CT scan regret (or how to quit worrying)

[lovinmyboys]

My DS6 fell earlier this week and lost consciousness. Then later he started throwing up, so I took him to the ER and they did a CT scan. Everything was fine on it (which obviously is great).

 

Now, I can't get it out of my head that I exposed him to radiation unnecessarily. Maybe I should have kept him home longer and just watched him. I did ask them to use the lowest dose possible (it wasn't a pediatric hospital). I just feel like I increased his chances of getting cancer and I feel really guilty. I am not sure what I could have done differently, because rationally I do think he needed to go to the ER.

 

I think I just need someone to tell me I made the right decision (or what I should do better next time). Also, any tips on getting rid of the guilt/worry? Maybe a list of things more dangerous than a probably necessary CT scan that he will do in his life?

[Spryte]

You made the right decision.  

 

Not only that, the docs evaluated him, and felt that the CT scan was medically necessary.  

 

You made the right decision, they made the right decision.  It was the best choice you could make at the time.  And if you'd found something scary or frightening - it would have been worse.  Thank goodness they didn't find anything.  And you can rest easier.

 

Let this one go.

 

:grouphug:   

 

 

 

 

...says the person who's had so many scan/MRIs/other procedures that it's a family joke that I'll become Radioactive Girl and get superpowers   :leaving:   ...but mine were medically necessary, too, and I can't second-guess the team of docs that I trust, or myself.  It's okay.  

[lovinmyboys]

You are right. It could have turned out much worse and I am very thankful it didn't. I think I just didn't have much time to worry about the results. From the time we walked into the ER until we had the results was less than an hour. Now, I have had all this time to research and second-guess. I need to let it go.

[HSmomof2]

Agree with pp, you made the right decision. The CT was medically necessary. It sounds like the benefit clearly outweighed the risk. Any possible increased risk of cancer from this scan is truly very, very, very small, if not nonexistent. Glad he is ok.

[Forget-Me-Not]

You absolutely made the right decision. The possibility of a brain bleed needed to be ruled out urgently.

[J-rap]

If he lost consciousness and was throwing up, I think it was the right decision.

 

Four years ago my wonderful, healthy, handsome husband went to the ER with what he thought was an especially terrible migraine.  They suggested a CT scan, but he refused.  He just wanted a shot for the pain, and to sleep.  It turns out he was having a stroke.  Had they done the CT scan, they would have caught it in time to save his brain.

 

The risk of a CT scan compared to the risk of brain damage is so very minimal, it's not even worth thinking about.

 

 

[maize]

You made the right decision. I experienced the same worry/regret with one of mine, compounded by the fact the the CT scan was necessary because I had dropped him on the bathroom floor and he cracked his skull (at four months old). Awful mommy moment. I was of course relieved when the CT scan showed no internal bleeding, but I promptly started to worry about the radiation exposure, which of course was ultimately my fault as well.

 

For me, praying and telling God I had done the best I could and asking Him to work things out for the best was comforting.

[Reflections]

My ds4 had RSV at 3 weeks and he had chest xrays to rule out whether he had pneumonia, too.  

 

Then, my ds4 at 3yo was thrown into the air by a dog chain (long story) and he landed face down on our concrete driveway without even trying to brace himself. He had a skull fracture, an orbital blow-in fracture, and had air in his cranial cavity.  Secondary to all that he had a concussion.  We would have known none of that had he not had a CT scan.

 

Answer me this:  Should I have said NO to any of those tests?  I mean, the case could be made that since he's fine now that all of those tests were unnecessary. 

 

I - like you - made the best decisions on his health that I could at the time.  IMO, there is no real way of knowing whether the test is warranted or not until you have the test done especially when we are talking about a closed in space like the cranium. 

 

I remember your original post about this.  Don't let overworked ER staff make you feel that you shouldn't have brought him in.   :grouphug:

[Reflections]

..says the person who's had so many scan/MRIs/other procedures that it's a family joke that I'll become Radioactive Girl and get superpowers   :leaving:   ...but mine were medically necessary, too, and I can't second-guess the team of docs that I trust, or myself.  It's okay.  

