Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with pediatric

Info Sought on Childhood Leukemia

slowtree — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:51:30 -0800

Childhood A.L.L. Luekemia My 2 year old niece was just diagnosed with this today and we are scouring the internet trying to find out all that we possibly can. She starts CHEMO tomorrow. Any personal experience or ideas of informative websites would be appreciated. Not generic websites but detailed and resourceful sites. Her doctors will certainly keep us informed as we go but since we are in the very beginning stages its all we can think about. Anyone that has anything at all to offer, it would be appreciated. Even if its on info on CHEMO and its effects.

She had a biopsy done on a swollen lymph-node behind her right ear. Turns out it was 94% Cancer. They initially thought it was Non-Hodgkins Lymphona but a bone marrow biopsy distinguished that it is Leukemia.

Again any information or suggestions where to find information is appreciated.

Post-anesthesia for Toddlers?

Dizzy — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:35:02 -0800

My baby boy will undergo general anesthesia Thursday. What should I expect when I get him home? My 20-month-old son will undergo an outpatient procedure to repair 2 inguinal hernias on Thursday.

I'm stressing of course, but the doctors assure me that Henry will be fine. (They've done thousands of these operations; the hospital is excellent and the procedure involved but relatively uncomplicated.)

Parents or Caregivers:
Are there any side-effects, or latent effects of anesthesia I should know about?
What will the 24-48 hours after the surgery be like?
Any secret tips to make him extra-comfortable?
Yikes.

Ack! Weird / Fast / Mysterious Rash! Itchy!!!

ZakDaddy — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 19:31:27 -0800

SeeADoctorForThisRashFilter: Which we are going to, first thing in the morning, but I'm trying to put the Missus' mind at ease. My oldest daughter (turns 9 in November) developed a rather startling rash this morning, both in severity and speed of onset. It itches like crazy, apparently. No other symptoms (no fever, cough, nothing) and we're able to take the worst edge off the itch with liberal calamine / Benadryl / oatmeal bath application, but we can't figure out what it is. The nurse at the CVS MinuteClinic said it was very likely chicken pox, but (1) my daughter was vaccinated for that years ago, (2) she has no fever or other symptoms and (3) the rash doesn't look ... quite right for chicken pox. To wit: its distribution is odd, with hundreds of angry itchy red bumps on her trunk and extremities, most heavily where her bathing suit exposes the skin. Her back, in particular, is quite a sight. She has few to none on her face, scalp, genitals, butt, hands and feet. It's been about ... call it 20 hours since onset, and thus far none of the bumps have developed pustules. So, you know, wth? IANAD (obviously) and nothing I can find tells me whether this particular symptom set falls within the range of normal for chicken pox. Other ideas? We thought maybe Swimmer's Itch (we went swimming in her grandfolx neighborhood pool yesterday) but that apparently requires a waterborne pathogen, and presumably a chlorinated pool that's checked weekly would rule that out. Additionally, no one else in the family has any symptoms at all.

Weird, huh? Flagrant speculation and hand-waving is welcome. We'll be calling the doctor's office first thing in the morning, so we can bypass the "see a doctor" that's inevitably going to show up anyway. Thanks in advance. :)

Will suing a lousy doctor do any good?

ultraultraboomerang — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 09:35:48 -0800

Medical malpractice suits: What actually happens to an MD when they're sued? In terms of disciplinary actions against the MD, is there a difference between being found liable in civil court versus a settlement? A couple of years ago my 6-month old sister died after heart surgery (aortic stenosis). At birth the pediatric cardiologist discovered a murmur, but wasn't alarmed as those usually clear themselves up in the first few months of life.

What became clear only after she died, pretty unexpectedly, was that the initial tests done the day she was born showed a severe defect we weren't informed of. In fact, the technician conducting the EKG circled things and made notes, which the cardiologist ignored completely. She saw the same cardiologist at 3 months but again there was no concern. At 6 months she said the baby might need surgery soon. This is when my stepmom took her to a private children's hospital, where they said "this baby needs surgery IMMEDIATELY." She survived the surgery but coded overnight. The surgeons appear to have done everything right, as far as we can tell.

Needless to say, this has been a complete nightmare. I'm trying to help my stepmom with some decisions about how to proceed legally. She places a lot of stock in my opinion, for whatever reason, so I don't want to steer her in the wrong direction.

A medical review board found the cardiologist's care to be "substandard." Now the question is whether to proceed in court. We're not talking about a crooked car mechanic here. I figure when we're talking about this level of trust - putting an infant's life in an expert's hands - we have to do what we can to get it on record that this cardiologist ignored what a technician clearly saw, and while we'll never know if it would have saved her life, the point is we deserved that information.

Is there a benefit to taking this to court? Will just being sued affect anything like the doctor's malpractice insurance, license, etc? What about a liable verdict versus a settlement? Is it better to actually go to court, in terms of what the consequences are for the doctor? I'd really like to spare my stepmom the witness stand and cross examination about why she didn't take the baby to more cardiologists (there are 2 pediatric cardiologists within 50 miles, incidentally).

What, in short, is the deal with these kinds of things?

Sorry for all the context, I don't know enough to know what's important. Thanks for any help.

Does my daughter really need surgery?

ZakDaddy — Sat, 31 Dec 2005 20:33:49 -0800

Help my 7-year-old daughter hear me. (Medical, not behavioral issue) My oldest daughter (just turned 7) gets a stuffy nose and sinus congestion along with mild ear infections fairly frequently. Apart from the discomfort, her ears frequently get clogged and consequently she has a hard time hearing, a condition known as 'secretory otitis media' or, more commonly, 'glue ear' (from here.) We took her to a pediatrician about 6 months ago and he diagnosed her with swollen adenoids (hence the glue ear link.) His advice was to have an adenoidectomy performed. This terrifies me.

I hate the idea of subjecting my daughter to a surgical procedure that requires general anesthetic and the small but real risk that she might not wake up. I also hate the idea of her being subjected to the normal misunderstandings that come of being hearing-impaired. I remember having a perpetually stuffy nose when I was young, and I imagine that I had similarly swollen adenoids which self-resolved; I can hear fine now. So, what do I do? Are there alternative therapies out there that I can't find? Do we just wait it out and resign ourselves to raising our voices when we talk to her until she matures past the condition? Is there a chance that she might not mature past the condition, and do we risk irreparable harm by inaction?

I want so much to be the best daddy ever, and it's things like this that tear me apart.

Oh, and I do intend to get a second opinion, and ask these questions of another pediatrician. The trouble is, if the pediatrician is also the surgeon, I imagine it makes his life easier (and his paycheck larger) to recommend surgery instead of other, less-invasive therapies, if he's even aware they exist. I'm hoping there are other parents out there with similar experience that can offer advice.

Oh, and happy New Year, everyone!