DS A&E am I being mad

[Cbd333]

My DD aged 3 woke up at 11pm last night screaming in pain because her leg hurt - specifically her
Shin bone. She has had a few infections recently and a persistent low-grade fever for a couple of weeks despite currently being on amoxicillin.

I googled thinking it's probably growing pains and wanted to see what I could do to help her but lots of the results came up with leukaemia. My mum and nana both died from leukaemia so I'm extremely sensitive about it but still I wonder if I'm being mad as I'm currently sitting in A&E as want her to have a blood test. For context, the leukaemia mum and nana had was extremely aggressive so their treatment began each time within an hour of diagnosis.

I don't want to me the mad mum hauling ds in to hospital when she should
Be swimming and enjoying her weekend but I'm terrified. Please help me.

[SofiaAmes]

*BurntO" thank god you aren't my ds' mother. He'd probably be dead with your attitude towards a child in pain or distress exhibiting unusual symptoms.
I'd be thrilled if a trip to the ER involved something as simple as a broken bone.

[BurntO]

I wouldn’t be taking my child to A&E for shin pain unless something could be broken. Total waste of everyone’s time. I’d bring out the calpol and contact the GP.

[JamieFrasersLover]

How is your little one, did you have any luck with the blood tests?

[Velvetscrunchy]

@Bootskates

Given your family history, I understand. Hope your DD is ok.

I hate all this "it's people like you bringing the NHS to its knees" so nothing to do with underfunding and a pandemic then? Or obesity or smokers/drinkers? It's all down to concerned mums and their 3 year olds?

@Bootskates. Couldn’t have said it better.

[Fullywhelmed]

@girlabouthome
I was waiting for a coeliac blood test and the wait was 4 months, I called the GP to say I wasn't prepared to leave her in this condition for 4 months and could we get bloods done privately. He then put in an urgent referral to the gastroenterology team at the local children's hospital instead. They saw us within 2 months, immediately suspected IBD (Crohn's, in our case) and recommended a gastroscopy and endoscopy which took place 2 weeks later and then she was kept in and treatment began the next day.

[girlabouthome]

@Fullywhelmed thank you.

Do you mind me asking how you managed to get the diagnosis? Was it achieved through a blood test?

[Fullywhelmed]

@girlabouthome

I'm in exactly the same boat.

3.5 year old DS is not the same boy he was last year.

Thin, pale, dark circles, no appetite, constantly loose stools, no longer will walk any kind of distance and wants to be carried and last week started to complain of his knees hurting.

He has a blood test on the 10th Nov, as GP suspects an intolerance, but reading this thread made me panic and I was in tears last night.

I don't know what to do.

Could be an inflammatory bowel condition. My dd has just had a diagnosis with the same symptoms. Not nice, but not cancer. Or it could be coeliac or lactose intolerance.

I totally empathise with the terror as a parent. I have ended up on sertraline after the 6 month wait for diagnosis watching my child deteriorate incrementally.

[SunshineCake1]

Then please ring tomorrow and ask to speak to someone.

[girlabouthome]

But it's the mixed messages that concern me or the possible "flying under the radar" with symptoms that could be so easily something else.

The Dr obviously thought non-urgent, hence the 3 week wait for bloods but this thread has genuinely frightened me.

[SunshineCake1]

If you think your child is ill and you aren't anxious then that isn't right. You need to advocate for your child, not do what a stranger says if you genuinely think they might be poorly.

[girlabouthome]

@SunshineCake1 I think I will.

I'm so frightened.

Both for my child and sounding like the "anxious mother" x

[SunshineCake1]

Ring the doctor tomorrow @girlabouthomen .

[girlabouthome]

I'm in exactly the same boat.

3.5 year old DS is not the same boy he was last year.

Thin, pale, dark circles, no appetite, constantly loose stools, no longer will walk any kind of distance and wants to be carried and last week started to complain of his knees hurting.

He has a blood test on the 10th Nov, as GP suspects an intolerance, but reading this thread made me panic and I was in tears last night.

I don't know what to do.

