Lesson Learned

So, D is back in the hospital, and I continue learning lessons. This one is one I've read about before. I know you're always supposed to consider someone else's point of view, yadda, yadda, yadda. Here's my reminder lesson...

D spiked a fever and off to the ER we went. He and I arrived at 7pm. He was sleeping. At about 7:30 pm we were triaged... he was weighed and measured, given a gown, and we were sent back out to the waiting room. Savy ER customer that I am, I asked the triage nurse how long the average wait was. "2 hours. But the good news is that you're 21 minutes into it." Okaaay.

I can't complain too much, really. I just had me and sleeping D to deal with. I'd thought ahead and brought a new book from the library, so I was reading while I waited patiently. (ha-ha! Patiently! I did that on purpose!)

So at around 9pm a nurse called out several names, and one of them was D's! I weaved his stroller past the teen in the wheelchair and the wagon with the toddler and all the people. When I got up to the nurse I overheard this enlightening coversation between the desk nurse and the nurse who had called us back.

"Let me see those names. Where did you get these charts?"
"Off the pile over there"
"No! You have to pull them off the pile in the back! Those people have been waiting over 3 hours. These people have only been waiting..." (she consults the computer) "11 and 21 minutes!" (I beg to differ! I'm at 60 minutes now...)

Still, I remain calm as she sends us back to our seats. After a long look at the path back to my original seat, I accept an offer for a seat on the outside edge of the ER waiting room and open my book again. It's getting good!

About a half hour later, D's name is called again, and I follow a nurse back to the ER rooms. "A docotr with be with you as soon as possible." That doesn't sound too promising. So I open my book and D sleeps on. About 20 minutes after that, a nurse (as I can tell by his big RN badge) comes in and presses a stethoscope to D's chest. "Oh, does he have a port?" "Yes" "They didn't tell me that." And he walks out! Okaaay. I'm not sure what to make of that. I change a wet diaper and get back to reading. Another 20 minutes goes by and Mr. nurse comes in with Ms. nurse. It's apparent that he is in training of some sort. The do a quick eval and say a doctor should be in sometime. Hey! I'm halfway through my book! And it IS good!

At about 10:30pm a youngish looking doctor comes in and identifies himself. I think he says he's a resident. Anyway, I recognize his title as "low man on the totem pole". So he asks for D's history. I'm telling him about it, and I mention that I think he's "a little dehydrated" and then clarify. "Well, dehydrated probably isn't the right word. He's had wet diapers today, and he's drooling, but he's not had any bowel movements, and his diapers have been much lighter." He asks how many wet diapers D has had today (5) and tells me that 2 is enough, and proceeds to explain to me what dehydration is, and what it's symptoms are in a tone that makes it clear that D is not dehydrated. That annoys me! I'm quite familiar with the symptoms of dehydration, having been through it with more than one child, and with D himself just a month ago! And I already said dehydrated wasn't the right word! So I spoke up in a voice that I'm sure showed my annoyance, "I just telling you, as a mom, that his diapers are not as heavy as they normally are. He is not peeing as much as normal."

to be continued...