Emergency Room Series -Sickle Cell Case.

Hello everyone!!!

 I am sure you’ve been wondering where this nurse went to, hehehe, I went on a well-deserved short break jare, cannot come and kill myself.

 Its great to be finally back and I surely missed you all. 

The emergency room has been quite busy so I have a lot of stories in line to share with you guys and I’m so excited. 

Today’s post is about a boy who was rushed to the ER by his parents. On presentation, he looked pale, lethargic and very weak. His abdomen was distended and his eyes were yellow, he was said to be about 3 years and he looked quite small for that age. 

His mother said he had been having occasional episodes of infection and was on admission quite often recently, they also said they were told his blood level was low. She said he was even discharged a week ago at another hospital but got weaker and his tummy got bigger after a few days and wouldn’t want to eat or play. 

He was running a fever and was wasn’t breathing too well. He would cry often as if he was in pain. He was placed on a monitor and his blood samples were taking for series of tests. Meanwhile, the mother was asked if he was a sickler, she said no and that nobody is a sickler in their family. 

She said she was AS and had made sure all her life that she married an AA man because she wouldn’t want to go through the financial and psychological stress of raising a sickler, she said she would ask any guy that wanted to date her what genotype he was. She said she had lost a brother who was SS when she was younger. She claimed the father was AA and all his work and travel documents had AA written on it so she was sure he was AA. 

As she talked her, husband was looking at her. She said that the boy had not done a genotype test before.

The boy was placed on IV fluids and antibiotics while we waited for the results of the blood tests. He was placed on oxygen to help him breath better. He was taken to the scan room for an ultrasound which revealed that he has an enlarged spleen which we call splenomegaly, which is quite common among sicklers. The blood count revealed he had severe bacterial infection and his blood level was terribly low, 11% so he needed to be transfused. 

His parents were told and they agreed to donate. We were quite convinced the genotype result will be SS. The genotype results finally came out soon after and it showed that the boy was indeed an HbSS, a sickler.

 The parents were told and could hardly believe their ears, especially the mother, she was holding on to the doctor’s coat asking the doctor to repeat the statement . The sister of the father was with them too and expressed her shock as to how the child was a sickler. 

It now started to look like the father might not be the actual father. The father didn’t talk much, the doctors asked him to confirm if he had taken a genotype test before and he said yes and he did it once when he wanted to travel. He said that was before he met the mother of the child and didn’t see the need to do another one while courting because she was certain she was AS. 

The mother started to panic and demanded we repeat the test, the sister was already using a bad eye to look at the wife as if she brought a bastard home or wasn’t faithful in her marriage. What she had been trying to avoid all her life was happening to her and she was so confused and upset. 

The doctors then demanded that both parents repeat the test. They were directed to the lab as we made preps to transfuse the boy. He had 2 bags of blood and was gradually getting better while we waited for the parents results. I noticed the father was suspiciously withdrawn and was only holding the boy’s hands, mumbling words as if he was praying. Lo and behold, the result came out and the mother was AS but the father was AS too! 

I was relieved sort of because I knew if the father’s result was otherwise, the mother would begin a very long journey of emotional torture. She began to cry and was inconsolable. The father tried to calm her down and reassured her that the boy would be fine. She began to ask him if he was lying all along and that she had not seen any of his travel documents that had his genotype on it and only believed him because he said so. It was their first and only child. 

While she lamented, the husband was quiet and only said ‘now is not the time to do this’. Since the boy had blood transfusion, he got better and he got a little more active and was able to take little food. He also had painkillers and more antibiotics. An hematologist came around to review him. Soon, he was able to breath fine and was weaned off oxygen. He was then transferred to the children’s unit.


The mother was still crying when she left the ER, to her, children with sickle cell are destined to die young and that was why she made sure she would never have a child with the condition. Obviously, the husband wasn’t being honest enough to her and it seemed like he knew his actual genotype all along, he was probably hoping none of his kids would have it but it doesn’t work that way. 

Some people think that if you and your partner are both AS and you have just two kids, none of them will be a sickler and that it’s the fourth child that will have the disease. It is not true. Any of them can be born with the condition. Its better to be safe than sorry.

Wicked man if he knew.......She was also careless not to have asked or demanded for one!!!

They will not hear that love doesnt take away the pain and tears of having kids born with SS......dem no dey hear!!!

If you are AS and dating someone who is AS as well,DO NOT HAVE KIDS!!!