Paediatric Care for Neuroblastoma Patient

Paediatric Care for Neuroblastoma Patient

Introduction

The paper presents the case study of the child I have been looking after for some time in the past. The child has been suffering from Neuroblastoma and is as much as it hurts me to say, the child is about to bid adieu to his earthly existence which has been very brief. It discusses the child's growth and development in relation to documented parameters and the effect of the child's health problem on the wellbeing of the child and family.

Pediatric Neuroblastoma

Neuroblastoma is a very common type of extracranial solid tumor in infants. The number of children diagnosed with the cancer has increased to as large as 650 children on an annual basis. Out of the total number of children suffering from Neuroblastoma, fifty percent are diagnosed before they are 2 years old. The common signs and symptoms of neuroblastoma are what make it difficult for the medical practitioner to diagnose it. The child that I have been caring for has lost his appetite; the mother was trying to feed the child for a very long time and the child was giving the mother a very tough time. The child also had very high fever. The fever would go away and then it would come back (DCI, 2011). The child's belly had swollen. There are many symptoms that co-appear in the pediatric patient. If the symptoms are not diagnosed properly then the cancer can spread with time.

The child in question has been diagnosed with intermediate risk. It is estimated that the child's prognosis will remain good. The ones with high risk show very few improvements in the child in spite of the therapy that is provided for the child. When it comes to the survival rate of the Neuroblastoma, there are very high chances of survival of the child if the child is older than two 18 months (Stephen, 2005).

Causes

The cause of Neuroblastoma is now known for sure. In some cases, it is observed that the child was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma because it runs in the family. Hence, one of the causes is genetic. The research in this field is still going on in order to come up with precise causes for this tumor. There are certain factors that may cause it such as the lifestyle of the parents of the child. Parents who smoke, drink alcohol, work in conditions where there are too many chemicals and take drugs during pregnancy without consulting the doctor are all reasons that may cause this cancer (Piastra, 2011).

Pediatric care

In order to reflect upon my own ability to care for the child in question, it is important to establish what entails the care of a child with neuroblastoma. The care for the child with neuroblastoma is provided by multidisciplinary teams. These teams include general medical practitioners, nurses, surgeons, psychologists, anesthesiologists, and physical and occupational therapists who are all dedicated to cater to the specific needs of these children (NCI, ...