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A Mother’s Love For Her Children. #fy #fypage #love #mom #motherhood #parent #parents #familytime #loveme #child #children
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@ambitious.beasts A Mother’s Love For Her Children. #fy #fypage #love #mom #motherhood #parent #parents #familytime #loveme #child #children
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The last time I held my 20 month old son, and saw his eyes open was at 9pm on 3/3 as he was taken from my arms screaming and crying as he was rushed back to surgery to remove what we thought was a nickel stuck in his throat. It has felt like a lifetime going without his hugs, kisses and hearing his sweet voice. I never imagined how important those little lips and arms meant to me until they were taken away from me.
I have contemplated sharing his story because I felt only the immediate family needed to know the critical situation my son is in. But as I keep talking to nurses and replaying the night it all happened I feel it’s only right to share with all my friends and family and their families and friends so that this can never happen to anyone’s young child ever again.
It started as a normal night. My husband was outside grilling burgers while I was cooking food in preparation for the burgers. In a split second our night changed as our son knocked on the glass door proudly showing his daddy what he had in his mouth. My husband jumped up immediately opening the door but just as fast as my husband acted so did my son. My son ran away swallowing what appeared to be a nickel. My husband yells for me saying he swallowed a coin. Being a nurse, I quickly assess my son for signs of choking. He was breathing and still pink. He didn’t seem to be struggling. He was crying, screaming “quarter, momma!” (He calls all coins quarter). He then begins to gag and vomit intermittently telling me it has not passed through his throat.
We rush him to the ER where they take an x-ray showing the coin in the middle of his throat. Docs were reassuring about the coin. All we needed was for it to be taken out and we’d be able to go home that night. No big deal.
Afterwards, we were sent to Children’s hospital where they take another X-ray to make sure the coin had not traveled further.
This time the surgeons come back with a different demeanor. They asked if there was any chance our son had access to a button battery? My husband and I look at each other and immediately said no, absolutely not. No way.
And immediately it hit me. My food scale. We were weighing our food as we cooked and somehow my son got ahold of it and was banging it on the kitchen floor. I remember my mother-in-law yelling at him and removing it from him. But we didn’t think to look for the battery from the back. Maybe others would’ve but it didn’t even cross our minds to look for a battery we so rarely see.
So reality began to sink in because this is possibly the worst thing he could’ve swallowed.
My son was rushed to the OR and prepped for surgery at 9pm. The surgery was supposed to take 15-30 min but after an hour we finally got a call from the nurse saying the surgeon is having trouble removing the battery so they have called in the ENT surgeons for assistance. An hour later we received another call saying the battery was removed and he was moved up to the PICU.
The Surgeons were reassuring, the battery was removed after 5 hours of ingestion so minimal damage occurred but we wouldn’t know the extent of damage until the MRI 24 hours later.
My son is currently in the PICU intubated, on pain meds, antibiotics and sedation. We received the MRI results last night which were not as bad as it could’ve been but still bad. We were told he is on the better end of the “horrible scale”
The positive end of the battery apparently created a charge with the negative charge in the blood of the vessel behind his esophagus. This created a magnet between the battery and blood. The battery began to erode my sons esophagus tissue, leaving him a hole in his throat. The magnet effect is why the surgeons had such trouble removing it which ultimately led to prolonged exposure and worsening the breakdown of his esophagus. He also has an infection in his chest due to fluids from his mouth and tummy leaking into his chest through his hole, introducing bacteria in a place they should not be.
We do not know when my son will be extubated. He was supposed to be extubated last night but 24 hours later he is still intubated.
My sons life has changed so much because of this tiny battery. He will no longer be able to eat or drink through his mouth until this hole heals. My son still breast feeds, he is no where near being ready to stop (his choice, not mine 😁) but because of this injury the decision was made for him and it breaks my heart. He is on antibiotics to cure the current infection he has but will continue to be on antibiotics until his hole closes. We will be under constant monitoring while in the hospital but as well outpatient because our journey doesn’t end once we leave the hospital. We will have continuous ENT follow up appointments to ensure that his scare tissue continues to grow and doesn’t end up causing a stricture which would ultimately narrow his esophagus causing him to choke and gag when consuming things. This would mean another surgery to loosen up the tissue. As well, I’m sure there is much more we are not aware of.
I’m sharing my son’s story because these tiny batteries are in our everyday household items as well as the toys the kids play with. Most of us wouldn’t think any harm could come from a tiny thing like a button battery but our world couldn’t be rocked more because of the tiny thing. All the surgeons, doctors and nurses say this is not new to them. Children consuming these tiny batteries happens on a daily basis.
I never knew anything could happen quite like this…. not until it actually happened.
Please share this story with all your friends and family so our precious little children don’t have to go through what not only my son is currently going through but many other children as well.
Can’t cope with my kid😂😂 put him to bed without his dummy thought ooohh this is going well checked on him he’s only gone and found the lid from a toy kettle and improvised😂🙈
Edit* people can stop telling me he’s not ready to give it up I think I know that now, he has it back🤦🏽♀️
Credit https://www.facebook.com/faye.marsden.14
2 years ago, we purchased a hot tub. Amelia loved it, spent so much time in it for the first few weeks, as did we all. My mum was also very vigilant when cleaning it. At some point in April/May she developed an ear infection, she was floored with this. Couldn’t lift her head for days! But no big deal right? People get them all the time. The doctor prescribed her a course of Amoxicillin, which she completed as advised. About a week later her symptoms had subsided and she seemed her happy wee self again. She had however lost a lot of weight, and was complaining of dizziness now and again.
