Mathieu A.

Mathieu was only 3 weeks old when one morning in 2015 he woke up late (for a 3 week old) around 10am.  He seemed a little lethargic and not too interested in nursing but fine overall so we continued with our day.  In the afternoon, as I was changing him I noticed that he had a strange mottled look to his legs and his tummy seemed swollen.  I found this odd but he still seemed OK.  In the evening he took a bath with his big brother and as I was drying him off after the bath he started to shiver.  I found this very odd as we were living in the UK at the time and it was April so not particularly cold. 

I dressed him but had a feeling of unease so called the equivalent of the telehealth number in the UK for advice.  My call was answered, I described his symptoms and a car was dispatched immediately to take Mathieu to the emergency room.  He was assessed quickly by an emergency room doctor and then sent straight round to the pediatric ward.  Things seemed to happen very quickly thereafter.  He was fully examined, his blood was taken and he was immediately started on intravenous broad-spectrum antibiotics and fluids.  His diagnosis was sepsis query cause.  His gut was showing signs of paralytic ileus (it wasn't working) and he was designated nil-by-mouth.

He had a nasogastric tube inserted to drain the bile that was accumulating.  The next day he had a lumbar puncture procedure to test for meningitis but the medical team were unable to obtain any fluid because he was so tiny.  The following day the procedure was repeated successfully and he was found to have bacterial meningitis.  The cause of the sepsis.  He was already on the intravenous antibiotics so they were continued.  After 2 days his gut was working and the nasogastric tube was removed so he could feed again.  He continued to improve day by day and was discharged home after 14 nights in hospital.  The antibiotics continued for a few more days after that.  He had a brain scan while in hospital which showed no obvious signs of damage and he has subsequently passed all his developmental milestones and hearing tests.  Today Mathieu is a happy, outgoing and very busy 4 year old.  My family and I will be forever grateful for the accurate assessment and prompt treatment of his condition.  And to the dozens of the medical staff who took great care looking after him and who supported us through a very difficult and stressful time.