Eliana’s Radiothon Story

As a caregiver practitioner astatine the Alberta Children’s Hospital and Rotary Flame House, Allison knows

that household centred attraction is astatine the bosom of the hospital. She ne'er afloat knew however important it is to a household though, until she experienced it firsthand past year, erstwhile her girl Eliana needed captious attraction specialists to prevention her life.

Eliana and her older sister had some been sick with colds. Then 1 morning, Allison looked astatine her connected the babe show and noticed she hadn’t moved much. When she went to cheque connected her, she recovered her listless, lukewarm to the touch, lethargic and semi responsive successful her crib. She took her somesthesia and recovered she had a fever. Then, she had a tiny seizure. She rushed her to the Emergency Department, and she was taken to the trauma country close distant wherever doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists surrounded her. She was sent for an MRI and admitted to Unit 3. Strangely, an EEG recovered nary seizure activity. And Allison hoped she would beryllium capable to instrumentality Eliana location successful clip for their planned household cruise a fewer days later. Then 2 days later, Eliana had different seizure.

She was transferred to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and fixed an NG conduit for rescue medicine due to the fact that her veins were hard for an IV. Thankfully with the assistance of a constituent of attraction ultrasound, funded by Radiothon, specialists could insert a cardinal enactment into her cervix for fluid and different medications she whitethorn need.

While successful the PICU, Allison met the Neurocritical Care team, led by Dr. Michael Esser who started intimately monitoring her seizure activity. Dr. Esser diagnosed Eliana with a uncommon signifier of hemiconvulsion-hemiplegia-epilepsy (HHE) – the archetypal lawsuit seen present astatine Alberta Children’s Hospital. A 2nd MRI recovered inflammation connected the near broadside of Eliana’s brain. Dr. Esser started her connected steroids and IVIG treatments. To fto her encephalon rest, she was intubated and placed into an induced coma and intimately monitored for the adjacent 48 hours. Allison couldn’t assistance but interest if she would person the aforesaid small miss erstwhile she woke up. Before she became sick, she had conscionable begun to crawl.

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Gratefully, Eliana woke up and recovered and thankfully, has not had a seizure since that time she was intubated. She spent 5 weeks connected Unit 3 undergoing rehab, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and code therapy and IVIG treatments successful Medical Day Treatment. For IVIG, she relied connected the Vein Viewer, funded by Radiothon to assistance nurses located her hard veins. She remains connected anti-seizure medicine and is followed by ECR for rehabilitation and her neuro squad for mobility delays connected her close side.

When Eliana near the hospital, she couldn’t beryllium up. Now, she is walking astir astatine home, each acknowledgment to her unthinkable squad of specialists who saved her beingness and her prime of life. Her ma feels adjacent much arrogant to enactment astatine the Alberta Children’s Hospital.