[Flowersintheattic2021]

Can your dd walk. Lots on here are saying their child stopped walking and couldn't walk. If she has a temp I'd take for pcr. My 6 Yr old only had a fever with covid. If she can't walk won't walk then go to kids hospital not general

[Mummyof2Terrors]

A disproportionate number of cases leukaemia are diagnosed in a&e as the symptoms can begin fairly subtly and mimic other illnesses. You absolutely did the right thing. For anyone else wondering about that fact, Google the spot leukaemia campaign.

[PackedintheUK]

I think you should complain to PALS OP, not to get anyone into trouble but to try and prevent others being treated the same way.

I hope DD's results are all good, but if your appointment isn't very soon, I'd press GP to organise them urgently.

[Sleeplessem]

Oh god @HesterShaw1 how terrible, your poor friend! I hope her child is ok (as ok as can be in this context). Xx

[HesterShaw1]

@Sleeplessem

OP 150% did the right thing even the Dr upthread thinks she did the right thing. I have to say it’s quite negligent of the a and e doc to put it down as maternal anxiety without doing the blood test then and there. Maternal anxiety in this sort of context is a bit of a cop out and comes across a bit misogynistic in my opinion (one about hysteria)

Unfortunately a lot of GPs miss signs of childhood cancer and it’s only when parents are at the end of the tether and go to a children’s hospital they end up with a diagnosis. Case and point look at Azaylia the daughter of Ashley Cain, they were told for weeks it was all normal and she had a very very aggressive form of cancer. Plus I find anything baby/ young child related most GPs either defer to a health visitor (baffling), recommend a and e or refer to a paed. Not a slight on GPs, specialists are there for a reason

I have a friend whose "maternal anxiety" led her to take her baby to a GP over 50 times. Each time she was dismissed as an over anxious women. The baby had leukaemia, nearly died and will have health problems all her life as a result.

If only her mother had been listened to

[Malibuismysecrethome]

Why are we being made to feel that we are using up valuable resources when we are concerned with the health of a child. So wrong, on so many levels.

[LynetteScavo]

He may have been busy but endless buck passing helps no one.

Exactly!

The OP didn't do anything wrong

No she didn't - I took my DC when they were a similar age to the walk in center for something I thought was minor - we were immediately sent to the A&E in the next city for bloods to be taken to see if she had cancer. We left the same day, knowing she didn't and later saw a specialist who explained what she did have, which was nothing major to worry about and and something she just has to live with. Knowing this has saved much worry and many trips to A&E over the years.

Dealing with something properly in the first place saves much time and expense all round.

Hope your DC is feeling better soon OP, and hopefully after they have the blood test you can relax.

[TisTheSeasonToBe]

@whyiscakesodelicious

You are NOT unreasonable. If I was worried about my DC I would take them without hesitation. It's better to be safe than sorry OP. I pay my 12% NI contribution so am fully entitled to take my child if I suspect something not quite right. You did the right thing. You put your child first above all else

What a ridiculous comment!!
So if someone doesn’t pay any national insurance they aren’t entitled to the same level of care

Maybe they should just curl up and suffer i silence because you know they haven’t paid in. I for one am glad it doesn’t work that way.


And that 12% doesn’t touch the sides of healthcare funding and NI is not completely ring-fenced for healthcare.

[Staffy1]

Also had blood test results within hours in A&E.

[Staffy1]

@theremustonlybeone

I was at a and e a few months a go with a 6yr old with a large bleeding gash on his foot that i knew needed stitches. He was in a state of distress and we turned up to a and e mobbed with kids with colds. My DS had to wait for 5 hrs to be finally stitched up afer xray which was truly traumatic, I heard a senior nurse say that most of these kids dont need to be here. One parent said he could bring his kid back tomorrow,

As for you- no I wouldnt have take to a & e for a blood test t was not an emergency. If you were concerned about cancer then a & e is completely inappropriate. It can take weeks for a diagnosis. So if worried you should have gone back to your GP

Actually, A&E can do blood tests there and then and blood tests don’t usually take weeks to get results. I have had results updated the same day I had the test once. And how do you know it isn’t an emergency before going when you read the OPs mums experience, have symptoms that could very possibly be the same condition and know it could run in the family? If so many posters want to take that chance with their own children - fine, but the OP did nothing wrong in taking her child to A&E.

[mulberrybag5]

You were totally right to go to a&e. The inability to access medical advice outside 8-6 Monday to Friday is putting pressure on A&e. That isn’t down to mums and babies.