This week has been one of the worst weeks ever and I’m just struggling to get my head around everything.
I have 7 month old twin girls. They were born 6 weeks early but one of my girls has always been tiny. Even now she only weighs 13lbs.
The small one started with a fever a week ago, at first I thought it was just a virus but it didn’t get any better. I saw 3 doctors who all dismissed my fears. In the end we took her to A&E where yet another doctor started to tell us it was just a virus.
I happened to see one of the paediatric registrars who looked after my girls in SCBU. She was amazing & ordered a urine test. This came back positive for white blood cells which indicated an infection. She weighed things up & said that she wouldn’t dismiss our concerns so was going to take some blood and give IV antibiotics as a precaution.
The minimum blood infection levels (CRP) to start IV antibiotics is 50, my daughters came back at 260!! She was immediately transferred to a bigger hospital. I was initially told by the Dr’s that it was most likely a UTI which I had no reason to doubt, so when the Dr came to see us a few hours later & said he thought the CRP levels were too high for a UTI and instead he thought it was a brain infection, ie meningitis, I honestly thought I might pass out 😫
One lumbar puncture later & an avalanche of antibiotics the initial test results were clear, however we still had to carry on the IV antibiotics.
It’s now come to light that they are treating her for Sepsis. Antibiotics come to an end tomorrow.
I’m really struggling to get my head around everything. I’m so relieved and happy that she is now on the road to recovery but I just can’t seem to get out of my mind what could have happened. A couple of years ago our niece died of SIDS, and for a time I honestly believed we might lose her and suffer the horrendous death of a child again in our family.
Family & friends keep telling me not to dwell on things but I just can’t stop crying 😢
I also feel massively angry at the Doctors who dismissed my concerns.
I’m not sure what I’m hoping to get from this post other than feel better for writing it all down and possibly getting advice from other parents who have had a similar experience, how did you get past this feeling of despair when actually things could have been a lot worse.