Wednesday, January 18, 2023, will be a day I will never forget. It started as an ordinary day at home with my two children, Amelia, and Andre. My son Andre, who had just turned 3 a month before, had been sick for about a week. I had already taken him to the pediatrician just three days prior. They refused to do a CT scan and everyone reassured me he would be fine.
He was tired and vomiting a bit more than he had been the days before. I decided I was going to take him to the hospital again that afternoon, but unfortunately, I had to wait for my mother to come so that she would be able to stay with my daughter.
Around lunchtime, I put him down for a nap. He had been inconsolable all morning. He was lying down in the living room and quickly fell asleep again. I ate lunch and then checked on him again. The second I saw him I immediately felt my heart drop into my stomach.
“What do I do, he’s not waking up,” I recall saying to the 9-1-1 operator. My son lay completely unresponsive on our tan vomit-covered couch. His little face was so pale, so cold to the touch. His big brown eyes were rolled back so the whites of his eyes were the only thing I could see.
He was hospitalized and later diagnosed with protein C deficiency. I still feel completely lost and confused. I don’t understand how a child can have a rare genetic disease when both parents and sibling were tested and had no results.
I feel as though had the hospital listened my son would never have to have endured all the pain and struggles he’s had since his hospitalization.
This has completely changed everything. I almost lost my son. It has inspired me to be more serious about my future and it has pushed me to go back to school. I chose nursing because I never want to be unprepared should anything ever happen again.
Resources
Blood Clots in Children
Blood Clots in Children Webinar
Protein C Deficiency
