Interesting cases anyone?

[Humbled_Nurse]

I work in a medium size nonsurgical level III NICU so sometimes things get a little boring. Sure, on occasion we get a really interesting case, but for the most part it is preemie land. So does anyone have any interesting cases from NICU, PICU, or CICU? I know with all the privacy laws you can't give too many details. I recently heard of a case where a newborn contracted Legionnaires disease from a home water birth.

I really enjoyed when Janfrn would do her "case studies" as a topic. Hint, Hint

[hayloftbham]

Omenn syndrome baby. A real bubble baby. Still waiting on a transplant.

[pathologic16]

Hi everyone. :) i'm new here, and also a newbie nicu nurse. Being a nicu nurse wasn't really my plan nor my dream. But i am loving every bit of it now. :) i love reading this thread. I have read on syndromes i haven't heard of. Very informative, i must say.

I'd like to share the most bizarre case i have seen yet. This might not be new to you seasoned NICU nurses, but.. Ohwell. Haha.

I was called by the Delivery Room staff to resuscitate a 28week old, 900grams, who had no cardiac rate, no respiration, cyanotic and literally looked dead. Resuscitation efforts lasted for roughly 30mins, epi x2. During the resuscitation, i tried suctioning the airway, but about 3cms through the suction catheter, i felt some resistance. I suspected some atresia somewhere. He also had webbed fingers on his right hand, and missing finger on his left, and had imperforate orifice. He lived for 3 days, but was discharged on HAMA by his mom due to financial constraints. It was heartbreaking. Poor little one.

[prmenrs, RN]

Omenn Syndrome: Omenn syndrome - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[essT]

We had a full-term kid who'd had a stroke in utero. First sign was that she wouldn't stay warm under a radiant warmer.

Us too. First sign I saw on admission was very mild unilateral clonus. I suspected he was a neuro baby from that moment on... This was followed by blood sugars persistently in the teens despite bolus after bolus; he ended up requiring D20 and diazoxide. Then came the problems with thermoregulation (hyper and hypo), respiratory distress that landed him on bubble, and projectile vomiting once he finally started eating. Ended up with posthemmorhagic hydrocephalus and got sent for a shunt.

[prmenrs, RN]

Years ago, I had a baby w/Ondine's Curse: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ondine%27s_curse

She went home w/a trach and a vent when asleep.

[NicuRN628]

Hydrops & ectrodactyly.

[essT]

I feel this nurse in the NICU has outlasted her time. She needs a change of venue----individual babies have become text book cases! Perhaps research or a higher degree in nursing to be able to teach. Not all nurses can or should be bedside nurses. These are real babies we are talking about, with parents who are mourning them. It takes a special nurse to care for them, perhaps one who has had children of her own.

It's a scary day when a nurse decides it's time to stop learning. We're on the front lines every day but can't possibly see everything. This is why collaboration is essential and why AN is such a fantastic resource.

I don't have children myself, so I can't fully understand a mother's love. But I've loved only a handful of people as much as I love these babies, and I'd do nearly anything for them. Thinking a particular case is interesting doesn't mean I mourn with any less than my whole heart.

[tallynurse]

I had an interesting case where a code was called at delivery, when we got there the baby had pinked up on his own but as soon as we walked in the room all nurses kept saying "we didn't know." "it wasn't on the ultrasound" He had club feet, only 4 digits on each hand, micrognathia, small ears, and an oddly shaped head, like indented looking at the temples. I guess they had no clue he had anything wrong. He ended up having trouble keeping his sats above the 70s and needed to be intubated yet no one could get him intubated. They tried for over an hour with no luck. Placed an oral airway to keep his airway open (seemed to mainly be a structural issue) and he had a trach placed. Originally everyone thought exposure to pestisides had caused it since the parents were hispanic, spoke little english, and there's a lot of migrant farmers in the area. But neither of the parents worked in the industry. The geneticist ended up testing for lots of different things but said her guess was Nager's syndrome. He did fit the description well and looked like many of the pictures of people who have Nager's. I never found out if it was that for sure because the testing was going to take 3 months. Once he had the trach placed he did pretty well and after getting a g-tube went home within a month I think. Might not be as interesting as the others, I might just find it interesting because even with the deformities he was adorable and his parents were so sweet and thankful to us.