I mentioned briefly in last Friday’s five frugal things post that Master Frugal had suffered a concussion and wasn’t doing too well but things took a nasty turn on Saturday so I thought I’d give you a bit of an update – more to keep my mind off things as I’m currently sat next to his bed in hospital while he sleeps and as we’re now on day 4 I am really, really bored as well as being super tired.
So, last Thursday he tripped over his shoelaces at school and banged his head. He didn’t think much of it at the time but he started to feel sick at lunchtime and by the end of the school day he had severe tummy pains and had been sick twice.
We had obvious concerns about him at that point as he could barely stay awake and was continuing to be sick so we called 111 who sent us straight to our local hospital where we were seen and sent straight up to the main A&E nearby.
He did mention that he’d had a slight tummy ache before the bang but I don’t think that was taken into account as he had all of the symptoms of a concussion – I’m not complaining about this by the way as he was a textbook example of concussion at this point.
The doctor was quite concerned and did a thorough check before sending him down for a brain scan which luckily came back OK. After the brain scan we were kept in for a little while but then allowed to go home under strict instructions on what to look out for as he had experienced a ‘significant brain trauma’.
He slept for most of the day on Friday and only woke a few times complaining his tummy hurt. I gave the doctors a quick call for advice even though we’d been told his immediate symptoms would probably last for up to 72 hours and they confirmed what we’d already been told. I’m pretty sure they thought I was just another neurotic parent but they reassured me and I was temporarily OK with him being the way he was.
The sleepiness continued into Saturday but he was awake for longer periods of time and during these times he was complaining about tummy pains more than he had been and it definitely seemed to be getting worse.
I couldn’t settle though and despite being told that this was to be expected I just knew there was something wrong. I called 111 again and ended up being put through to a nurse who made us an appointment at the local out of hours centre. The doctor had a quick feel and reserved a bed for us in the children’s ward with instructions to go straight there.
After much prodding and poking and lots of blood being taken, they were pretty sure it was appendicitis and were concerned enough to put operate on him as soon as they could get someone in.
I went down with him to the theatre and held his hand as they put him to sleep and then waited back on the ward for news that he was OK and ready to come back.
It felt like forever but three and a half hours later he was ready to come back and I went to collect him with the nurse. He was so funny at this point as he was still pretty out of it – the first thing he’d said was ‘where’s my mam’ and the second thing was ‘thank you everyone for a successful operation’. He was trying to high five the nurse when I arrived. 😉
We had a few temperature spikes that day but they kept him pretty drugged up so he wasn’t really aware of much at all thank goodness.
The next day we had a visit from the surgeon who explained that the appendix had in fact burst but only just – he showed us a photo of the appendix which quite graphically showed the infection and the yucky stuff leaking into his bloodstream.
Because of this, they’re currently treating him with quite an aggressive course of antibiotics and after a few traumas – mostly involving some scary temperature spikes – I think we’re almost where we need to be to be allowed home.
The update from this morning is that they’ve extended his antibiotics by another day and if there are no more temperature issues then they’ll think about letting us go home tomorrow. They’ve said no promises though so I won’t hold my breath just yet.
He’s feeling super sorry for himself right now as he keeps seeing children come and go while he’s just stuck but hopefully, his mood will improve when he’s back home in the land of Wifi and Xbox.
I’ll let you know how we get on. 😉
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