Why Cameron is No Ordinary Kid - Part 1

Cameron

I should explain why Cameron is No Ordinary Kid.

Cameron was born healthy and beautiful, he was achieving his milestones and bringing immense joy into our lives. We finally had the child we had longed for so much. Then everything went terribly wrong. 

Cameron 5 months old

It all started with a cold which wasn't bad but it was enough to send me to the doctor to check that he was okay - and he was - it was a cold. He improved but then he started to become very unsettled and everyone had an opinion about it. He's growing! He's teething! He's too young to teeth! No he's not! I thought it was just what babies do. We had a day when he slept a lot but he was a baby, babies sleep a lot, so I didn't worry. The next day he slept in but again I didn't worry, he'd had a really unsettled night and I was very grateful for my shower, time to tidy the house and get the washing done.

Late morning I happened to be in my bedroom, where Cameron was sleeping ,when he opened his eyes, I lent over him to say good morning and he stared straight through me, it was a chilling moment. My very next thought was - that must be a really wet nappy, better get you changed before you leak. I scooped him up to take him to his room and he let out a blood curdling, pained cry. Clearly I had hurt him but I couldn't see how. I laid him on the change table and opened his nappy and then the panic set in, there was blood in his nappy. You never know how you will react in a situation until it happens and clearly my brain left the building. Instead of ringing the doctor I rang my husband, who logically told me to ring the doctor and he was coming straight home - don't worry.

You're probably wondering why we weren't heading for the emergency department, that would be because we didn't have one. We lived in a little mining town 4 hours north of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. We had a medical post and we did actually have a doctor at the time. So off to the doctor we went and the GP checked Cameron over and contacted the hospital in Kalgoorlie for advice. The diagnosis was a bowel infection that was going around the goldfields, affecting young children. We were sent home to collect samples and told to keep his fluids up. Easier said than done.

We went back to the doctor at the end of the day with what samples we had managed to collect and a child who really wasn't interested in feeding. While we sat there in the doctors office Cameron's body emptied itself in every way possible - all over me. Lovely. Again there were phone calls to the Kalgoorlie hospital and again the diagnosis was a bowel infection. Go home, keep the fluids up and come back in the morning.

That night was horrendous. Michael had work in the morning so he went to bed and I set up in the lounge room with cushions all over the floor and the TV for company. Cameron, cried and cried but it wasn't his usual cry it was different, chilling, and he kept arching his back as if trying to get away from me. I didn't know what to do.

Clearly Cameron was no better in the morning so we were at the doctors when the doors opened and again phone calls to Kalgoorlie hospital. Cameron didn't want to feed so the concern now was dehydration, we had to go to hospital but the hospital was 4 hours away by car. We could fly by Royal Flying Doctor but we were not a top priority so we would have to wait until the afternoon to be collected. We decided it would be quicker to drive. We drove up and down all the time to shop, visit family and friends, see doctors, etc.

We went home packed a small bag for each of us, asked the neighbours to feed the cats and popped the german shepherd in the car with us. Within half an hour we were on the road. Half an hour out of town we pulled over on the side of the road, in the bush, to give Cameron a dose of panadol. As I sat on the back seat with him in my arms his eyes rolled back, his body went limp and then he started to jerk. I sat there staring at Michael saying - 'What is he doing?'