Seeking advice for a terminally ill kid


cancan7

Member
Sep 9, 2007
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Hi, I'm seeking advice for a terminally ill kid who is my colleague's neighbour.

This patient is a 3 year old girl who's been having non-stop high fever for the past few months, the doctors at NUH did all sort of tests possible but were unable to find the cause of the illness.

She was in critical condition 2 weeks back with heart failure, and the heart recovered with the help of respirator and the fever subsided, but few days back, she had a relapse of the fever.

The family is at their wit's end, and have sought divine help as well.

Any suggestions as to what can the family do?

Thank you so much for reading.
 

It is very sad to hear that, as a father myself i can understand how the parent of girl want their kid back to normal (at any cost).
I hope i could help but i can only pray that she get better.
 

Hmm... not to put down any hospitals in Sg but for kids, you might want to ask your colleague's neighbour to try KKH? Hopefully they are able to refer the case to overseas hospitals for diagnosis if they are unable to find the cause of illness.

All the best to the family and kid.
 

Not really a doctor nor expert here. Usually, doctors would need to take specimens of the child's blood, phlegm, urine etc to culture and see if the fever is due to bacteria infection or other causes. I recommend that your neighbor should contact a pediatric who should know more on child's disease and infections.

God bless and I hope that she get treated back to normal the soonest possible.
 

1st of all, you should not said about "terminal ill" it's not confirm by the doctor yet. there are so many reason why the doctor failed to diagnoze it, but I do hope it's not that bad.. Singapore do have this Superbug reported earlier in the newspaper. just hope it's not that..
 

Hi, I'm seeking advice for a terminally ill kid who is my colleague's neighbour.

This patient is a 3 year old girl who's been having non-stop high fever for the past few months, the doctors at NUH did all sort of tests possible but were unable to find the cause of the illness.

She was in critical condition 2 weeks back with heart failure, and the heart recovered with the help of respirator and the fever subsided, but few days back, she had a relapse of the fever.

The family is at their wit's end, and have sought divine help as well.

Any suggestions as to what can the family do?

Thank you so much for reading.

I have a very close friend , who is hospitalize (I shall not name the hospital) for 6 months . She have non-stop high fever everyday and the doctor take blood test almost everyday. - She did not make it in the end and the parents were upset with the doctors as they only diagnose her cause too late and too little.

Please seek a second opinion if you feel nothing has improved.
 

The problem is fever is such a common symptom that it can be almost anything. :think:
 

Best, seek advise from doctor. Ask them about second opinion.
In kopitiam you will have various opinions that might not be helpful at all.
 

Thanks for all the responses so far. I too feel that the parents stuck with the same doctors for far too long when they couldn't even diagnose the child's condition.

I hope that it is not too late to take actions to help the poor girl recover, but the parents are desperate, hence them seeking my colleague's help, who in turn told me to ask a wider audience.

I'll relay your well wishes to the family asap, thank you once again :)
 

I guess kopitam is a TCSS forum, unfortunately when comes to such unique case, it will still depend on the medical expert.
My daughter was premature and hospitalized for 3 months since borned before she could go home, thus I can feel for the sick child parents. Getting 2nd opinion perhaps is one option. Maybe TCM? Pray the kid will be fine.
 

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I have a very close friend , who is hospitalize (I shall not name the hospital) for 6 months . She have non-stop high fever everyday and the doctor take blood test almost everyday. - She did not make it in the end and the parents were upset with the doctors as they only diagnose her cause too late and too little.

Please seek a second opinion if you feel nothing has improved.

what was the cause? Can she be saved if she was diagnosed earlier?
 

I would suggest a transfer of hospital for a 2nd opinion. KKH, SGH and Mount E are possible suggestions. Sometimes it is the doctor that lacks experience/exposure/observation. I know they rely on symptoms, tests, biopsies, scans and what you have to be able to pinpoint to something. I have a friend whose daughter is born with hole in heart. Before discovery, she went for so many tests and diagnosis. So many doctors could not detect it until a particular doctor upon hearing her breathing immediately knows something is wrong with her heart.

If she is still in a condition to be transferrable, it may be good to quickly seek a second opinion. And please bring along her medical report so that the follow up medical team can make informed decisions quickly.
 

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You might want to consider renaming your thread since "terminally ill" means cannot cure / will not make it.
 

