she were fully well and we could get back to all our usual activities she would naturally move on but we still have one foot in the medical side of things.

Has anyone else navigated this and can give any insight/advice?

It's finding the balance between 'ignoring' it and trying to distract with other activities and move on but not wanting to risk a MH issue festering and neglecting to do anything about it.

Hello,

I see you haven't had many (any) responses so I thought I'd weigh in as I walked this path last year. For some reason there is almost no online support for parents who's children are recovering from a severe acute illness despite how distressing it is and how many other parents have walked this road before us (and are walking it right now!).

For context my previously healthy DD (4) caught a number of respiratory infections at the same time causing respiratory failure and the need for a ventilator and life supporting measures in a paediatric intensive care unit last January. After this we were sent home with an all clear stamp of approval however she never recovered fully, we now know the illness caused quite extensive lung damage which was picked up months later.

This has had a serious impact on her mental health and ill be Frank with you, we have absolutely no support in place despite me banging on every door possible.

As your daughter is older she likely has more private counselling options available to her. If you think this is something beneficial I would contact them ASAP as the wait times can be astronomical, we have been on a wait list for a private play therapist for 9 months!

In terms of what we have done at home to help her we have had photos printed into a photo book from her hospital stay. She loves looking through it and I also find it very cathartic to look at the photos and remember that yes, it really did all happen. The play therapist at GOSH talked about this becoming "a part of our family's story" and that we would never forget it but that we could in time accept it as part of "The story" of our life. For some reason that has really stuck with me.

We also have lots of spare medical equipment given to us by the hospital that she loves playing with with her toys etc if your dd still plays like that. We find things that normalise hospital like a teddy with an IV etc are helpful, there is an our generations doll with a crutch for example. When our dd lost her hair the bald barbie became very important to her etc.

In the PICU there were psychologists to support the family, their advice to me was to sort MH support for myself first and foremost in the oxygen mask analogy! Chances are it's all much more traumatic for you than it is for her!

I've never found any sort of group online or in person to support parents of children who are ill/ have been ill. It's almost always illness specific eg cancer, asthma or disability focused. You may be able to find something if you search down a sepsis route, if there is a specific sepsis charity (I'm sure there will be) this is a fantastic place to start.

More than happy to talk more here if you want, it's a dark and lonely road for some reason xxx