Update: my local hospital has replied, disavowing any wrongdoing in this case. I expected as much. I didn't expect to be treated, again, like I didn't matter, was inferior to the learned medical staff and told my feelings were over reactions.
Also the examining doctor at the local hospital said my girl was sore across her abdomen. How does he know? He never touched her. Someone get me a fire extinguisher for his pants.
It was a regular October morning for my family. We did regular things, shower, pack lunches and watch a bit of news. Our cleaning lady had come by, she helped me entertain the kids while I nibbled some toast.Then it stopped being regular, my husband had already left for work and our 2 year old daughter, Shyla, began vomiting Large amounts for no apparent reason. Great, it's a stomach bug, I thought. Cleaning lady washed her down, while I drove my older son to school. My plan was to return and bring my girl to the walk-in.
I was gone less than 30 min.
"She chucked again while you were gone" Jacqui announced as I came back in the door. I packed up some clothes, a bit of apple juice and my daughter and drove to the local hospital. My town is not large by any stretch, our hospital might be described as a large, health center with extra services.
While the nurses triaged my daughter, she vomited again and began telling me her tummy wasn't happy. I asked to wait on a guerney in the hall, rather than the chairs to give her some room to stretch out.
Serveral hours later, we were still on that bed, my daughter had gone through at least 3 changes of clothes (all the outfits I had brought her) and the cleaning lady had brought me a change of clothes. We still had not seen a physician or a nurse.
My cell phone had terrible service in the hospital, so I ducked out when I could and managed to get my husband to leave work. He came and sat with our girl, while I rushed home to shower the vomit out of various cevices (read: undergarments-mmm comfy!). It was now close to 2pm. Still no physician, still vomit. It was now green.
We waited a total of 7 hours in that hallway, the head nurse was rude, my daughter was getting sicker. No physician. My husband announced we were leaving. My small victory came when the nurse said she was sorry we felt we needed to leave, to which I replied, "No, you're not. Not at all."
We took our child, who hadn't eaten anything in over 12 hours, to a children's hospital, about 40 minutes away. They were wonderful. They were attentive and we were eventually admitted.
My little girl had an intussusception, this was diagnosed with a painless ultrasound. No wonder her tummy was unhappy. The doctors there treated it with an air enema and we were sent back to our room to be observed for 24hrs. I was relieved to see my child comfortable. Tears sprang to my eyes when she told me her tummy was happy.
With an hour left until we got to go home, Shyla began vomitting. This time her tummy was not happy, she was in serious discomfort. They took us back down for another ultrasound. We were sent for a barium scan. I held my daughter close and told her it would be ok, she looked at me with huge brown eyes and tried to smile. I was terrified.No sooner had we started the scan, where they made her drink barium and then followed it through her intestines, a nurse called me over behind the glass. I was told surgery was needed and to please read and sign some consent forms. Shyla had an intestinal malrotation, it twisted like a phone cord and pinched off flow.
The nurse, turned out to be her surgeon, and I was informed the OR was being prepped and my baby would be cut open in less than 45 min. Her condition was that serious. Scalpels, anaethesia, sutures, IV's? She was only 2 year old! I was frantic, thank heavens my husband showed up to hear the doctor explain possible complications, I was only focused on my lethargic, sleepy-eyed little angel.
About an hour later, the surgeon came to tell us everything was good. Shyla was going to be fine. Her intestines were intact, her sutures were going to heal and the only thing removed was her appendix. My husband and I cried happy tears and I curled up on the gurney with my daughter as they rolled us back to our room.
Today, Shyla is a happy, healthy 3.5 year old, but it could have gone so horribly wrong had we listened to our local hospital. They treated it as if we were over re-acting and that it was a stomach bug not really worth their time. We have written the hospital with no satisfactory response, and will continue to advocate for our children's health and well being at every turn.
The point of my story is this :
We had taken Shyla to the ER the night before the local hospital debacle and were told it was a bladder infection making her miserable. When she vomited, my maternal instincts kicked in and I went to anyone who would listen to tell them she was not fine.
I listened to my heart and fought like mad to get my baby girl help. Left untreated her malrotation or intussusception could have proved fatal. Tissue would have died, she could have gone septic and slipped away.
My one advice to new parents, timid parents, any parent, don't let people tell you it's nothing. If you feel it's something, don't stop until you have proof in your face that it's nothing. This is your job, fight for the little ones who can't yet fight for themselves. Listen when your heart tells you something. It's always right!