 

You can come sit next to me and we can glow in the dark together.  

 

 

If he lost consciousness and was throwing up, I think it was the right decision.

 

Four years ago my wonderful, healthy, handsome husband went to the ER with what he thought was an especially terrible migraine.  They suggested a CT scan, but he refused.  He just wanted a shot for the pain, and to sleep.  It turns out he was having a stroke.  Had they done the CT scan, they would have caught it in time to save his brain.

 

The risk of a CT scan compared to the risk of brain damage is so very minimal, it's not even worth thinking about.

 

I was not going to like your post.  I'm very sorry about your dh  :grouphug:

[Mrs Mungo]

No, possible concussion is a really good reason for a CT scan. Possible pneumonia is another really good reason for a chest X-ray.

 

There is a point when you have to consider the amount of radiation, but it usually happens with people (including kids) with serious chronic illnesses who get multiple scans per year of various types.

[happi duck]

If he lost consciousness and was throwing up, I think it was the right decision.

 

Four years ago my wonderful, healthy, handsome husband went to the ER with what he thought was an especially terrible migraine.  They suggested a CT scan, but he refused.  He just wanted a shot for the pain, and to sleep.  It turns out he was having a stroke.  Had they done the CT scan, they would have caught it in time to save his brain.

 

The risk of a CT scan compared to the risk of brain damage is so very minimal, it's not even worth thinking about.

 

:grouphug:  :grouphug:  :grouphug:

[Pod's mum]

No, possible concussion is a really good reason for a CT scan. Possible pneumonia is another really good reason for a chest X-ray.

 

There is a point when you have to consider the amount of radiation, but it usually happens with people (including kids) with serious chronic illnesses who get multiple scans per year of various types.

 

Like my eldest who had at least several double chest X-rays per year.

I didn't stop her having them but they were not allowed to happen until the staff were willing to eventually find (in that drawer there where they always are) the shield belt for ovary protection.

Same da#n argument every visit for several years before they would just get it out when they saw her walk in.

She didn't end up using any googs, but I wanted it to be an option.

 

I did refuse an dental OPG for her once because they had forgotten to even look at the the two previous ones.

 

However necessary tests are....necessary and most medicines are poisons that do more good than harm.

So let this worry go, your kids will be happy to provide you with fresh worries before too long.  :)

 

 

[Jasperstone]

I would do something proactive like buying a top brand natural vitamin c to minimize the radiation effect. And I would tell myself that its mopping it all up. I'd also Google other remedies.... Thats the way I would stop myself from worrying etc.....

 

((Hugs)))

[Lanny]

You did the correct thing for your DS. You should have absolutely no regret. I had a CT scan once (I don't remember for what problem, it was years ago) and it was a little uncomfortable because they slide you into a tube and you must remain still, but whatever problem they were looking for wasn't there. You did the ONLY thing you could have done. Not to have let them do the scan would IMHO have been extremely irresponsible.

[JFSinIL]

I have read that we are exposed to bits of radiation anyway in daily life, and the amount we get in the occasional x-ray or cat scan is minimal.. All the walls and special aprons etc. are more to protect the workers, who otherwise would get too much exposure, than us patients.

 

Then again, I do glow in the dark now (after all the bazillion x-rays and cat scans after the car crash).  I am my own night-light!  (JOKING!)

 

You absolutely did nothing amiss in letting the medical folks do the needed scan.  Your kidlet will be fine.  The Hive says so, and we are never wrong!

[Lisbeth]

I have the same regret, but I had a benign fatty tumor on a kidney diagnosed via CT scan. An ultrasound found it first - it is asymptomatic. The ultrasound was for something else. So I was exposed to radiation for an issue I didn't even know I had, and that was causing no problems.

One CT scan is likely just fine in most cases. Those of you who get them regularly...I am really afraid for you. I would be pushing hard for an alternate to the CT Scan.

[Cindy in FL.]

I worry about this kind of stuff a lot, but I would not be second guessing myself in your situation. Your ds needed to have the CT. You did the right thing, mama!

