Yekaterinburg mother describes daughter’s recovery
After three months in multiple hospitals, Bella has been discharged and can finally return home.
Two-year-old Isabella has been discharged from hospital. The girl contracted an intestinal infection and spent three months fighting for her life. Because of complications affecting her kidneys and brain, doctors issued grim prognoses, but she began to improve.
Bella’s mother — Albina — is originally from Yekaterinburg, and her father, Georgy, is from Novosibirsk. The couple met in Sochi, married there, and had a daughter. On 17 July the child’s condition suddenly worsened: she first became weak, then developed diarrhea and vomiting.
In the infectious diseases ward the girl was given saline, but the day after admission she stopped urinating. Clinicians found severe inflammation and transferred her to the intensive care unit with suspected hemolytic–uremic syndrome. This dangerous condition causes clots to form in small blood vessels, leading to red blood cell destruction, low platelet counts and acute kidney injury.
A few days later she began having seizures and her brain became affected. Bella was placed in a medically induced coma, put on mechanical ventilation and started on hemodialysis. The child’s condition deteriorated and swelling developed, so she was flown by helicopter from Sochi to Krasnodar. Doctors found brain swelling, pulmonary edema and multiple organ failure.
Doctors diagnosed Bella with escherichiosis — an acute intestinal infection. It spreads through contaminated food, water and unwashed hands. In most people it is asymptomatic, but in rare cases toxins accumulate in the body. The infection caused a complication in the form of hemolytic–uremic syndrome (HUS).
Doctors in Krasnodar managed to work a miracle and stabilize Bella, but she did not regain consciousness. The patient was then transferred to Moscow to the Russian Children’s Clinical Hospital (Rossiyskaya Detskaya Klinicheskaya Bolnitsa — RDKB). Even the leading specialists there could not resolve the problem.
«The doctors could not make an exact diagnosis, and the treatment Bella had been receiving only worsened her condition. On the advice of a good hematologist we transferred to Saint Vladimir Hospital (Bolnitsa Svyatogo Vladimira). Here, in three weeks my daughter came back to life. Neurologists examined her and said that everything would be fine, informing us that the previous treatment strategy had been incorrect. The medical team stopped all neuroleptic medications, and the child began rapidly returning to normal. They had given us terrifying prognoses about brain recovery, but now Bella is conscious, smiling, standing on her feet and has begun to speak. A miracle happened», — the girl’s mother said.
Medical staff stabilized Bella after severe complications, leading to her gradual recovery and discharge.
However, Bella’s kidneys were seriously affected. The intestinal infection caused renal cortical necrosis.
«The kidneys have decreased in size, and the test results remain elevated. We are being discharged with dietary recommendations. We hope that a transplant or other surgical interventions will not be required, but that possibility exists. In three months we will return to Moscow; for now we will focus on recovery and send all monitoring data to the doctors», — Albina said.
Bella has lost a lot of weight, but her mother said the child has a good appetite, and the parents hope she will soon regain her former weight.
Earlier, doctors explained how children contract intestinal infections, and a pediatrician outlined how to recover from rotavirus.
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