If it is a "terminally ill" case, then there is practically no chance to recover except maybe with a miracle. For this case, it is going to be a big strain to the family members. It will cost the family a fortune and it will cost a lot of mental anguish and physical strain, and unless the family is very well to do, it will have a very big burden to carry for many years to come. Changing doctors, hospitals, looking for specialists, professional, all these require a very determine and strong parents to follow through.

My only advice is to seek the help of the HEALTH Minister Khaw Boon Wan. :dunno: Hopefully through his statue and connections, he can offer some hope.

Also maybe make known this case through the internet and hopefully some good doctors will offer their advices or services.

Bless them.
 

I would suggest a transfer of hospital for a 2nd opinion. KKH, SGH and Mount E are possible suggestions. Sometimes it is the doctor that lacks experience/exposure/observation.

This is my personal expereince. My son was stuck at Mount E, the senior doctors had no solution nor suggestion. Till, in the evening I spoke to a young doctor who was doing his routine check. He told me that he will contact his professor in NUH. After telling the prof about my son condition he was transferred immediately.
 

Hi, I'm seeking advice for a terminally ill kid who is my colleague's neighbour.

This patient is a 3 year old girl who's been having non-stop high fever for the past few months, the doctors at NUH did all sort of tests possible but were unable to find the cause of the illness.

She was in critical condition 2 weeks back with heart failure, and the heart recovered with the help of respirator and the fever subsided, but few days back, she had a relapse of the fever.

The family is at their wit's end, and have sought divine help as well.

Any suggestions as to what can the family do?

Thank you so much for reading.


Sound like a infection from an unknown virus.

Did the doctor do a blood test to check sign of virus infection ?

I heard NUH have too many inexperiences doctors. For this kind of rare virus infection, you need to find the best or most experience doctor.

The NUH environment is also not clean. Last time, the news report some patients get infection from virus after getting treatment there.

There was also a case where a SAF soldier with leg pain later die at NUH because doctor cannot find out what is wrong with him. He have a rare infection at the leg which spread all over his body. The doctor there thought he want to keng.

Change hospital is the best option.
 

Hi, I'm seeking advice for a terminally ill kid who is my colleague's neighbour.

This patient is a 3 year old girl who's been having non-stop high fever for the past few months, the doctors at NUH did all sort of tests possible but were unable to find the cause of the illness.

She was in critical condition 2 weeks back with heart failure, and the heart recovered with the help of respirator and the fever subsided, but few days back, she had a relapse of the fever.

The family is at their wit's end, and have sought divine help as well.

Any suggestions as to what can the family do?

Thank you so much for reading.

change hospitals. kkh is a reliable one and one of the leading hospitals with regards to children problems.

pray harder. keeps fingercrossed.
 

if possible, transfer to KKH. The children specialist are very good. My daughter suffered up and down jaundice level during birth (close to 2 mth). after sent to kkh for detail checkup using CT scan, then discover is thyroid. now is recovered. From my personnal experience, i admitted to NUH in 2000. 1 inexperience doctor extract my bone marrow and caused me pain for 6 hrs. 2 days later, they told me the extracted bone marrow not enough.. need to take some more... luckily this time 'old bird' doctor did it for me and i only suffered short pain !! Remember, NUH is the training school for the doctor. But now is the matter of life and death, better get experience doctor to save life. Hope any NUH doctor who are reading this get no offence.. this is only my personnal point of view..
 

Thanks again for the response and sharing. I just called my colleague to convey your advice, and got more info about the patient's situation:

She was originally warded at KK, and did the CT scan, bone marrow and blood test there. She was then transferred to NUH when her condition did not improve.

Lets hope that she'll recover :)
 

Sound like a infection from an unknown virus.

Did the doctor do a blood test to check sign of virus infection ?

I heard NUH have too many inexperiences doctors. For this kind of rare virus infection, you need to find the best or most experience doctor.

The NUH environment is also not clean. Last time, the news report some patients get infection from virus after getting treatment there.

There was also a case where a SAF soldier with leg pain later die at NUH because doctor cannot find out what is wrong with him. He have a rare infection at the leg which spread all over his body. The doctor there thought he want to keng.

Change hospital is the best option.

Well NUH is a teaching hospital. Unless of course it's Princeton Plainsboro teaching hospital.
Hospitals everywhere are struggling against antibiotic-resistant bacteria like MRSA.