[Love]

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Edited November 19, 2015 by Love

[MrsJewelsRae]

You made the right decision, though I know how you feel. My dd 10 has been exposed to more radiation than I am comfortable with. When I was pregnant with her I had chest x rays for collapsed lung/pneumonia and a VQ scan to rule out suspected pulmonary embolism at 7 months pregnant. I had so much distress over it, I still worry. She had a CT scan at 3 in an ER in North carolina while we were visiting friends out of country (we're from Canada). After hours of severe stomach pain and screaming they thought she may have appendicitis. She didn't. I don't know if I made the right decision, but in the midst of stress and ER doctors putting the fear into you, what choice did I have? I still worry over all the exposure she's had, but I try not to think on it too much, I can't change the past and given the circumstances I'm not sure I could have made different decisions. Going forward though, I'm very careful with her exposure, I always tell the dentist I want very limited x rays and only when necessary.

[lovinmyboys]

Thanks everyone.

 

After typing that out and reading your responses I was able to turn my guilt button off and go to sleep. Our local childrens hospital has this "image gently" campaign so when I would take my other DS there for speech I would read the signs about it. Of course, they all said that when medically necessary the benefits outweigh the risks, but all that is stuck in my head is the risks. If we had been home and I had taken him there, I would have had more confidence in their decision to do one. We aren't home so we went to the local hospital. I think they treated him well and I am sure they know what they are doing. No one has the benefit of hindsight when making a decision, and really there is no way I could have just put him to bed without someone checking him out. It makes me feel better to know others would have done the same thing.

[lovinmyboys]

If he lost consciousness and was throwing up, I think it was the right decision.

 

Four years ago my wonderful, healthy, handsome husband went to the ER with what he thought was an especially terrible migraine. They suggested a CT scan, but he refused. He just wanted a shot for the pain, and to sleep. It turns out he was having a stroke. Had they done the CT scan, they would have caught it in time to save his brain.

 

The risk of a CT scan compared to the risk of brain damage is so very minimal, it's not even worth thinking about.

I am very sorry about your dh. Thanks for sharing your story.

[Reefgazer]

The docs at the hospital where we take our kids won't do a CT that they feel is not absolutely unnecessary, and radiation is the reason why.  So the docs wouldn't have done the test if they didn't think the benefits outweighed the risks.  So you did expose DS to radiation, but not unnecessarily.

[Twigs]

:grouphug:  :grouphug:  :grouphug:

[Tammyla]

:iagree: I think you did the right thing 100%.  

[LMV]

No, possible concussion is a really good reason for a CT scan. 

 

Just to clarify concussion is a clinical diagnosis.  A CT scan doesn't confirm or exclude the diagnosis of a concussion. When we order a Head CT in a patient who has a concussion we're doing that to exclude the possibility of a concurrent CNS bleed, cerebral contusions, or skull fracture.  I agree that in those cases it is a warranted test, the results of it could change management significantly, and the potential benefits of the scan do far outweigh the radiation associated risks.

 

**Please don't feel singled out, the CT to diagnose concussion is a somewhat common misconception in the lay community (and perhaps even amongst some medical providers although I want to hope not) but I think it is helpful if parents understand this is not the case.  I take the time to explain this when I am the ED physician ordering CT scans and dealing with children with head injuries.**

[Okra]

If he lost consciousness and was vomiting……absolutely 100% right decision………he needed the cat scan, if he had a brain bleed then waiting would have been terrible.

 

Thousands and Thousands of children and adults get cat scans every year and are fine.  Please know you made the right decision.

 

 

[Mergath]

I just want to point out that if you had refused the CT, you probably would have been a nervous wreck, wondering if there was something wrong with his brain and no one knew because you didn't let them do a CT scan. ;)  It's much better to know for sure that he's safe and his brain is okay.  It's better to have him exposed to a relatively small amount of radiation to know for sure than to sit and worry for days or weeks.  You definitely made the right call.

[Elisabet1]

You did the right thing (((hugs)))