Jihan when she was down with illnessone night, i was doing locum at a nearest clinic attending to a patient (one of the twin girls ) about 8 months old...she was accompanied by her parents and grandma and also her twin sister...both parents were very young (in fact younger than me!)..the twins have 2 other elder siblings who were well at that time...
mum said the younger twin had been having fever,diarrhea and vomiting (Acute gastroenteritis - AGE) since the past 2 days...oral intake was poor as anything went into the mouth would surely comes out...! the elder twin had a similar episode few days ago but recovering..
i examined the child...she looked very lethargic with sunken eyaballs and sunken anterior fontanelle...mum claimed that urine output had reduced and when she cried, hardly any tears coming down her cheek....
she was having temperature of 37.8...looked very much dehydrated, respiratory rate about 40/min, pulse rate about 110/min...i explained to the parents that she needed to be referred to the hospital for hydration...
the parents asked me, "Doc, can you just give medications that can stop the diarrhea and vomiting..?" i told them that this baby is going to collapse and might suffer from acute renal failure if they don't bring their child to the hospital..after a discussions between parents and grandma, they agreed...
then they asked me, "Doc, can i bring her to the hospital tomorrow morning..?" ohmigosh...!!! these parents seemed that they didnt really care about their child..the reason being, they own a shop, nobody was looking after it and the other siblings (including the twin sister) had nobody to take care of them..
i prepared them a referral letter and asked them to go to the hospital immediately...their baby's life was at stake at that moment...i prayed that she did not collapse before reaching the hospital...
Moral of the story:
mum said the younger twin had been having fever,diarrhea and vomiting (Acute gastroenteritis - AGE) since the past 2 days...oral intake was poor as anything went into the mouth would surely comes out...! the elder twin had a similar episode few days ago but recovering..
i examined the child...she looked very lethargic with sunken eyaballs and sunken anterior fontanelle...mum claimed that urine output had reduced and when she cried, hardly any tears coming down her cheek....
she was having temperature of 37.8...looked very much dehydrated, respiratory rate about 40/min, pulse rate about 110/min...i explained to the parents that she needed to be referred to the hospital for hydration...
the parents asked me, "Doc, can you just give medications that can stop the diarrhea and vomiting..?" i told them that this baby is going to collapse and might suffer from acute renal failure if they don't bring their child to the hospital..after a discussions between parents and grandma, they agreed...
then they asked me, "Doc, can i bring her to the hospital tomorrow morning..?" ohmigosh...!!! these parents seemed that they didnt really care about their child..the reason being, they own a shop, nobody was looking after it and the other siblings (including the twin sister) had nobody to take care of them..
i prepared them a referral letter and asked them to go to the hospital immediately...their baby's life was at stake at that moment...i prayed that she did not collapse before reaching the hospital...
Moral of the story:
- pay attention when your child is not well....
- if you feel the body temperature is hot, soak a towel in a basin of warm water and sponge your child.this is to prevent fits...
- if your child is having diarrhea/vomiting, make sure she's taking enough fluid to prevent dehydration..
- seek medical attention fast if no improvement..
- do not buy medicine over the counter...some medicine has harmful effects to young babies. i.e; antiemetic (medication to stop vomiting) can cause oculogyric crisis (child's body becomes spasm)..
- listen to the doctor's advice...
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