Emergency Room = Thumbs Down

Okay let me just start by saying that I am venting a lot in this post before anyone thinks I am going crazy. Last night Luke slept pretty good in his swing. He didn't get cranky till around 6am after Jonathin was home. He went into a lot of crying and hacking. This led to him breathing really hard to catch his breath. He also was retracting when he breathed. This is when he is sucking in his breath so strong that it sucks in right under his rib cage. We were always taught to watch for this at Riley as a sign as respiratory distress. So I decided to turn up his oxygen to where we originally started 2 months ago, just to give him a little help.

I figured that it would be best to call his pediatrician just to give them an update since our appointment on Friday. After leaving a message the nurse called me back. She said that Dr. Durham wasn't there yet, but the other doctors said we should take him to the emergency room because he is such a special case. So around 9am we headed to South Bend once again. We were able to get right in, surprising I know. The doctor seemed nice and he ordered a X-ray. My main worry was pneumonia and in the back of my mind, RSV. I didn't think that was the case, but a preemie mom's mind wanders. After 3 hours or so the doctor came back in to explain the situation. The X-ray didn't really worry him at all. His exact words were, "If he was a term baby I would send him home now. But since he is an extreme preemie we would like to admit him for a couple hours to monitor him." Gotta love the special circumstances preemies get. However he explained there really wasn't anything they could do for Luke. Not a medicine, not a breathing treatment, just sit and watch him.

The doctor then stepped out and we were left to ourselves for another 2 hours to discuss things. The more Jonathin and I sat there the more we decided against their advice. Luke had calmed down and even the doctor said he looked fine when he was calm. I figured I could watch him as much as the nurses could. Let me explain....the nurses never checked on us once in the 5 hours we were in the ER. Also when we would push the nurse button it would alarm for 8-10 minutes before someone would remotely notice. Usually someone would come in and turn it off, then retreat for our nurse without even saying a word to us. Jonathin joked, how could this be an ER. At this point I was getting upset. Once we were able to find our nurse we told her we decided to take Luke home. I don't think she liked us taking a stand. So for the next hour or so we got the run around about the doctor wanting to talk to us again and how the peds department thought it would be best for us to go upstairs. No one would listen to us.

Finally the doctor came in and turned into a jerk. He pretty much told Jonathin and I we were idiots. His exact words were..."Are you prepared to go home and your son to stop breathing?" Okay, this really pushed me off the deep end. I then explained to him that for 5 months we were with Luke and know him front to back, and we have an apnea monitor at home also. He got snippy with us, because I did not share all of this knowledge in the first place. No offense, but he knew Luke was a micro preemie and that we spend over 3 months in the hospital with him. It was like he thought we were so naive, and didn't know anything. At this point I couldn't get out of there sooner. He said that he only let idiots sign an AMA (Against Medical Advise), however now we don't sound like idiots so he would discharge. I couldn't get Luke in his car seat quicker. I understand that they get parents that are so clueless sometimes, but is that how we really looked. I mean we came in there explaining the situation and speaking like we at least had some since. I was just really put off by the situation.

All I could say to Jonathin is next time we have an emergency, we will drive to Riley. How sad is that, we would drive over 3 hours away. I tried to explain to the doctor that I would rather be home watching Luke instead of sitting in the germ infested Disneyland called the Peds Floor. I'm going over the immune deficiency that Luke is fighting, and it is like talking to a wall.

So we were finally home around 3pm this afternoon and we all then took a nap. I think we all needed it after our day. Knock on wood, Luke hasn't coughed since we have been home and is looking comfortable in his Daddy's arms as they play the Xbox. Hopefully we can have a comfortable day tomorrow with no excitement. I mean nothing against Memorial Hospital, but I was not impressed today. Hope we can stay hospital free for awhile for now.

Jordan