Head Injury to infant. Lots of ?'s Please ANY advice!

[Jacksmommy59]

My son, at the age of 3 months was pulled 3ft off the kitchen table onto the back of his head. He suffered with a subarchnoid hemmorage. He was in the hosp for 24 hours and released.Head circumference was 41cm at this time.

Two days following he had two seizures was checked out and put on Keepra.

We went back for our follow up one month from the fall. His head circumference had grown to 44cm at the age of 4months. (corrected age 2months) They decided to do an MRI.

MRI came back stating that there was no hemoorage present, but a few small subdrual collections that weren't previously seen on CT.

A week later I noticed some vomiting and lethery...took him to neurosurgeon and they did a repeat CT. Ct showed extra CSF surronding the brain. Said that he has external hydrocplaus and that they would see him in two months unless things got worse.

Jack has been vomiting frequentely for the past month. He will vomit a few times a day and then won't for a week or so. They've ruled out any GI issues. We saw neurosurgery and repeat ct again, shows no changes.

At this time Jack will be 7 months on the 19. ( 5moths corected age) and his head cm is 47cm. His birth cm was 33cm...so it's grown about 15cm since birth. He is cranky, and still is vomiting.

THey have not done a repeat MRI to look at the past sudural hematoma.


I just want to know if you think the vomiting could be from the increased fluid or the subdural hematoma(that is not seen on the ct, only mri)

Doctor said he's stable so doesnt feel the need to do any surgical treatment.

I dont understand why they wouldnt do another MRI to check the hematoma. Could this be causing jacks vomiting and crankiness?

Also Jack cannot sit up at all, nor can he eat baby food as he doesnt know how too.

Also lastly, if the CT scan doesnt show any increased fluid from December, why is his head growing soo much? ......

THANK YOU!>

[Jacksmommy59]

Thanks for the advice!

Anyone else?

Doc's when you get a chance. Thank you.

[northernstarmn]

seems as though the hydro is causing your son to vomit,and be cranky maybe the NS is hoping things get better on their own before having to do anytype of surgery.

i think id first find a pedatric NS, and if you feel uncomfortable with his behavior by all means take him to the ER, (with any and all info you have (ie labs,scans,results)

good luck.

[ggreg]

I think you should take your child to the ER forthwith and briefly explain your child's symptoms, about the fall four months ago and the finding of him having a brain hemorrhage, which he was sent home and then they found he had seizures, and he was sent home again and that he has had vomiting several times a week since then.  Tell them you keep bringing him to the doc and they keep sending him home, but you want HELP NOW.

This is because I saw a program on TV, I think one of the Discovery type channels, and an infant hit his head on the floor real hard, and he wound up with the same symptoms as your son, and due to lack of proper hospital care, DESPITE supposedly normal pictures of his brain, he passed away.  Not to alarm you, because this kid went down within a few days, and yours is still going several months after his original injury.  But I just wanted you to know that your son's symptoms indicate things are not right with him, and all this sending you away and "see you in two months" is unacceptable, becuz expert pediatric neurosurgeons know that you can have a clear scan but a very sick child.  

If you are not comfortable with going to your own ER, perhaps arrange to have Jack seen by a pediatric neurosurgeon in a nearby larger city hospital or university hospital, in order to get a second opinion going.  Write down the contact info, including fax numbers, for all the docs who have seen your son, plus any records you have, and take it all with you to give to the doc.  Don't go alone to this appointment.  And when you telephone, try very hard to explain this is an emergency, that your docs are ignoring the problem, and your child is quite sick and needs to be seen immediately.  God speed.