Vadodara: For almost two months, he was battling for survival inside the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) at state-run SSG Hospital.
On Tuesday, when four-year-old Mayank Bhabhor (name changed) finally got discharged from the government hospital, the entire team of the paediatric department celebrated by cutting a cake.
For, Mayank’s survival was nothing short of a miracle.
A native of Jhalod, Mayank was admitted to PICU with diphtheria, a serious bacterial infection that usually affects the mucous membranes of nose and throat.
But he had every conceivable complication – myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle), acute kidney injury (AKI), guillain-barré syndrome (GBS) and pneumothorax (collapsed lungs) requiring implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) insertion.
In fact, he was on ventilatory support for more than a month with tracheostomy, a medical procedure through which an opening in the neck is created to place a tube into a person’s windpipe.
“He was brought to us in very critical condition in second week of April.
He was diagnosed with severe cardiac involvement which happens if diphtheria is not diagnosed early,” said Dr Sheila Aiyer, head of department of paediatrics.
“He was admitted in PICU under ventilator care with all supportive measures.
But he also developed AKI and progressive muscle weakness.
He was not getting off ventilator, was not being able to breath by himself and had lost his movements.
It was then that GBS was also diagnosed,” said Aiyer.
It was on 47th day that Mayank was finally off ventilator.
The team of doctors who were treating him were able to close his tube, his physiotherapy treatment was started and the kid slowly regained his muscle power, fed on his own and became fully conscious.
“It was really heart-warming to see the patient going home today with near normal neurological status and in great spirits!,” said Aiyer, crediting her own PICU team for the child’s cardiac, renal and neurological recovery.