PCS in 3 year old One Year Later?
 

I know there is a children's health forum, but this one seemed to be busier so I figured I'd post here.

On December 19, 2009, my five children and I were involved in a car accident. I was turning left into a driveway and a truck was coming who didn't see me in time to slow down. His vehicle struck my passenger side right by the rear tire, where the 3rd seat was. The worst of our injuries was my daughter Allie. She was 2 at the time. She was seated at the point of impact and the frame bent in. Her entire forehead was bulged out, she had blood in one of her ears, and was very lethargic. I do not know if she lost consciousness or not, because we were pinned against a fence and the doors wouldn't open; it took a while for me to get out and extract the kids through the busted-out windows.

All 6 of us were transported in the same ambulance because they didn't see that we had any life-threatening injuries. The ER doctor did not do a very thorough exam. He had us all bend over to check our movement. He said the blood in Allie's ear was likely from glass cutting it and that she was lethargic because she was tired from the drama of the accident.

About a week later, Allie was still not acting right and her head was swollen. I took her to our pediatrician (who was out on maternity leave) and the doctor who saw her did an x-ray of her skull to rule out fracture. They did not find a skull fracture, but did not check for anything else, either.

I should add that about a month after the accident, my car insurance (State Farm) told me that we had a PIP and Allie was entitled to $800 for injury, which surprised me, because I was told by the doctor that we were all "fine."

Now, a year later, Allie is still experiencing a wealth of problems that include severe mood swings, sensory sensitivity, night terrors, hyperactivity, aggression, memory problems, moments of "spacing out", and eating non-food items. I know some of these are typical of young children, but she is my fourth child--and I am an elementary teacher--and I've not seen these symptoms to this degree of severity in other children.

I am wondering if she possibly had a TBI from the accident and if it is continuing to affect her. I made a doctor appointment to discuss my concerns but I don't know exactly WHAT to ask the doctor to do. I just know that something's not right with my little girl, and I don't know what to do. I am also suspicious because if we were all "Fine", then why was my daughter the only one entitled to PIP money--meaning, was there something else there that they know, that we didn't know?

Wow, sorry to hear about your little one's injury.

First, since your daughter was bleeding, the insurance company considers her injured.

In my opinion, the ER was negligent with their examination of her. If her forehead was bulged out, this sounds like a head impact/injury. Some physicians think toddlers will recover without intervention due to the young age of their brains so they may be less concerned about them.

It sounds as if she should be assessed for occupational therapy. Her age makes it difficult to diagnose specific head injury related symptoms. You might be wise to also look for a pediatric neuro-psychologist.

Please, do not rely on your teacher training to try to diagnose her. get a professional to check her out. Mother's intuition and concern should be enough to push for a serious work-up.

fwiw, I would guess the $800 was for the ER visit and not the max payout. PIP/medical payments is usually $5,000. This should leave room for some serious diagnostic work.

My best to you and little Allie.