Our beautiful Son Nathan

With the exception of the occasional cold and runny nose up until the fatal weekend of his illness Nathan had always been a healthy little boy. He was an exceptionally bright and advanced for his age. Prior to getting sick this partcular weekend we had just posted out his party invitations for his second birthday. Nathan knew he was about to turn two and he also knew he was about to be a big brother. He would say, “ Inside Mummy tummy is baby brother Jared”.

It was a Saturday morning much like any other. Nathan had been well after just recovering from a cold three weeks earlier and had a slight runny nose. We were out shopping and when he seemed distressed at one point he let out a loud scream. This was not normal behavior for him and when he continued to cry I decided to take him home. After I consoled him he asked for a turn on the Thomas the Tank Engine ride before asking to go up the escalators to go home. This was the first time I had head Nathan say the word escalator.

As we were about to leave, Nathan projectile vomited up his breakfast and bottle in the car. This was also unusual, as he had never projectile vomited before. I decided to call an emergency GP service that made house calls, as my regular doctor was unavailable. The doctor arrived soon after lunchtime and examined Nathan. When Nathan complained of two sore ears and a sore head he suspected that he may have been suffering from a virus and told me to give him paracetamol.

He had a very restless night's sleep. On Sunday morning he didn’t have a temperature but was still very unsettled and clingy. I telephoned the doctor who had visited the day before ask his advice. I tried to give him his bottle but he seemed disinterested in food and liquids and just wanted to sleep. He vomited twice throughout the day and that night at around 6pm I gave him a dose of paracetamol to try and settle him down for the night, and that night he had an extremely restless nights sleep.

In the morning it was clear that he was still not well and at around 7:30am I called the GP to make another appointment. The doctor arrived early that afternoon and examined Nathan again. He said that Nathan's throat looked a little red and that he was probably suffering from some sort of virus. He also told me, not to fill the script for antibiotics as children can tolerate their own environment. I asked him if this was Meningitis and he said Nathan has some sort of viral problem.

That night at around 8pm Nathan woke up and vomited all over himself. Becoming more and more worried I called the doctor back to the house for the third time. When the doctor arrived at around 9pm I was frustrated and just wanted to know what was making him so sick. I asked the doctor again whether that meningitis could have been the cause.

Uncertain of a diagnosis the doctor referred him to the hospital for a more complete assessment.

On the way to the hospital Nathan was drowsy but still able understand me when I told him to drink his bottle. But before we arrived he had vomited it all up again. On arrival Nathan was examined and taken for a range of tests, a lumbar puncture was not performed at this stage. He was limp and very lethargic and barely moved throughout all the tests. I knew something was seriously wrong and suspected meningitis. I asked the doctor at the hospital if Nathan had Meningitis but the doctor said his blood test looked okay I did not know at this time the hospital had taken his blood to be cultured and were waiting for results. The doctors suspected that Nathan was suffering from a gastric bug, put him on an intravenous (IV) drip to prevent dehydration and admitted him for observation overnight.

We sat with Nathan for several hours in the ward and tried to comfort him. When one of the nurses put on one of his favorite videos not even this could hold his attention. All he could do was stare at the wall.

At around 1:30am on Tuesday morning the hospital staff encouraged my husband to go home and get some rest but I remained by Nathan's side.  He was only dozing in and out of sleep and would wake every 15 minutes frightened and calling out for me to sing and rock him back to sleep. I lay by his side in bed and continued to sing him back to sleep.

Throughout the early hours of the morning I could see that he wasn't improving and was actually getting worse, despite reassurances from the nurses because his vital signs were okay. By 7 am he was weak, and asked for his morning milk bottle then repeated the word water and then he began to moan becoming more and more confused. The nurse who was about to leave her night shift and I wet some gauze with water so Nathan could suck on it to get some liquids in his mouth which is want he was requesting. It is clear he was starting to lose consciousness.  

At 8 am the director of emergency examined Nathan. When the doctor confirmed my worst fear that meningitis was one of the likely causes I told him that I had asked the previous doctor that had seen Nathan and if it could be Meningitis.   I was then told that throughout the night Nathan’s symptoms had changed and he began to develop inter-cranial pressure. At this time his reflexes were poor, his pupils were dilated and he could no longer speak, only moan.

Gary had arrived at the hospital by this time and following this assessment Nathan was treated as an emergency and moved to the intensive care unit. He was too sick to undergo a lumbar puncture to test for meningitis but was given antibiotics that were administered through an intravenous (IV) drip.

Unfortunately, the treatment came too late. At around 11am, just 30 minutes after the antibiotics treatment was started, Nathan went into toxic shock and suffered a cardiac arrest. I just couldn't believe it. It all happened so quickly and before I knew it I was standing outside the room watching the doctors pump his chest and try to revive him. Tragically, Nathan could not be revived and passed away. We sat with him for hours.  It was just so hard to accept that he could be taken from us so quickly.