DOCTORS treating a British toddler who suffered critical internal burns after ingesting dishwasher liquid at a Limassol hotel said yesterday they could know as early as tomorrow whether she’d suffered any permanent damage.
In the meantime, two-and-a-half-year-old Annabel Rhodes is fully conscious and alert and able to play with her mother.
“Her general condition is very good,” Makarios Hospital’s Paediatric Department head Dr Andreas Hadjidemetriou said.
“She is able to get up and was playing with her mother.”
He also said the child had managed to speak and had exchanged a few words with her mother.
“She didn’t speak to us because perhaps she was shy, but her mother said she did speak to her a few times and said ‘mummy’,” Hadjidemetriou said.
However, she was still unable to swallow due to the swelling, he said.
He said a gastrography, which is like an internal x-ray to examine the shape of the oesophagus, would hopefully tell them more tomrrow.
“We will likely do the gastrography on Friday but we might wait until Monday. We’ll look at the oesophagus and see then if there is a serious problem,” he said.
The doctor said Annabel’s wealthy London parents, Mark and Judith, had been told that it was safe for their daughter to travel and that if they wished she could be discharged and return with them to the UK.
“They said they preferred to wait a few more days to see what the results of the first test are,” Hadjidemetriou said.
“They seem to have relaxed somewhat and are very happy with the treatment and medical efforts [their daughter is receiving],” he said.
Hadjidemetriou said the toddler still had a lot of swelling and it was impossible to carry out any tests until it went down.
“We are going to wait a day or two to see if she can swallow and to see if there was any serious damage to the oesophagus. She can’t eat yet, and we don’t know to what extent the burns have caused serious damage. The final picture [of her condition] will take several weeks. We do not know if she suffered major or minor scars, or if it is just some swelling that will go down leaving no damage. These are the questions we still need answered,” he said.
The first results will be known in about a week. After that, he said the Rhodes had been advised to return to the UK, as any long-term damage might take weeks to determine.
Annabel, who was holidaying with her parents in Cyprus, suffered serious burns to her mouth, throat and respiratory organs on Saturday evening when she drank orange juice diluted with cleaning fluid at the four-star Curium Palace Hotel in Limassol.
The barman mistook a bottle containing the colourless and odourless detergent for water. The child’s reaction was instantaneous as she screamed in agony after swallowing the lethal drink. She was rushed to Limassol General Hospital for treatment and from there transferred to Nicosia’s Makarios hospital. She was removed from the respirator on Tuesday and has been breathing on her own ever since.
Her parents have declined to comment throughout the emotional ordeal and have asked for privacy.
