My husband and I were completly lost! We had no idea what to do. Our little three year old was getting worse and worse! He had chronic diorrhea to a point where we couldn't use baby wet-ones anymore as it was too painful. We had to set up like a little nursery area by the sink to wash him off. His fever was too high to put him in the bath too often to rinse off, as it was also leaking down his legs. He had to lie down on a towel at all times. Our clothes inevitably kept getting soiled when we picked him up and it was a very very stressful situation.
WE TRIED EVERYTHING!! :(
We gave him fever medications, we tried every natural diorrhea remedy imaginable! But nothing...nothing was working...he was losing his appetite until a point where he just plain stopped eating and drinking...We were scared....we prayed and asked Allah(Swt) for help because he was practically disappearing before our eyes...he was always, and still is up till this day, a nice fit and plump little fellow with a healthy appetite... but for this week, he was pretty much 1/2 to 3/4 his normal body size and losing weight by the second...We were very very scared...
It was one evening when I walked into the room from getting him some pedialyte to drink (praying that he would drink just a little) that he looked at me from his bed...He was drifting off, it almost looked as if he was about to faint away...it wasn't the normal sleepy look...we were carded to take him to a doctor again the following morning, but couldn't wait any longer....his heartbeat was racing at a pace that was uncountable!! His fever was through the roof, his diorrhea had red blood stains in it and he couldn't move...he just lay there...he didn't even have energy to walk or talk or even smile... My once bubbly little sweetheart barely had light in his eyes...I saw one little tear drop roll off his face and THAT WAS IT!! We couldn't wait on this appointment thing anymore! Especially after the last doctor told me his heart was racing because of the fever and that was all...something was wrong here...
I remember running down to my sister-in-law and just breaking down crying and telling her "He's not getting better, we are taking him to a private hospital". We didn't care how much it would cost! God willing, we needed answers! And in my opinion, the GP's we saw before were dismissing his syptoms as a normal virus... no tests were done, nothing! So off we were late that night to one of the best private hosptals I know in Trinidad and one of the best pediatricians attached to its staff.
As soon as we got there, my husband held him like a baby all wrapped up snuggly and practically lifeless in a blanket as he had lost all of his energy by now...as soon as we saw the night-shift pediatrician, who was also in constant conversation with our pediatritian, and explained to him our child's syptoms, they both realised something was not right 'right away' and drew blood for an immediate blood test to see what was going on here.... They gave us a bed to lie him down on and Alhamdulillah did not charge us for this as they saw how lethargic he was. It took a little while but we got back the blood test within two hours.
AND BOOM!!! It was apprently NOT your normal viral infection....it was a very very bad bacterial infection!!! They wrote us the prescriptions and we got him started on the correct medications right away. That night, he started back drinking juice...Alhamdulillah! It slowly but surely progressed in the following days and he ate a little more every day...it took a couple weeks for him to get back to his normal size...but he got there...he was a brave little guy and because of his patient nature, he got through this Alhamdulillah...
MESSAGE TO PARENTS FROM THIS EXPERIENCE:- Follow your instincts...never let a doctor tell you nothing is wrong if you know something is not right with your child...always seek second opinions if you can... I get scared at the thought everyday of what 'would have' happened if we had trusted the GP's and hadn't carried him to the hospital that night...but it's not right to look back and everthing happens for a reason...I try to remind myself of this everyday as difficult as it is...this was a lesson to us... something that had helped us in future scenarios and emergencies with our kids...but you'll hear about those soon Inshaa Allah;)
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