Life-saving Care, Close to Home
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Hear from Roxanne whose family experienced first-hand what a difference it makes to have life-saving care close to home.
When Roxanne’s two-year-old daughter, Briar, came home with a few bruises, she didn’t think much of it. “She was in school part-time, so I just thought she was playing a little rough.” But even on the days Briar was at home, the bruises kept coming.
“She had been with us all day, and I knew she hadn’t hurt herself, so it just didn’t add up,” Roxanne remembers. “Then one morning, she woke up covered in these finger-sized bruises. She looked like a cheetah.” Roxanne knew in her gut that something wasn’t right. “When she came home from school that day, yet another bruise had shown up – this one was on the top of her mouth. That is when we decided to take her to the hospital.”
It was a Friday night. The wait at the Emergency Department was going to be long, and Roxanne had her seven-week-old newborn with her. “When Briar was assessed by the triage nurse, we asked her for advice. We thought that maybe we should just go home, but she insisted that we should wait to be seen by a doctor. Knowing what we know now, I am so glad that she told us to stay.”
Roxanne decided to trust the nurse, and the family went back to the waiting room. “After a while, Briar started bleeding at the mouth,” Roxanne remembers. “The triage nurse came over to check her out, and shortly after her assessment, we were prioritized and quickly brought to a room.”
The moments that followed would change their family’s life.
When the bruises kept coming, Roxanne knew something was wrong. Briar had to be admitted to the Children’s Health Unit for six days.
“The Emergency Physician ordered a blood test,” Roxanne recalls. “Trying to get blood from this little two-year-old was really difficult.”
It wasn’t until a second blood test was ordered that Roxanne and her husband Jordan began to worry.
“The Emergency Physician was so good. After the repeat blood test, he came in, sat us down, and explained to us that Briar had low platelets. We will remember that doctor and that moment forever. Everything changed.”
Briar was diagnosed with something called Immune Thrombocytopenia. “Her body essentially attacks itself. It specifically attacks the platelets, which means that her blood doesn’t clot properly. So, her bruises weren’t caused by bumping into anything; it was just spontaneous bruising. It also meant that any minor injury posed a great risk of bleeding for Briar.”
“I vividly remember him explaining all of this to us, and we just couldn’t have hoped for a more caring and kinder person to break that terrifying news to us. As we sat there, listening, it started to dawn on me – oh, we are not about to leave this hospital…”
“The unit is beautiful. The rooms are huge, new, and clean. The staff brought in a play mat right away and kept asking if we needed anything.” While Jordan and their newborn, Ivy, went home for the night, Roxanne stayed with Briar.
“At this point, any bump could have caused Briar severe internal bleeding, so the main goal was to get her platelets up. Ideal numbers for platelets are between 150 and 400,” Roxanne explains.
“Briar had 4.”
To increase her numbers, Briar needed an intravenous immunoglobulin treatment (IVIG), which meant she had to be hooked up to an IV. “The Children’s Health Unit has these fantastic IV poles, so she got to pick one and chose the unicorn,” Roxanne smiles. “The unicorn ended up being our best friend for those six days we spent at the hospital.”
“Having a sick kid is the scariest thing in the world, but thanks to the incredibly kind and competent team at Niagara Health, we felt safe and reassured.”
To ensure Briar’s body was reacting well to her treatment, her vitals had to be checked every 15 minutes initially. “She hated it,” Roxanne remembers. “She would ask me: Are they going to do the squeezy thing again? Because she was so tiny, they measured her blood pressure on her leg with this tiny cuff, it was a lot for her. By the end of it, a nurse would walk into the room, and she’d just hold out her little finger, ready for the pulse reading… it broke my heart.”
Still, knowing that it was for the greater good, Roxanne tried to stay positive. “After 24 hours, the treatment usually has great success, so they ran another test,” Roxanne sighs. “Her platelets had risen to 5.”
After a couple of days of waiting, many more pricks and pokes for Briar, and hoping that the effect of the treatment would just be delayed, it became clear that Briar would need yet another IVIG treatment.
“We were disappointed, but at that point, being in the hospital had become our weird new reality,” Roxanne explains, adding that the team at the Children’s Health Unit made it easy for their family to adjust to their ‘new normal.’“ For the most part, Briar has a really positive memory of that time at the hospital.
After her second treatment, Briar’s platelets had risen to 74, which meant that she would finally get to go home. “I was almost sad going home,” Roxanne says. “I had all of these people constantly reassuring me that everything was ok, answering my questions – they made us feel safe.”
Today, the now three-year-old is doing well again and is excited about hot chocolate, twinkling lights, and all the family time she will get during the holidays.
“Having a sick kid is the scariest thing in the world, but during our stay, we felt safe and reassured,” Roxanne recalls. She is grateful that their family was able to go through their experience together and close to home.
“It did feel normal after a couple of days, but it was also a very emotional time. I knew I had to be strong for Briar, and the staff really helped me do that. There were moments when I struggled to keep it together. She would be terrified of needing another needle, and it was so hard to watch. But then a nurse would immediately distract her with a binder full of Band-Aids she could choose from. It took Briar’s mind off the pain, and it gave me a minute to breathe. I can’t imagine how their team does this job – how they stay strong for the kids and the parents and do it all with a smile on their face.”
“Having the hospital and the resources close to home wasn’t just good for Briar; it impacted our whole family. I think that is true not just for pediatrics – behind each patient is a family.”
