She continues: “The car ride there felt like it took hours. Ilvy was completely limp in the car and she no longer responded to anything. You could see she was getting worse every minute.”
Ilvy.
Streptococcal bacteria
Ilvy, Annelien and her boyfriend are met at the emergency room. “We were all asked questions: whether Ilvy had eaten anything special and how she had behaved in recent days. No one knew what was wrong with her.”
Until a pediatrician asks Annelien whether her daughter has had impetigo. “’No,’ I replied. ‘Not that I know.’ But then I remembered that Ilvy’s sister had a wound on her finger. We went to the doctor about it, but he said it was nothing serious and gave us an ointment. That solved it.”
“I showed the doctor a photo of the wound, and it turned out to be impetigo indeed. After a number of tests, it turned out that Ilvy had contracted a dangerous streptococcal bacteria from her sister. This causes infections such as impetigo, but also it staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome (SSSS). This caused the blisters and loose skin. The strange thing was that Ilvy’s sister had no problems and was simply healthy.”
Therapy
“Ilvy also suffered blood poisoning due to the bacteria. Because of this, it wouldn’t take long for all her organs to shut down. She was quickly connected to an antibiotic drip. It then remained to be seen whether the medication would work and whether we had been on time. If not, she would fall into a coma and die. Ilvy was also given sleeping medication because she was in so much pain. She moaned and squeaked because the blisters were bothering her so much. It felt to her as if she had been burned all over her body.”
The hours that follow are hell for Annelien. “Everything comes in at that moment. Before that I was in a kind of survival mode: I heard what the doctors said, but it didn’t get through to me. The most important thing was that my child was saved. Now it really dawned on me: if the antibiotics didn’t work, we would lose her. It’s indescribable, it’s so intense.”
Ilvy’s skin, due to SSSS.
Repair
Fortunately, the medication is working, and slowly but surely Ilvy is getting better. “She was in the hospital for a week and a half and slept a lot to recover. Then she gradually started practicing sitting and walking short distances. Her body had suffered such a blow that she had to rebuild her muscle strength from scratch.”
It will take years before Ilvy’s muscle strength is restored and the blisters on her body have disappeared. “She just turned six, and all you can see are little spots on her back. Everything else has healed nicely, including her face.”
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Mental health problems
Ilvy is still suffering from her hospitalization, especially psychologically. “She was very anxious, had many nightmares and did not dare to meet up with friends. I was also unable to take her to the hospital, with the result that the first follow-up checks were done by telephone. Every time we drive past the hospital, she says, “I was there and I almost died.” Even though she was so young, she still experienced that.”
On the advice of a supervisor, Annelien makes a photo album of the event, which Ilvy can look at and browse through. She hopes that this way her daughter will be able to process the event better. “That’s going quite well. She asks questions and we talk a lot about what is in the photos.”
Familiarity
Ilvy is now doing a lot better. “Things are going well at school and she has recently started meeting up with friends again. She also goes to a special swimming lesson group, which contains few children, so that she can receive more personal attention. She crosses more and more barriers and gets her old life back.”
Annelien wants to create more awareness about the streptococcal bacteria, so that parents recognize the symptoms more quickly. “After contacting a woman who lost her child to the bacteria, I shared my story on social media. I have had many wonderful reactions from people who had never heard of it, but fortunately now know what to do if it happens to their child.”
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2023-11-28 12:04:41
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