whats a lumbar (sp?) punch? (worrying meningitis phone call can you translate?)

[kittylette]

my friend has just phoned and her DS is in hospital with suspected meningitis, hes only 6 months old and was 4 weeks prem so quite small,

she said his head is swollen and the docs say they want to do one of the above but are reluctant as his fontalle is still very swollen

he has temp & rash

apparantly they arent 100% it is meningitis but are treating it as such and the lumbar thing should determine it?? also she was saying something about a viral infection or viral meningitis?

sorry if this doesnt make sense, my heads a bit reeling. i think thats all she said, she was upset so i couldnt grasp it all.

will he be ok??

oh she said he may be out in a week, but that sounds unlikely to me - then again im not sure what she was on about and didnt really want to make her explain it when she was upset

lumbar puncture I think kittylette - it's so they can examine the spinal fluid to check for infection.

Really hope he is ok - don't forget little children can be incredibly ill one day and right as rain the next - he may well be fully recovered within a week

thanks miaou, i thought it was something to do with the lungs [blush no wonder i was confused!
so its a needle in his spine?? hes so small

a lumbre punch is where they take fluid for the base of your spine with a needle. can be quite painful, my mum had one done years and years ago when she kept getting bad headaches.

Kitty them may sedate or give him a ga to have it done asthey will have to make sure that he stays still for the procedure.

fingers crossed all goes well

HTH.

thanks, im sure he will be fine, its just a bloody scary word

im going to ring her soon, ill let you know how he is,
xx

Not 100% sure but think viral meningitis is the not so bad one and bacterial the bad one?

Yes, dd had one at 5mths to rule out meningitis.

Can still remember them taking her for it and advising me not to go in with her as too upsetting. was 13yrs ago

It turned out to be a urine infection.

Hope you hear soon and all is well

Ditto what everybody has said.

Don't worry too much about the lumbar puncture procedure. The docs will be experienced at doing them on such small babies. My DTDs had probably had about 6-8 of them between them before they weighed 4lb. For neonatologists (docs that look after babies) it is fairly routine I am afraid.

Lumbar puncture is indeed to confirm/rule out meningitis.

Have you heard anything yet ?

hiya,

ive been trying to contact her and finally got through about 3pm

hes coming home (in fact he will be home by now) he still has a swollen head but as its viral they cant do anything and so he just has to ride it out, i dont think they actully diagnosed meningitis (if it was this i wouldve thought he would still be in hospital??)

but she is to keep a close eye on him and to give him plenty of fluids, -if he seems dehydrated at all he is to come straight back in.

she seemed happy he was coming home.

but if im honest i think id want him to stay in as his head is still swollen, seems a bit funny to me, as in the hospital are releasing him too early???

My ds had the viral meningitis when he was about 1.5 he was in hospital for a week with a drip & was extremly poorly, they nearly done a lumbar puncture on him but thank god they did'nt apparently it is a very unpleasant procedure to have.

I would also be a bit concerned about the swollen head, just make sure she keeps an eye on him, i really hope he is ok xx