Saturday, January 2, 2010

Emergency. . . or not


Last night, Simon and I were in the emergency room for an ear infection.

Yes, you read correctly. He has an ear infection. I knew that. We had been to MedExpress earlier in the day.

But when he started twitching at 1:00AM and his temperature reached 104.9 and the pediatrician on call recommended it, we went to the ER.

The wait wasn't bad. The doctor was good, very calculating, if English was his second language.

The vomiting in the room, I was told, was due to the fever.

The blood cultures pointed to a virus and the sending it out is pretty much academic. (Wait we are paying for an academic undertaking!?)

We came home, the boy and I, in under two hours. Which is the rumored time one would wait in the ER; I think the extreme hour, the terrific cold, and the accumulating snow made everyone reconsider the extent of their diseases, to our benefit.

He slept. I slept at least till Abigail awoke. His fever is gone.

But, what is a mama to do when her baby is twitching with fever at 1:00AM?

Mama's aren't known for rationality when they believe their children are in danger. And this mama freely admits that sleep-deprived decision-making is rarely if ever a rational undertaking.
I now have a better dose of ibuprofen for Simon. We probably will not make another mad dash to the emergency room in the middle of the night for a fever. (My children I have found run terribly high fevers.) But last night it was where we belonged. Even if today, I have very little patience for the girl who slept soundly all night.

2 comments:

  1. I would have been there in a nano-second! I think you made the right decision, I probably wouldn't even have waited around. When Gwen came to me in 2008 with blue lips, I did call the pedi, but we were in the ER at 2:30am in short order. My kids have never run fevers over 102, I would have panicked!!
    Get some sleep tonight :)

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  2. I would've gone, too! No question! Of course Ella has already had THREE ER trips in her 4 short years (one in an ambulance).... we are sadly getting used to it. Anyway, glad your little guy was OK. How scary.

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