Chapter 1456: The Diarrhea-Stricken Child with Motor Dysfunction

Chapter 1456: Chapter 1456: The Diarrhea-Stricken Child with Motor Dysfunction

(Thanks to Deep Space, Bluebird and Qianxun, Want to Be a Lazy Idle Fish, The Road is Winding, Calm Down, Book Friend 151110230252927, kenny75, Book Friend 20170818155926615, Book Friend 160111044229290, DRDER, Lang Ru Tie83, Life’s Big Splash Moon Ticket Encouragement)

"How is that patient’s condition?"

Early the next morning, after Liu Banxia went to work, he asked.

"The blood drawn this morning showed a significant drop in bilirubin levels. The fever has also decreased, and the abdominal pain symptoms have similarly lessened," Su Wenhao said with a smile.

"When we were drawing blood this morning, he told me that our drainage was very timely. Anyway, he had a good night’s sleep and felt quite good."

"That’s good. Let’s drain for two days first, and then do an endoscopic ultrasound to see what’s going on," Liu Banxia nodded.

"Teacher Liu, seeing the current condition of the patient, I still feel that our little guess wasn’t too far off," Su Wenhao said.

"Haha, I hope so too. But no matter what we say, it all doesn’t mean anything; ultimately, we’ll have to see what the tests reveal," Liu Banxia said with a smile.

No matter what, this matter can only be kept to ourselves. We mustn’t reveal even a bit to the patient or the patient’s family. It’s too dangerous, and something else might go wrong.

"Director Liu, are you busy now?"

At this time, Chen Hongyang walked over.

"What’s up? Surely there isn’t another neonatal surgery needed right now?" Liu Banxia asked.

"No, it’s about a child patient admitted last night," Chen Hongyang said.

"An 8-year-old boy suffering from abdominal pain and bloody stools. He underwent diarrhea and dehydration treatment last night. The blood routine and stool test showed no obvious abnormalities, but the occult blood value is very high."

"He had two more bowel movements this morning, but no blood was seen. A colonoscopy will be done soon, but I think this might be a complex case."

"Okay, has he gone to the endoscopy room now?" Liu Banxia asked.

"Just went over," Chen Hongyang said.

"Su Wenhao, call me if anything comes up, I’ll go over and take a look first," Liu Banxia said.

"Okay, Teacher Liu," Su Wenhao quickly said.

Child patients need extra attention.

"Did you rush over last night too?"

On the way to the endoscopy room, Liu Banxia asked.

"Of course. It’s a child, with such symptoms, one can’t help but feel uneasy. Although there was slight improvement after rehydration, it wasn’t a cure," Chen Hongyang said.

"I also called Wang Huan to come over. Let’s have a careful look during the colonoscopy. The child has had diarrhea for the past few days, almost to the point of exhaustion."

"Are there any other symptoms?" Liu Banxia asked.

"A slight fever, which seems to be consistent with enteritis, but there’s the issue of bloody stools. Also, the symptomatic treatment yesterday wasn’t very effective," Chen Hongyang said.

Liu Banxia frowned, knowing even before seeing the colonoscopy results, that this case might be very troublesome.

Director Chen of the pediatrics department is not just for show; he must have been pondering over this all night. Looking at the current examination indicators of this little patient, the indications are also very vague.

A consultation isn’t called just casually. Director Chen most likely has no direction at the moment and doesn’t dare to delay the little patient’s condition, which is why he called everyone together for a consultation.

Arriving at the endoscopy room, the child’s parents were waiting anxiously.

This little patient was indeed somewhat frail, which is consistent with the symptoms of diarrhea.

A strong man can’t withstand repeated bouts of diarrhea, let alone a young child who is still growing.

A colonoscopy is slightly more intense than an endoscopy, but it’s still not a pleasant experience. The young boy endured with great difficulty, but to clearly diagnose the illness, he needs to continue enduring.

Unfortunately, the colonoscopy results were not ideal; no tumors, polyps, or bleeding points were found inside the colon, and the intestines were very clean.

The three exchanged glances, and although no words were spoken, they all reached a consensus. They would have to start with conservative treatment and then slowly study the case.

"Director Chen, how is he?" the child’s mother asked.

"Currently, the quality of the intestinal tract looks quite good. We’ll consult to see if we need to adjust the medication," Chen Hongyang said.

At this point, the father also picked up the child. Seeing the child’s weak and feeble appearance was truly distressing.

However, upon seeing the child’s legs, Liu Banxia frowned.

"Could you put the child down so we can see how he walks?" Liu Banxia said.

The child’s father was stunned for a moment but put the child down on the ground anyway.

The child is having a hard time walking, and it’s almost like he can’t stand steadily. His movements are slow, and the coordination between his legs isn’t very good. He almost fell, but fortunately, his father caught him.

