A Tough Noggin

Weve had our own excitement at the ABUA conference in Villa Maria this week. The first morning Charlotte fell from a very high bunkbed while she was soundly asleep, and landed directly on her head. It was a pretty solid knock, resulting in head and neck pain, which referred into her right arm. She was seeing things in a wobbly way, and I was getting increasingly nervous by her response after 10 minutes such that we called an ambulance.

The doctor who arrived was dressed in 'bombero´ clothes (he obviously doubles as a fireman!), and the neck brace was filthy and too big for her, so a girlfriend and I supported her neck in the ambulance as we rattled over 2 sets of bumpy traintracks.

The local hospital tried their best, but their XRay machine only gave blurry pictures, which didnt relieve my anxiety that she had a broken neck! So we loaded her in our car for a trip to a private medical clinic (accompanied by vomits with neck brace in place). An experienced doctor known to us was able to see her immediately, then organised a CT scan in yet another private clinic. We moved her by car to this venue and she had the ¨donut test¨ (the CT scanner looks like a giant donut!).

The doctors were satisfied that her neck was fine, but there was doubt over her head. There was a bodgy spot that could be a haemmorhage, and to be sure they suggested we send her to Cordoba Kids Hospital where there are neuro specialists..... you can imagine my fear levels at this stage!!!

So we had to take her back to the original public hospital to wait for an ambulance transfer to Cordoba (a 1.5 hour trip). She settled considerably as we waited, and was more alert and less nauseous. So we decided that Jaquelina (Jake) and I go to Cordoba with Charlotte, while Martin stay at the campsite with the kids.

The Cordoba Kids Hospital was fantastic. Perhaps a bit too cautious I would think, as they wanted to admit her to the Intensive Care Unit !!!(where I couldnt stay with her). A few tears of exasperation on my part and some persuasion from Jake .... and she was sent instead to the Intermediate Ward. She was obviously anxious not to be left alone, so this was a better solution.

We were swamped by keen staff and plenty of tests to ensure that all was well, including abdo scans, heart monitoring, chest XRays and another CT scan (which showed that there was no damage whatsoever to her funny curly little head after all!!!)

So we were discharged after 48 hours and now have a better idea of how the Argentine hospital system operates!!

Posted by Julie