In hospital with DD age4 - peri orbital cellulitis, antibiotics not working?

[miniworry]

Just after a bit of a handhold as I sit awake next to my 4 year old Dd in hospital. We have been here since Sunday morning with a very swollen eye following conjunctivitis. They have diagnosed it as periorbital cellulitis and started on 2 types of IV antibiotics.

They said that we should see an improvement within 24/48 hours but as we near 48 hours it seems to look exactly the same- no bigger and no smaller. Her fevers also keep coming back as soon as the Nurofen wears off.

There was talk of a CT scan and a potential operation to drain it if the antibiotics didn't work as the infection could be coming from the sinus and now I'm petrified they are going to say that is needed tomorrow. The thought of her having to go through that after everything the last two days breaks my heart.

For those who have had/had a child with this, can anyone give success stories to keep me afloat? Did anyone's antibiotics take more than 48 hours to start showing visible improvement?

I hope things are going OK today for you both and they are soon bouncing back to normal .

I totally understand this fear. It is so horrible for the parent but the anaesthetists are fantastic with the children and use the smallest possible dose for their weight so they are out for the shortest possible amount of time. My daughter was out for about 30 minutes from gas to waking up when having ear grommets put in and was home the same day as if nothing had happened. I know grommets isn't comparable to what your little one is going through but wanted to reassure you if she does need anaesthetic.

Also, my brother had periorbital cellulitis when he was 4. The doctors changed the antibiotics several times before they got one that cleared it. My mum still talks about the fear. I really hope your little one responds significantly very soon.

Just to add, my son had to be put under for an op as a baby and it was terrifying for me but he was (and still is) absolutely fine. He was just a bit washed out and sleepy for a couple of days after.

Wishing you all the best.

@Greentomatoes21 this is really reassuring to hear, thank you so much that's helped me feel slightly at ease if she needs surgery.

@UndertheMapleTree thanks so much for sharing your story with me, I really appreciate it- it's great to hear you didn't have any lasting worries about what you had done!

@miniworry When people are put under, they have an anaesthetist. The anaesthetist has had specialty training and is extremely competent and good at what they do. Yes, sometimes there is a worry when putting people under, however, that’s limited to very elderly, those with specific health issues, comorbidities etc. A typical baby/child/adult, even when unwell presents no issue and the person who is exceedingly well qualified and experienced in this (which they are, after training) will look after them excellently. Your child will be just fine if they require this.

My 7 year old was in hospital for a week with peri orbital cellulitis a few months ago. Horrific time, my heart goes out to you.

We also had no improvement initially and the doctors were querying whether it was orbital cellulitis so he needed a second CT scan (had the first one when he was admitted). The CT scans were fine, he wasn’t sedated but he wasn’t scared and were over quite quickly. I’d imagine you can request sedation if your daughter is scared though.

My son ended up needing a FESS operation, which was basically draining out the fluid around his eye and sinuses through the nose. The operation was about 2 hours. He was surprisingly calm going for the op. The anaesthesist came to speak to him before to explain what was going to happen and was really great with him. The only part he was upset by was the needle in his hand sending him to sleep so they changed it to a mask over his face and he just calmly went to sleep with my holding his hand. Inside I was obviously a complete mess but I was so focused on staying calm and breezy for my son that it was ok.

After the fluid was drained we saw a massive improvement both in his face and in how much more well he was. No more fevers, much more himself, no longer asleep all day / having fever dreams. From the afternoon of the surgery he was up / able to get dressed, able to go to hospital school the next day, playing with the other kids. He was able to go home a few days later on oral antibiotics (once he’d finished the IV ones) and has been fine ever since.

I hope your DD shows an improvement soon. It was a horrendous time and I shudder to think about it. But my son, despite how ill he was and how upset he was by all the blood tests / IVs actually talks positively now about his time in hospital.

My son had this and was in hospital for a week - his eye was so swollen it was completely shut and it definitely looked worse before it looked better ( and it did eventually respond to the Iv antibiotics and look better). He had blurry vision for a time afterwards and had follow up checks at the eye hospital but was quickly completely fine. I hadn’t ever heard of it before and it was scary. Just a hand hold and sympathy and I hope your DC is doing better today.

@AuntieHistamine thank you so so much for such a detailed message- I could actually feel myself calming whilst I read this knowing exactly what could happen and that your son was ok!

She's asleep at the moment so it's hard to tell if he eye is any better, it's certainly still puffy but they said when they've laid down all night the fluid does collect there.

I really do appreciate you all keeping me afloat in here with your messages!

I’m glad my message helped. I was in such a state while I was in hospital with my son, I know how worrying it is and how awful it looked. It seems to come on so quickly but the good news is it seems to get better really quickly too. I think they tried a few different antibiotics on my son before they found one that worked. They tested the fluid they drained from the operation (and found it was positive for strep an and staphylococcus) so were able to adjust what antibiotics he was given to target them . I think they can also test this from swabs if your daughter doesn’t end up needing the op.

Keep strong and hang in there. I’d never actually heard of periorbital cellutis until my son had it but the doctors see it all the time so they know exactly how to treat it and what to do next if what they’re doing isn’t initially working.

My son came out of hospital 1 week after he went in and was back at school a few days later and we even went on our holiday (which I was sure we’d be cancelling while he was in there!) and was completely back to himself. He’s since had to have a few check ups on his eye sight but absolutely no problems since.

Hope you’re managing in hospital ok. It was a really hard week for us going back and forth between our other children and just things like managing to shower and get food was difficult.

How is your daughter today?

My son had peri orbital cellulitis when he was just two, and it took a good while to clear in the hospital. I hope she's doing a bit better this evening x

@Wallabyone It has started to look a tiny bit better thankfully, still red but not as puffy.. she’s still spiking temperatures though and her blood infection levels from yesterday are still very high so doctors said infection still isn’t under control yet 😕she can’t come home on oral antibiotics until it’s been 24 hours without a temp spike and those infection markers are down. They seem to have stopped talking about the need for a CT scan at the moment though.

Typically, the conjunctivitis has now spread to her other eye and to both of mine!!

@AuntieHistamine this is so reassuring to know there were no lasted effects, thank you!

You're right it's such a mentally trying time of worry 😢