At this point, it wasn’t just Liu Banxia, even Chen Hongyang and Wang Huan furrowed their brows.

"Doctor, why is he like this? Could it be that he’s out of strength from diarrhea?" the child’s mother anxiously asked.

"Don’t worry just yet, this is a new symptom the child is showing. Did you notice anything like this at home?" Chen Hongyang asked.

"Not really," the child’s father replied.

"Once he started having diarrhea, we stayed home to care for him. Seeing how much effort it took him to go, I carried him to the toilet every time."

"It’s just been a day, how did things come to this? Doctor, what illness is this? Is there any more tests we can do? No matter how expensive they are."

"The symptoms currently exhibited by the child can be described in medical terms as motor dysfunction," Chen Hongyang said.

"Later on, we’ll also conduct a few simple tests to see whether the motor dysfunction is caused by diarrhea or if it’s true motor dysfunction. We’ll rule it out step by step."

He didn’t dare to say too much, fearing it would scare the parents.

Motor dysfunction refers to a state where there is no muscle strength damage but the inability to perform complex movements orderly.

Our daily movements depend on muscle coordination, and this coordination is regulated by the effects of muscles, joints, cerebellum, brain, eyes, and vestibular organs.

If there’s any issue or damage in one area, it can manifest as symptoms of motor dysfunction, which is most evident while walking.

Though walking seems simple, it’s actually a very complex motion.

If we were to clarify this to the parents now, they would definitely ask which organ or system is malfunctioning, leading to many more questions that cannot be answered right now.

Upon hearing his words, the child’s parents looked disappointed but were quickly replaced by a worried expression, realizing that their son’s problem seems significant and not just simple diarrhea.

"What do you both think?" Wang Huan asked after entering the small conference room.

"Ah...my fault, when they brought their child in yesterday, I didn’t think much about it. If I had paid attention last night, I could have checked more thoroughly," Chen Hongyang said.

"I only thought more about it when I noticed the child’s legs were a bit unnatural when his father lifted him. What next, should we call in Neurology or start testing directly?" Liu Banxia asked.

"Let’s do the testing first to determine if it really is motor dysfunction. The key is to figure out what’s causing it," Chen Hongyang said.

"The child only started showing motor dysfunction after the diarrhea, which makes me lean towards brain-related causes. Isn’t it usually only the brain or spinal cord issues that manifest so quickly?"

"What about the diarrhea, is there a relation between the diarrhea symptoms and the child’s motor dysfunction? Could they be correlated symptoms to discuss?" Wang Huan raised a new question.

"I think they can be discussed together," Liu Banxia said.

"The child developed these symptoms after diarrhea; could it be due to an endocrine imbalance caused by the diarrhea? Do you remember some of the patients I treated? Many of them developed other symptoms due to endocrine imbalances afterward."

"Let’s do this. I’ll first perform a series of tests on the child to see if we can determine a general direction. Then we’ll do an MRI of the brain to check for any lesions," Chen Hongyang said.

"Once we have the results, we can call Neurology in for a discussion. Being the first day back at work, you must be busy, I don’t want to take up too much of your time."

Wang Huan nodded, "Alright, just call me when needed."

"I don’t have much going on today, but I need to do ward rounds first, call me afterward," Liu Banxia said.

"Ah...I have a feeling, we really need to study this child carefully," Chen Hongyang said with a wry smile.

"I hope it’s not an intracranial lesion, just an endocrine imbalance caused by diarrhea leading to the current symptoms. Otherwise, the child would be suffering."

"Alright then, let’s leave it at that for now. The two of us can head off, you start the examinations," Liu Banxia said.

They are doctors, no need to offer any comfort.

Today it’s Chen Hongyang, tomorrow it might be Wang Huan or Liu Banxia. Everyone has encountered difficult cases and requested consultations.

And after these consultations, the results are often not very satisfactory for some patients.

"Can you guess which system the child’s motor dysfunction leans towards?" Wang Huan asked after stepping out.

"This one’s really tough to guess. Brain, cerebellum, spinal cord, vestibular, you can’t tell just from those few steps the child took," Liu Banxia said, shaking his head.

"Moreover, the child has been affected by diarrhea, which also needs consideration. It might not be related to any of those four systems, let’s check after the tests. Have you been busy lately?"

"How can we not be busy, there are quite a few patients coming to our emergency center on their own. Especially those diverted from the inpatient department, it’s increased a lot in these two months," Wang Huan said.

"Keep at it, there might be more coming. Anyway, there’s no other way, just have to persevere," Liu Banxia said.

"It’s one of our surgical advantages, I suppose, fewer patients than in Internal Medicine, but if surgery is needed, it’s also a hassle."

Everyone has their struggles, no department is easy-going.