On the 11th of May I had an exam and then flew out to Marbella for my friends hen weekend the same day. Amelia stayed with my mum and dad. When I returned, her lethargy seemed to have returned and she was complaining of headaches and double vision. I honestly thought at this time that she was only saying these things as she didn’t want to leave my side and stay with her grans/dad so I could work etc. (She was going through a stage of telling fibs), as she seemed fine most other times and it only seemed to be when I wasn’t with her that she would complain of these symptoms.
Anyway, I took her to the doctor to be safe, where Amelia told them that she was only kidding and could see fine/didn’t have headaches anymore. (Here’s me sitting mortified thinking wee shite has just been at it!) She would go days without mentioning a thing. I was so wrong and still have guilt over this to this day. Then maybe a week or two later, she woke up with an upward turn in her left eye.
I called the opticians to make an appointment. I thought it could be related to her genetics, as problems with eyesight are common in her dads family and I wasn’t worried. When I explained what her eye looked like, and the fact the turn had appeared suddenly, along with the intermittent symptoms she had been complaining of, they wanted to see us within the hour. This is when my mind started to wander but I was still thinking she would just need an eyepatch and glasses. The dizziness could be related to this right?
We were in Specsavers for hours, while they tried to get to the bottom of the problem. They didn’t say much to us at the time, probably not to worry us. At the end of the visit they referred us to Hairmyers ophthalmology department for more tests as they were concerned but didn’t tell us what they were concerned about. So after more hours of tests at the hospital, watching various doctors/physicians enter the room and seeing worried facial expressions and body language.
I started to realise this was more serious than I first thought. My mum and dad were with me, and the doctor asked if they could mind Amelia while we had a chat privately about her concerns. I remember feeling sick and sweaty. So many things running through my head. Then she said it.
“Amelia has something growing on her brain. We’re not sure what this is yet, but it’s very serious and she needs a CT scan right away”, The world paused. My eyes filled and my vision blurred. I could tell the doctor was really worried. Which just intensified my anxiety more. She was only 5 years old.
We were then referred to Wishaw general hospital that same day for a CT Scan. We had to go immediately and were told to expect an overnight stay. I called Amelias dad in hysterics and he met me at Wishaw. We were in a trance the full journey, so much running through our minds.
She spent the night being observed in Wishaw and the CT scan results came the following day and confirmed her diagnosis. She had not one, but THREE puss filled abscesses on her cerebellum which were putting pressure on her optic nerve, hense the squint/dizziness/double vision etc. Caused by a bacterial infection which probably entered her brain through the ear (remember her ear infection a few weeks previous which we thought had cleared up?) She needed immediate treatment, but Wishaw was not equipped for this kind of condition.
We were told it was very rare and she needed specialist paediatric neurosurgeons to take over her case. We were even asked if student doctors/specialists could meet her and look over her notes as things like this don’t happen often so would be very beneficial for them to see.
That night, we were transferred for the 4th time in two days, by ambulance to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow. On arrival, they sat her dad and me down, and explained that her condition was life threatening and that she must start IV antibiotics straight away. I thought she would be kept in for a week or two. I was wrong. The neurosurgeon explained she would be in for at least 8 weeks, with weekly MRI scans to monitor her progress.
We were told she more than likely caught a severe ear infection from the hot tub as the warm temperatures are breeding grounds for bacteria. When we thought it had cleared, the amoxicillin had just masked her symptoms for a few weeks as it wasn’t strong enough to kill this strain of bacteria. In the mean time the infection spread to her brain, probably over the course of 4-6 weeks, unnoticed until the pressure on her optic nerve showed visual signs.
We spent the next 8 weeks living on the neurology ward with the most amazing staff and volunteers. When you ask Amelia about her time at the hospital, she has nothing but happy memories and asks if she can go back. She doesn’t even mention the scary times. For this I’m so grateful ❤️
I just wanted to share this as it was the most frightening time of my life. Please, please be extra careful when treating your hot tubs/pools and make sure you do this as regularly as possible. Also make sure to be vigilant when it comes to ear infections, they can be serious too! I was lucky that the IV antibiotics she received over those few months were enough to combat this infection and that she narrowly avoided brain surgery. She fought it off at 5 years old and is fighting fit today ❤️ My wee warrior. Even though hot tubs now scare me and they’re banned from my house lol.
I hope by sharing our story it may raise enough awareness to save someone else’s life. If we hadn’t gone to the opticians that day we could’ve been in a totally different situation. I had no idea hot tubs could expose you to such harmful bacteria and I’m sure a lot of people are unaware of this.
Ps. Can I just express my gratitude to all of these institutions which helped my girl. They saved her life and in turn saved mine. I will be forever grateful to our NHS 💙 It was this experience that encouraged me to become a Biomedical Scientist and one day be part of this amazing service.
Kieran Higgins