Life-saving Care, Close to Home
Hear from Roxanne whose family experienced first-hand what a difference it makes to have life-saving care close to home.
When Roxanne’s two-year-old daughter, Briar, came home with a few bruises, she didn’t think much of it. “She was in school part-time, so I just thought she was playing a little rough.” But even on the days Briar was at home, the bruises kept coming.
“She had been with us all day, and I knew she hadn’t hurt herself, so it just didn’t add up,” Roxanne remembers. “Then one morning, she woke up covered in these finger-sized bruises. She looked like a cheetah.” Roxanne knew in her gut that something wasn’t right. “When she came home from school that day, yet another bruise had shown up – this one was on the top of her mouth. That is when we decided to take her to the hospital.”
It was a Friday night. The wait at the Emergency Department was going to be long, and Roxanne had her seven-week-old newborn with her. “When Briar was assessed by the triage nurse, we asked her for advice. We thought that maybe we should just go home, but she insisted that we should wait to be seen by a doctor. Knowing what we know now, I am so glad that she told us to stay.”
Roxanne decided to trust the nurse, and the family went back to the waiting room. “After a while, Briar started bleeding at the mouth,” Roxanne remembers. “The triage nurse came over to check her out, and shortly after her assessment, we were prioritized and quickly brought to a room.”
The moments that followed would change their family’s life.
When the bruises kept coming, Roxanne knew something was wrong. Briar had to be admitted to the Children’s Health Unit for six days.
“The Emergency Physician ordered a blood test,” Roxanne recalls. “Trying to get blood from this little two-year-old was really difficult.”
It wasn’t until a second blood test was ordered that Roxanne and her husband Jordan began to worry.
“The Emergency Physician was so good. After the repeat blood test, he came in, sat us down, and explained to us that Briar had low platelets. We will remember that doctor and that moment forever. Everything changed.”
Briar was diagnosed with something called Immune Thrombocytopenia. “Her body essentially attacks itself. It specifically attacks the platelets, which means that her blood doesn’t clot properly. So, her bruises weren’t caused by bumping into anything; it was just spontaneous bruising. It also meant that any minor injury posed a great risk of bleeding for Briar.”
“I vividly remember him explaining all of this to us, and we just couldn’t have hoped for a more caring and kinder person to break that terrifying news to us. As we sat there, listening, it started to dawn on me – oh, we are not about to leave this hospital…”
“The unit is beautiful. The rooms are huge, new, and clean. The staff brought in a play mat right away and kept asking if we needed anything.” While Jordan and their newborn, Ivy, went home for the night, Roxanne stayed with Briar.
“At this point, any bump could have caused Briar severe internal bleeding, so the main goal was to get her platelets up. Ideal numbers for platelets are between 150 and 400,” Roxanne explains.
“Briar had 4.”
To increase her numbers, Briar needed an intravenous immunoglobulin treatment (IVIG), which meant she had to be hooked up to an IV. “The Children’s Health Unit has these fantastic IV poles, so she got to pick one and chose the unicorn,” Roxanne smiles. “The unicorn ended up being our best friend for those six days we spent at the hospital.”
“Having a sick kid is the scariest thing in the world, but thanks to the incredibly kind and competent team at Niagara Health, we felt safe and reassured.”
To ensure Briar’s body was reacting well to her treatment, her vitals had to be checked every 15 minutes initially. “She hated it,” Roxanne remembers. “She would ask me: Are they going to do the squeezy thing again? Because she was so tiny, they measured her blood pressure on her leg with this tiny cuff, it was a lot for her. By the end of it, a nurse would walk into the room, and she’d just hold out her little finger, ready for the pulse reading… it broke my heart.”
Still, knowing that it was for the greater good, Roxanne tried to stay positive. “After 24 hours, the treatment usually has great success, so they ran another test,” Roxanne sighs. “Her platelets had risen to 5.”
After a couple of days of waiting, many more pricks and pokes for Briar, and hoping that the effect of the treatment would just be delayed, it became clear that Briar would need yet another IVIG treatment.
“We were disappointed, but at that point, being in the hospital had become our weird new reality,” Roxanne explains, adding that the team at the Children’s Health Unit made it easy for their family to adjust to their ‘new normal.’“ For the most part, Briar has a really positive memory of that time at the hospital.
After her second treatment, Briar’s platelets had risen to 74, which meant that she would finally get to go home. “I was almost sad going home,” Roxanne says. “I had all of these people constantly reassuring me that everything was ok, answering my questions – they made us feel safe.”
Today, the now three-year-old is doing well again and is excited about hot chocolate, twinkling lights, and all the family time she will get during the holidays.
“Having a sick kid is the scariest thing in the world, but during our stay, we felt safe and reassured,” Roxanne recalls. She is grateful that their family was able to go through their experience together and close to home.
“It did feel normal after a couple of days, but it was also a very emotional time. I knew I had to be strong for Briar, and the staff really helped me do that. There were moments when I struggled to keep it together. She would be terrified of needing another needle, and it was so hard to watch. But then a nurse would immediately distract her with a binder full of Band-Aids she could choose from. It took Briar’s mind off the pain, and it gave me a minute to breathe. I can’t imagine how their team does this job – how they stay strong for the kids and the parents and do it all with a smile on their face.”
“Having the hospital and the resources close to home wasn’t just good for Briar; it impacted our whole family. I think that is true not just for pediatrics – behind each patient is a family.”
