Fitting much worse
Since Abigail’s unexpected major seizure on Tuesday morning her condition seems to have worsened. She was reasonably settled for most of Wednesday but that will almost certainly be due to the large amounts of sedative she received the day before. Nix visited yesterday morning and continued to have some concerns about Abby’s breathing. It still seemed to be quite laboured and her heart rate was generally much higher than usual, even at rest. There were also some more instances of Abby vomiting up frothy saliva secretions and the amounts seem to have increased again. There’s still no real explanation of why this might be, although we do fear that the Nissens surgical procedure has resulted in the oesophagus tube to her stomach now being too tight.
Yesterday evening I went in to visit Abby to the sight of around eight doctors and nurses surrounding Abby’s cot working away to try and stop another fit. During the day, the long central-venous line that had been put into her neck had begun to come out and so that was removed. Although Abigail no longer needs IV fluids to supplement her feeds, doctors felt that she needed the more rapid response that an intravenous anti-convulsant drug could offer. So yet another IV line was inserted and thankfully this time a vein was quickly found in Abby’s foot.
All in all, Abigail fitted for two hours last evening and was status epilepticus – in other words she was essentially fitting continually for that whole time. Earlier in the day her temperature had been a bit high and so overall she had been given Paracetamol, rectal Diazepam and two doses of IV Lorazapam. Extremely concerned at Abby’s condition, I called Nix to the hospital to join me whilst friends came to baby-sit our other children. Only after the second dose of Lorazapam (a particularly strong anti-convulsant) did Abigail settle and come out from her fit. Heavily sedated, she slept soundly for most of last night.
I am on nights this week at work so I rang the ward at around 6.30am today to find out how Abby’s night had been. Unfortunately I was put on hold for a minute or so – I was told that doctors were with Abby and that she was fitting again. In the past when Abby has been given Lorazapam she has normally slept very deeply for a good 18 to 24 hours afterwards. It’s very worrying then, that Abigail should fit so heavily less than 12 hours after two doses.
After speaking to a doctor I managed to leave work early and drive back home. We rang in for another update at about 7.30am this morning and Abigail was sleeping after very large does of anti-convulsants. Her fit this morning had lasted an hour. Initially, another anti-convulsant was tried with no effect, before she was given ‘loading doses’ of Phenobarbitone. This is one of her regular medications but it was felt she should be given a booster. At one point the consultant paediatrician was bleeped to come in and there was also talk of Abby being given some sort of surgical anaesthetic to act as an anti-convulsant. Nurses have also begun to offer IV fluids once again since Abby’s feeds are stopped during seizure episodes. It’s possible that Abigail will be moved back to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit today for closer monitoring.
Today there is also a chance that Abigail will undergo a chest x-ray as well as receive the results of a blood test from yesterday. These are both to try and ascertain whether Abby has some sort of infection, possibly in her chest. An infection would be bad news for Abigail as she might well develop pneumonia because of her immobility. We also spoke to a registrar last night about setting the wheels in motion for Abigail to be transferred back to the QE where medical staff can more properly care for her epilepsy. Clearly, until she is stable this won’t be possible.
Yesterday evening I went in to visit Abby to the sight of around eight doctors and nurses surrounding Abby’s cot working away to try and stop another fit. During the day, the long central-venous line that had been put into her neck had begun to come out and so that was removed. Although Abigail no longer needs IV fluids to supplement her feeds, doctors felt that she needed the more rapid response that an intravenous anti-convulsant drug could offer. So yet another IV line was inserted and thankfully this time a vein was quickly found in Abby’s foot.
All in all, Abigail fitted for two hours last evening and was status epilepticus – in other words she was essentially fitting continually for that whole time. Earlier in the day her temperature had been a bit high and so overall she had been given Paracetamol, rectal Diazepam and two doses of IV Lorazapam. Extremely concerned at Abby’s condition, I called Nix to the hospital to join me whilst friends came to baby-sit our other children. Only after the second dose of Lorazapam (a particularly strong anti-convulsant) did Abigail settle and come out from her fit. Heavily sedated, she slept soundly for most of last night.
I am on nights this week at work so I rang the ward at around 6.30am today to find out how Abby’s night had been. Unfortunately I was put on hold for a minute or so – I was told that doctors were with Abby and that she was fitting again. In the past when Abby has been given Lorazapam she has normally slept very deeply for a good 18 to 24 hours afterwards. It’s very worrying then, that Abigail should fit so heavily less than 12 hours after two doses.
After speaking to a doctor I managed to leave work early and drive back home. We rang in for another update at about 7.30am this morning and Abigail was sleeping after very large does of anti-convulsants. Her fit this morning had lasted an hour. Initially, another anti-convulsant was tried with no effect, before she was given ‘loading doses’ of Phenobarbitone. This is one of her regular medications but it was felt she should be given a booster. At one point the consultant paediatrician was bleeped to come in and there was also talk of Abby being given some sort of surgical anaesthetic to act as an anti-convulsant. Nurses have also begun to offer IV fluids once again since Abby’s feeds are stopped during seizure episodes. It’s possible that Abigail will be moved back to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit today for closer monitoring.
Today there is also a chance that Abigail will undergo a chest x-ray as well as receive the results of a blood test from yesterday. These are both to try and ascertain whether Abby has some sort of infection, possibly in her chest. An infection would be bad news for Abigail as she might well develop pneumonia because of her immobility. We also spoke to a registrar last night about setting the wheels in motion for Abigail to be transferred back to the QE where medical staff can more properly care for her epilepsy. Clearly, until she is stable this won’t be possible.
posted by The Freestones at 9:39 am
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