Archie Read

We arrived in the emergency department at 9.30am on Sunday. At the triage desk I told them Archie had been intermittently fevering for the last 48 hours, fluid intake and urine output had gradually reduced over that time and had a fine red rash that had just started to appear over his back and abdomen.

After a long wait in the emergency waiting area (checked on a couple of times) we were admitted to a bed at around 3pm. The focus for the doctors was getting Archie to urinate, so we kept going with hydralyte and were hopeful that it would come soon. At this point he started to deteriorate and become more and more lethargic.

I was told I could take him back home and wait for him to urinate, or stay in ED, I of course opted to stay. I explained to the doctor that Archie had never acted like this before when being sick. He’d had covid at 4 months old, has had every bug from day-care and I have never ever seen him like this, yet the focus was still on his urine output. This was the sole focus for the first 10 hours of us arriving in emergency.

By 8.30pm, still no urine. It was then decided to insert a catheter and canular to get urine output and bloods were taken. Through all of that he didn’t move a muscle.

Concerns were flagged to the pediatric registrar at 8.30pm for an emergency review as he was continuing to go downhill, he was completely floppy and the rash was getting worse. The pediatric registrar reviewed him around 2 hours later. After the review his case was referred to Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).

Around midnight on Sunday we were informed Archie needed to be moved to PICU for care, this did not occur for another 2 hours.
At 5.30am we were asked to leave the room and go for a rest in another room, Archie had started to become agitated and a heavy bluish rash started to appear. They wanted to intubate and sedate him to allow his body to rest and for them to treat him. We were told the process would take around an hour and it would be a good opportunity to get some rest.

30 mins later we were woken by a doctor and head nurse for the shift, they wouldn’t tell us straight away what was happening. But I knew something was wrong. I remember yelling “Is he alive?”. He had gone into cardiac arrest. Running down the corridor to his room I don’t think anyone could have prepared us for what we were about to see, what felt like 20 doctors and nurses around our poor little boy, trying to bring him back to life. I remember my body being held up by the nurse and yelling to Archie, telling him that I was here. After 20 minutes they got him back.

They still could not get any fluids out of him, his organs were failing and they started dialysis. This was too much for his heart and he went into cardiac arrest another 2 times. I remember sitting on the bed next to him when he went into cardiac arrest the 3rd time and seeing blood drip from his eyes as they were trying to bring him back. Something that I still see vividly in my mind. By this time our little boy was almost unrecognizable, he was so swollen and blue.

It wasn’t until sometime Monday that we were told that Archie had two viruses described as the common cold, and a bacterial infection known as Group A Streptococcus which had turned into sepsis. (Sepsis and Group A Streptococcus) His blood pressure and heart rate remained low as he was not responding to all the drugs being pumped into him. This meant that his body went into preservation mode, with the non-essentials (hands, arms, feet and legs) turning blue and purple with the lack of blood. More and more not looking anything like our precious little boy. On top of this doctors informed us that it was more than likely he had severe brain damage and would not be able to lead a normal life, if he was to get through this. With there also the threat of him needing limbs to be amputated.

Doctors explained several times throughout the day that they were not sure he was going to survive and that if he was to go into a cardiac arrest that lasted more than 10 mins it would be in the best interest of Archie to let him go. This forced my husband and I to have the worst conversation of our lives, and one that no parent should ever have to have. We had to discuss that we may have to make the decision to turn off the machines and let him go. As horrible as that was for both of us, we agreed it was in the best interest of our little boy.

We requested the doctors please just help us get him to his first birthday, that was the very next day.

At midnight as it changed to the 23rd of August, balloons filled the room as we sang happy birthday for the first and only time for Archie surrounded by our closest family. My husband and I then cuddled up in Archie’s room to sleep together one last time.

The next morning, we had the gut-wrenching conversation with Archie’s doctor that we were ready to let him go. Once preparations were made, I held my little Archie boy whilst machines were turned off and he took his last few breathes.

 

Source: Kylie Read - Mother