Brian took his dad to the ER today. Still waiting for CT results, but it’s probably kidney stones.
Aya’s distressed… hospitals = scary.
I got home from a long commute to realize my car wasn’t in the driveway and no one was home. Checked my cell phone and had a voice mail from Brian explaining that his dad was having severe pain in his side and throwing up and he was taking him to the hospital. His sister couldn’t, because she was at work. And could I come get Aya when I got the message, so the little one didn’t have to wait around the ER?
So I went and got her. And I snarked at Brian. This is not the first time I have been in the position to question the wisdom of having a family member drive you to the emergency room when you’re in severe pain, rather than calling for an ambulance. Particularly when that family member you want to drive is responsible for caring for a young child. It was probably wrong to snark at him, but he’s been far from supportive when I’ve been dealing with family emergencies.
Got home, scrubbed Aya’s hands with hot soapy water, got her dinner, let her play on my computer for a while, put her in the shower. We watched Def Leppard on NHL Rocks on my laptop, chuckled at Joe Elliott turning the Stanley Cup upside down. I’m sure hockey fans were aghast and offended, but hey — what the hell do you expect from a band of British soccer football fans? The music sounded great, and I saw some familiar faces in the audience.
Aya sang and giggled and chortled and announced several times that she wished she could see Def Leppard in concert. I think she’s still too small, though.
After I read to Aya and tucked her in, I spent about 45 minutes snuggled up next to her, trying to get her to talk through her fears enough that she could go to sleep. She talked about how her ‘pa looked really sick and she could tell he was hurting, how it made her cry at first, how the old woman in the wheelchair at the ER looked very old and sick and kept coughing and spitting into a box. She wanted to know how people could get stones in their kidneys and if it might happen to her. I told her about my experiences with kidney stones and how they can form. She laughed when I told her about the laser and seemed reassured when I told her most people don’t ever have problems with kidney stones. Then she wanted to know what made people throw up. I offered very brief explanations. Hopefully she won’t end up as much of an emetophobe as I am.
Didn’t know that about me, did you?
Hope everything is alright, and give Aya a big, noisey, oum nom kiss.
After a brief visit with my dictionary I have come to the conclusion that your house must have lots of pepto bismol (did you know they make them in caplets now?) and ginger ale.
Admittedly I hate hospitals too. Mostly because they smell funny and it seems like all you see are sick people. Maybe, if your hospital will let you, you can take her to peek in on the baby nursery then next time she ends up there so she can see that it’s not ALL bad stuff.
@M. Pence – I did. She did the same thing back to me. It was amazingly silly.
@swanofgrey – I *do* keep a supply of Pepto and ginger ale around.
And use acupressure points. And candied ginger, which is good on all its own. It’s a phobia I inherited/learned from my mom. It’s completely irrational. I hate it!
Good idea to take her to the nursery at the hospital.
Actually, probably a good idea for me, too. I need to remember that good things happen at hospitals.
My mom had some really terrible kidney stones before, and had to call the ambulance to take her to the hospital. There was just no way she was going to be able to drive herself, and since it was in the AM hours no one else could come get her. :\ The ambulance workers were nice enough to complain to her the whole time and tell her ‘pain wasn’t an emergency’ and she shouldn’t have bothered them. (Hopefully in your area that’s now how things roll)
I know they’re really nasty things to have. I feel better now that I drink more water than anything, at least, so I don’t fear getting them as much as when I was soda exclusive. I figure they’re hereditary, considering my mom and half-bro both have had them.
(And I must find these elusive Pepto Bismol Tablets; that’s like my favorite medicine ever and tablets would probably be useful for carsickness)
Note to self: Double space L, learn it.
EMTs/Paramedics can sometimes be dicks. But they do appreciate it when people delay calling them unless they are losing a limb/having a heart attack/bleeding to death or bad car accidents. When I used to work on an ambulance, that was the general attitude of the guys I worked with. Because most times they get frivolous calls. Winos passed out on park benches who are unresponsive. Old people who are lonely. I would say in the half decade that I’ve been involved in emergency medicine only 5% of people I’ve seen roll in on ambulances were actual emergencies. When you explained you had no other ride L they should have taken that for an answer.
I know a lot of old school people who won’t call 911 for an ambulance unless they think its an emergency that warrants it. And ambulance rides can sometimes cost upwards of 5k, which sometimes is not completely covered underneath your medical plan. The same goes for ER visits too, most insurers only cover a portion of that bill. I can sort of see where your father in law was coming from by not calling the ambulance and asking for a ride. Kidney stones don’t necessarily warrant an ambulance ride.
Poor Aya, I’m sure seeing her grandpa sick made her feel very worried. And yeah, the hospital is a very scary place to a child. Maybe you can take her to see her grandfather after he gets better? That might help her get over her fear of the hospital a little bit, and make her feel more comfortable with the whole situation.
@L — Pain may not be an emergency, but I can tell you that kidney stones do indeed hurt worse than childbirth. I’ve heard from people who have the experience to compare that renal colic is worse than a heart attack, worse than appendicitis, and worse than getting shot – and those generally are ambulance-worthy emergencies. It’s especially frightening when you don’t know what’s wrong. Fortunately, most of the paramedics I know around here are very compassionate. . . hopefully I’ll never be in a position to have to call them. :/
@Bad Juju — This is the guy who refused to call for an ambulance when he was having a heart attack. Twice. Old school is probably right. :/
I hope things are turning out all right. Wish I could share my anti-fear of hospitals with Aya. I’m not sure when it happened or how, though my theory is with my mother being a nurse and working in a hospital the fear just never developed. This is, unfortunately, not something everyone else gets and isn’t exactly a “trick” to share on getting past the anxieties.
Of course, my niece was practically a hypochondriac for about a year. Mention any sort of disease and she wanted to know about it and if she could have it. But she’s getting over that. A few trips to the doctor where she didn’t have to get a shot but just medicine helped, too.
Visiting the nursery is a great idea. I wish I had some stellar advice – but I don’t. The next time your local hospital is having an open house (well, they do from time to time — particularly if they open new wings), maybe stop by?
He didn’t call for a heart attack?! Wow…very old school.