"care of 2 year old daughter"

My 2 year old daughter had a vomiting bug and after 4 days she was lethargic, glazed, tired and sleeping a lot during the day and refusing fluids or losing them in a vomit. Her nappies were only changed once in 12 hours and were really light. I was struggling and felt she was deteriorating in spite of following all the correct medical advice.

On the evening of the 4th day she didn't even respond to the candles on my birthday cake in any way and then was sick again losing all the day’s fluids and then promptly went floppy and sleepy. We were seen at the GP out of hours service at 9. 30pm and admitted to the children’s ward for a drip overnight.

Seven years previously I was in the same situation with my son. At that point (in a different hospital )we waited for hours to be seen, while continuing to try to rehydrate my son orally without success, only to be admitted at midnight and be told to carry on! My son was exhausted, crying and refusing fluids as he had been for the past 4 days and he needed to sleep but was too distressed. I was made to feel incompetent, (“Why won’t he drink? ” as if it was my fault! ), excluded out of the decisions, left hanging around waiting for actions/ decisions/ permission to do anything and it was an awful experience especially when I felt so powerless and had to get up courage to fight for some help. So I was dreading going through it again.

However this time in Dumfries and Galloway staff couldn’t have been more helpful. In A and E the nurse looking after us put her coat on to go out in the rain to get our bag out of the car rather than me taking my daughter out again to get it. The registrar listened to me and believed me when I said we were failing with the fluids and was prepared to be proactive with the drip to stop her getting worse. He got the cannula in first time (which had been planned for with the numbing cream earlier) and my daughter didn’t even flinch.

The ward staff found me some scrubs to wear as pyjamas and also provided a room with a single bed so that I could lie down next to my daughter who wouldn’t let me go, but wasn’t comfortable trying to sleep sitting up in my arms. They offered me drinks and brought in an extra blanket and turned the lights down. It was an unpleasant night for both us with minimal sleep (the drip was reset every hour with the beeping waking us up, although the staff were quick to respond to the alarm), but it was worth it as she was transformed in the morning! She even managed half a slice of toast and some juice, and was alert and interested in her surroundings and the toys staff brought in for us which was such a contrast to the previous few days. We were allowed to get away home when I was happy and they posted the discharge letter out to us so we didn’t have to hang around to wait for it. This meant we were in and out in 12 hours, with further open access for advice/ review if we needed it.

I really appreciated that all staff listened to me and respected my concerns about the changes in my daughter compared to her normal, they were accommodating, helpful, friendly, sympathetic and did everything to ensure we were in and out quickly (especially important for us as there were other children at home and multiple childcare arrangements to be made and I had all the car seats! ). I felt I was included as part of the team looking after her and remained very much involved in the decisions which was a pleasant contrast to my experience 7 years ago, so I wanted to give feedback to pass on my thanks to all the staff that cared for us.