Haemorrhages- info needed

[Lottie86]

One of the nurses left Iona's notes in the room so I was having a read (yes I know it was naughty!). There were a couple of pages of very brief notes at the start on her main neonatal issues and apparently her cranial ultrasound showed haemorrhages.

I had absolutely no idea about this until I read it just now so I'm a bit shocked and upset to say the least. I vaguely remember them doing a cranial ultrasound and then saying something about they would need to do another one a while later but the first couple of weeks, particularly the first 10 days, were all such a blur that I don't remember them telling us what the results were hence this being a shock.

I'm going to ask for more info about it but other than asking whereabouts and about the size are there any other things that would be useful to ask the doctors about?

Do babies who had haemorrhages need any follow up scans to check the blood has all been reabsorbed?

 

[AP]

Generally the smaller, the less worrying Hun. The babies to get follow ups if they think it's required, to ensure it'd being absorbed /not getting bigger and that there's no fluid build up. They can be graded 1-4 , 1 being smallest.

Alexs was a 4 and fluid began to build up (think in plumbing terms) until it resolved, no fluid was passing. Eventually it did, and that was that, leaving sone dead cells.it was on the left side, so affects opposite side of her body. the brain works around that though, because they are so young, the brain just re-wires itself.

That's why small ones aren't so worrying but they could have blooming told you! that's what I know but it's only based on our experience.

 

[Lottie86]

Thanks Sandi! Not sure whether docs here, her neonatologist or her development consultant would be best to ask questions to?

We found out a few bits last night we didn't know as we didn't know about her pulmonary interstitial emphysema either

 

[AP]

That's not on. You've been let down so much now the neonatologist or development consultant will probably be able to give you more information. Xx

 

[nkbapbt]

While Sandi is right....there isn't just one sort of bleed. The type of bleed that Lakai and Alex had (both being Grade IV IVH's) are only in the ventricles (start off at least) in the brain. You can have bleeding in other places, some are more serious than others. Usually its not actually the bleed its self that causes issues, its how it resolves.

Im not sure how it works where you live..but here you are completely allowed to read your baby's chart. I am not sure why you wouldn't be. I know some hospital's here are weird about it and try to scare you from doing so...but ours let us and encouraged us to write down things we wanted to know about from what we read.

They really should have told you!

I would ask the neonatalogist personally.

 

[Marleysgirl]

I was told that we couldn't just pick up & read Andrew's charts but that if we wanted to read its contents, then Neonatal could arrange for a Doctor to briefly go through it with us to explain things and then we could study it afterwards. We didn't bother.

Andrew's discharge letter from Neonatal listed exactly what he went through during his stay, including the cranial bleed (though it wasn't given a grade), breathing difficulties etc. He had an u/sound shortly after birth as a matter of course and that's when they found the bleed but said it looked like old blood; he then had further u/sounds during his stay which showed the blood being reabsorbed. They couldn't tell whether the bleed was on the brain or the skull side of the membrane until they did an MRI (it turned out to be on the brain side). The Consultant then advised us that they had no idea how it would affect him, they couldn't predict how the adjacent brain would cope - anything that occurred later in his life (such as the epilepsy at 10m) could be the result.

 

[vermeil]

Hello! I know what you mean... I received a summary of bubbah's hospital stay a few weeks ago (almost a year later) and was flabberghasted to read details that I had NEVER been told of. I see how it can easily happen - I saw firsthand for months how hectic and busy neonatal units are, and the countless specialists and nurses that rotate in and out. But still I felt betrayed somehow.

Definitely ask for clarification lottie! *hugs*