I think I have probably had the worst week of my life, ever, really! Last week mum got diagnosed with a rare type of breast cancer following about a month of tests. She is having a mastectomy next friday. So as DP was working, DS and I went down to spend the weekend with her, arriving Friday afternoon. Mum got home Friday evening and DS and I went out to the back door in the kitchen to say hello. Ben was pointing at the cat shaped tea cosy and instead of guiding him away I looked back at mum to try and see how she was, and he grabbed the tea cosy burning his neck, chest and tummy mainly. This was all within a minute of my poor DM walking in.
I ripped his t shirt off and mum drowned him in cold water and I pegged it down the street to A and E. It was horrible as Ben was screaming in pain, desperately trying to cling on to me and yet where the burns were it was upsetting him. I said to mum at the time about worrying about them getting infected...
We got transferred back up to Bristol from my mum's as our local hospital is the specialist burns unit for the area, in, to much delight from DS, an ambulance. To the paramedics amazement, despite two lots of oral morphine, DS didn't waste the trip sleeping. When we reached Frenchay in fact DS was running around causing complete chaos.
Although DS is awful at taking any kind of treatment, (even temperature checks were fraught) he remained in good spirits and went and had his op on the saturday afternoon. He was awful having the aneasthetic, was really fraught and awful waking up from it too. However, within an hour he was eating drinking and running around.
He had a temp on Sunday, but nothing was done, and on Monday the consultant saw him and his wound declared everyone is allowed a couple of temps and that he could be discharged. So off we went. We had a disturbed night Monday but he was still lively, but on tues he was grumpy and seemed to be suffering a lot with itching. Went to town and got him some piriton. He hardly ate or drank anything all day. When he went to bed he settled down without trying to sit up and play and yet was only closing his eyes, not actually sleeping properly I started to worry a bit. Also I had convinced myself that his wound smelt of an infection I smell quite a bit, staph.
DP had gone out to destress with his friend, so I text him to say not to drink too much because I was worried about DS. I think he thought I was expecting DS to be too good IYSWIM. When I took his temp though it was high and the hospital told me to take him in. So that was on tues night.
His temp went up and up overnight, he had rigours and developed a rash all over. He was unsettled and lethargic and went on to have diarrhea. The drs seemed to think he would be going to theatre either overnight or certainly in the morning. He had a drip and was on IV antibiotics. However in the am, the consultant came round and said it could be any number of things and was unlikey to be a wound infection and he would not be going to theatre.
Although I hated DS going to theatre last time it seemed odd that they had thought it was possibly warrented overnight and yet not at all the next day. I'm sure it is true that nurse's make the worst patients, whilst DS was so ill I was finding fault and I'm sure I was a monster mummy. Things didn't seem to be done as it should be though. His IV antibiotics were late, and eventually a dose missed. His fliuds ran out and were not changed for several hours, the line was not flushed and then being a tiny peads line blocked and he was without his drip all afternoon.
We were actually very lucky that the dr wasn't able to get in the line which he tried to put in with four of us holding screaming DS down, as while he was discussing the case with his senior another consultant overheard his conversation and decided to come and review DS even though he wasn't her patient. She immediately diagnosed toxic shock syndrome and he was sedated (ha!!) for a new IV line, moved to HDU and the surgeons were told he must be taken to theatre. He was also given plasma which is a blood product which fights the toxins with the anitbodies.
The sedation (midazolam) gave DS a high instead of knocking him out and he was loving it! He had been lethargic and sleepy all day, and had either been in his cot or our arms all day. So I was holding him and this slow huge grin came over his face and he tried to get down to run off! Then he started hullicinating and had great fun, waving to people who weren't there, trying to walk around the cot and failing miserably...
He went to theatre that night and was much better going off to sleep. Worrying though because he was down there much longer, but all was fine. He had a nice settled night and gradually over the course of yesterday with lots of sleep he got better and better untill he was running around playing outside in the evening!
I am so grateful that the consultant eavesdropped and DS got sorted out. I have read up on Toxic shock syndrome today and DS seems to have been a classic case, occuring 4-10 days after burn, all the symptoms match entirely and most interestingly it is a staph infection which is the main cause of the toxins being released causing the sydrome. I have lost count of the number of times I tried to emphasise how poorly I thought DS was and that I was sure he had a staph infection in his wound.
Just so glad he's home and seems so well again. Hope it stays that way. Just need to try and sort my DM out now as this has made her very low, she is blaming herself and v tearful much of the time. It really has been a horrible week. DP says I am ruining MN by typing long and boring messages and he is probably right but I feel better, if only a bit sorry for those brave enough to read all this!