Never a dull moment | Resilience

Hannah ended up back in hospital

This time with pneumonia

Our children certainly have a flair for the dramatic!!

After being called to pick Hannah up from school (“she’s thrown up a couple of times”) just before 11am last Friday and finding her in the school medical room on a wheelchair, wheezing, pale, having scratched herself to bleeding and still vomiting, I opted to take her straight to A&E.

She had all the doctors baffled….vomiting “coffee ground” blood, high blood sugar, dehydrated and sleepy, signs of allergic reaction (itching all over, swollen eyes, wheezing)….

They thought sudden onset diabetes at one point because of elevated blood sugar levels, but then put those down to the body’s stress response to whatever else was going on, as the sugar levels weren’t high enough for diabetes.

The first course of action was to treat the ‘allergic’-type reaction by giving her an Adrenaline-nebuliser and intravenous antihistamines and cortisone. 

Then blood tests and x-rays.

They saw shadows on her lungs and infection markers in her bloods. So whatever else may have been going on, it appeared she had pneumonia in both lungs.

The itching, they said, could have been caused by the infection. Lots of IV fluids to re-hydrate her, antacids, anti emetics….and she started to perk up a bit.

In fact, while she was still in A&E Resus (The resuscitation area, commonly referred to as “Trauma” or “Resus”), she then wondered why she was being admitted to the paediatric High Dependency Unit (HDU) rather than going home!

One night in HDU, then another couple of days in the children’s ward (she could have saved herself a day in hospital if she’d listened to medical staff and drunk more fluids, as she was very dehydrated!) and she came home on Monday, 4 days after being admitted in a very bad state.

Although she was sent home before the blood cultures had come back, doctors were pretty confident that she had Mycoplasma Pneumonia and she was treated for this with antibiotics, which she could carry on taking orally once she was sent home.  They gave her the all-clear to go back to school, which Hannah was keen to do, so on Tuesday she was back at school.

Yesterday, less than a week since she was admitted in respiratory distress, she played in a netball match in Hull against another school!  Hannah’s ability to bounce back never ceases to amaze me! 🙂

Oh, while all this was going on, Charlie also seemed to develop a tummy bug and had some time off school.

Just another week in the life of the Roberts household…never a dull moment! 😉

Glad to report all seems back to normal and we can look forward to the girls’ half term break from school, Valentine’s Day and my birthday!

If you’d like me to help you work on happiness & resilience techniques (individually, in your business or your school) to bounce back emotionally when unexpected events send you off-track, get in touch.