Three cheers for pediatric emergency departments

[MorningGlow]

We had to take MG Jr. to emergency yesterday evening to rehydrate him after a stomach virus got the better of him. Our pediatrician's office recommended we take him to one particular local hospital, and now I understand why--we got to bypass the regular ED and go down the hall to an isolated pediatric ED. What a wonderful concept! Nothing but kids and wonderful pediatric nurses, techs, and doctors. They even had one woman whose sole job was to dole out books and toys if the children were up for some entertainment. They made the ordeal bearable--even the scary bit of drawing blood and inserting an IV.

I wish most hospitals would tweak to this concept and adopt it. It's a godsend. :D

[BarenakedLady]

1. Which one?

I've got little ones, you know. :D

I'm glad you had a good experience. How is MG Jr. doing?

[MorningGlow]

3. Strong (surprise! not!) :)

Like my mom said last night--you can slam our weather, our potholes, our collapsing economic base, but damn, we've got excellent medical facilities.

Jr. is doing fairly okay, considering. He says his stomach still hurts (this is one nasty stomach virus--beware--it's making the local rounds--grandma had it and gave it to me, and I gave it to Jr.) but he's eating a little bit and taking ice chips. Gotta say he's much livelier than yesterday, when he was a puddle on the couch. He's even playing a little bit.

[I Have A Dream]

2. I'm sorry that he got that sick, MG. However, I'm glad that...

it was all handled well. You're lucky to have such a good facility in your area. :)

[MorningGlow]

4. It's been a hell of a week and a half

Mr. MG is still suffering with pneumonia (hee, the state health department just called to quiz him for exposure to TB--I asked him if they were going to wrap our house in plastic or something), but he's seeing his doctor this afternoon. Grandma's on the mend from the stomach virus (she was Typhoid Mary with this one), and so am I, although I have to admit, it's still kicking my ass a little bit, and it's been nearly a week for me. Blech. Looking for a new start with this new moon, that's for sure.

[MissMillie]

5. My son was at one when he broke his arm

about 7 or so years ago.

The ambulance got him there at around 4:30 pm and I got there about an hour later (I work about an hour away). We didn't leave until 11:30 that night.

He was surrounded by some VERY sick kids. I think one had gotten into some poison and they had induced vomitting. Another had broken something else and was very, very young and cried the whole time.

My son was pretty well drugged up, so he didn't notice so much.

For me, it was one of the most stressful days of my life. Between having to watch them set my kid's arm (YUCK) and all the crying and sickness around--I was glad to get out of there when we did. (Mind you, I have a lot of empathy for sick kids, but after 7 hours, my nerves were shot.)

Many kudos for people who work around sick and injured people on a daily basis. You have a patience I will never understand.

[MorningGlow]

6. Last night it looked like a lot of dehydration cases

We shared a room with a 15-year-old who was getting rehydrated, and it seemed like there were more kids with IVs in other rooms. One kid was having an asthma attack (and his or her father was freaking out). The rest were athletic injuries. Our tech said lacrosse and soccer were the worst for nasty breaks and needs for stitches. There was a lot of wailing going on too, I agree.

I can't imagine how awful it is to have a bone set/watch your child have a bone set! :( It was terrible enough watching them put the IV needle in MG Jr.'s hand. He stiffened up but didn't cry--I was amazed. (And I was more on the verge of tears than he was!)

Totally agree about people in the medical profession--especially in peds. Nerves of steel.