Postpartum Preeclampsia

Mayo Clinic

Postpartum eclampsia. Postpartum eclampsia is essentially preeclampsia plus seizures. Postpartum eclampsia can permanently damage vital organs, including your brain, eyes, liver and kidneys.

First off this is not in regards to my wife, my sisters youngest just had her baby and the hospital released her with high blood pressure and migraines, they just took her back to the hospital after a seizure, then she had 2 more in the ambulance, and 1 more as soon as she hit the hospital.


now my dilema... my first reaction is to rush to her side, I changed this little girls diapers and watched her first steps, her and her sister both call me dad and as i told them recently they would always be my girls.

BUT I have a new born son myself, he doesnt ge this shots for travel till the 14th of this month, and I am torn on what to do because things are tight on money as I am still doing the job search thing.

I did the math, and the responsible choice would be to wait till he gets his shots and then put the dogs into boarding and fly down... but the cat scan found a small bleeder in her brain so in a worst cast scenario she might not last the week, my wife is just as emotional as me when it comes to family and she is ready to spend the money...

but I am litterally torn between responsbility to providing for my family... and being there for the rest of my family.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

a reply to: Irishhaf

Don't put your boy in any sort of unnecessary risk of harm. My .02.

If you go to see her, don't take your wife and baby. Just you, which will cut down on cost and then your baby won't be at risk pre-shots. You can find great deals on sh!t airlines if you look around and you may find a ticket for a doable price.

All that being said, I would wait until you hear more. Now that she's in doctor care, they should be able to figure out what's going on and what the options are for treating her. Once you get the scoop, then decide. If you get the scoop and you feel an intense need to go, then go. Trust your gut feeling, if there is one.

Prayers for your niece.

As a parent your first responsibility is to your son.

There is literally 0% that you can do which is going to be more helpful then what the doctors come up with so play it safe with your little one and let things play out a bit.

Sometimes in life you have to roll the hard six.

Damn Irish, sorry your family is going through this.

I'm with the others, can you go by yourself? Maybe in a day or two, after they know a bit more?
I know how hard it is to not be there for someone your so close to. Is her mom with her?
Just ask them to give you updates as soon as they get them, and maybe make your decision after 24 hours of her being in the hospitals care.

Thoughts are with your family.

a reply to: Irishhaf

I think you know what to do. It's between the lines. What's in a day or two away...if it makes a huge difference that will last a lifetime.

You're a good man. Follow your heart..God bless you and all...keep us posted.

MS
EMT/ERT

Niece has been moved to a bigger hospital with a better neurology department, so of course the new doctor has to verify the previous doctors diagnosis.

She is sedated while doing the CT scan, with an MRI to come.

After talking with her mom, neither one was told a thing about enclampsia even though she left the hospital suffering from severe migraines and blood pressure that was 30+ pts high.., not a single thing to treat high blood pressure, not a single thing for her migraines not a written or spoken warning of what to look out for and what to do if things got worse... less than a week later she is rushed to the Hospital with seizures.

My advice to my dad (because her dad is an idiot my dad has been helping keep the family afloat) is get a lawyer some one screwed the pooch and if she survives and recovers could be looking at long term damage to her body.

I am not usually one to say sue, but my wife was induced because her blood pressure was signifigantly high, then we had the potential dangers explained to us. As well as papers explaing things to look out for post birth and pretty informative follow up after we took the baby home.

ETA: I am still a few states away, waiting to hear what the diagnosis is and the timeline for treatment.

a reply to: Irishhaf

That is INFURIATING! We went through a situation with my brother-in-law where they jacked around for so long scheduling his brain surgery after they found his graperuit sized tumor in his brain that the swelling got so bad that he lost consciousness and breathing for ten minutes. The damage to his brain, suffered in that time, he never came back from. And suddenly, at 4 in the morning after he crashed, suddenly they were able to find a neurosurgeon who could be there? But four days prior they couldn't...infuriating. As you can see, I still struggle with anger on that one.

So, I hope they DO take those negligent health care "professionals" to task (your niece's doctors who released her with eclampsia). How did that slip through the cracks?!!!!

What state is she in, by the way?

I've been and will continue to pray for her and her medical team. Remember that docs are OFTEN wrong, and just because they say something isn't possible healing-wise, doesn't mean it's always true.

Keep us posted.

Unless she was spilling proteins, they probably didn't have much of a reason to keep her. Postpartum migraines are actually a known thing, it's a hormonal readjustment. I have several friends that went through them. Despite being actually diagnosed with migraines, I thankfully didn't have that, but my BP was sky-high (always has been, drugs don't help) I didn't respond to meds, and they sure tried their damnedest (I have medication-resistant high BP) So they really had no recourse but to release me after several days. I walked in with BP in the high 160's/120's, walked out with the same. Well, was wheelchaired out, but you get the point.

Which leads me to wonder if her seizures are related to her BP at all. My doctor was much more concerned with me having an embolism after the c-sections than they were with any high BP problems. And yes, embolisms CAN cause seizures. It is, after all, a blood clot, and they don't always end up in the pulmonary system.

Shes still in for her MRI, but the more recent CT scan was reviewed by a new Neurologist and in his opinion since there was no change between the two even though they were hours apart he is inclined to think its calcification.

So they are doing 2 MRI's contrast and no contrast to verify its not blood and hopefully give them more information on the sudden onset seizures.



a reply to: Nyiah


I just don't understand why there was so little information passed to them, considering the potential ramifications when the symptoms are drifting in that direction it seems like something they should educate the patient and their family on to give the best odds going forward.