An ER Kind Of Family
Even before Garrett, we were not strangers to the ER. Far from it. In fact, two days before our wedding, I spent some quality time in my hometown ER, getting replenished with fluids. (A wicked stomach flu spread it’s way through my family in the days leading up to our wedding. so delightful.)
Heck, we even spent time in the ER in Norway. Kateri was 6 or 7 months old. We were spending some time in Sweden, before we temporarily relocated there for Andrew’s work.
Like you do when you are in Europe, we took the train to spend a weekend in neighboring Norway. I was training for a marathon at that point (I gained 70 pounds when I was pregnant with Kateri, so the marathon was my weight loss plan) and Saturdays were the days I did my long runs. 18 beautiful miles in the Norwegian country side. It really was idyllic. Of course I got lost. Of course my cellphone did not work. Tired, but invigorated by the Norse beauty, and only a bit frazzled by the fact that I had no idea where I was, or where our hotel was. I was sure I was close. I had literally been following a little stream to it’s source the entire run (which happened to be the largest lake in the area and stunningly beautiful)I bopped into a random hotel lobby and asked if I could use their phone. For some reason Andrew’s cell worked in Norway, mine did not. Andrew answered my call and he sounded like he was having a panic attack. He informed me that our daughter had just rolled off the bed. I quickly got a cab to our hotel- and Andrew met me in the lobby with Kateri. She was smiling and screeching gleefully. Andrew was convinced she needed a doctor’s care. We headed to the ER, where we waited for hours until we were screened by a nurse. She sent us home, telling us it was not worth the 5 hour wait, nor the foreigner’s bill for our happy little girl (who had just learned to roll for the first time and had just fallen off of a 3 foot bed) to be admitted.
Fast forward 6 years later, and Andrew and I are frequent fliers at our local ER. If they had a “buy nine get the tenth free” policy, we’d be banking. You see, some people’s urgent care is Garrett’s ER. We have 02 at home. He breathes with the help of a ventilator. The only way he eats is through the tube in his tummy. He is nearly 3 years old and he is still working on head control. Let’s not even talk about trunk control. He is significantly developmentally delayed. Some people cannot tell the difference between his cries and his laughter. There is no audible voice after all, so his laughter is silent as well as his sobs. And when you are relying simply on facial expression, it can be hard to tell. When he gets sick enough that we feel like he needs to be seen, bringing him to the local urgent care would be a joke. Most often our visits to the ER result in admitting him into the PICU, but there have been a few times that we simply need some tests done. (tests that are only possible in the hospital, not the walgreens express care). On one of these visits this past summer, the consulting Doctor asked me for my phone number.
No, he was not hitting on me in front of my husband and my medically complex son. That would have been hilarious, and maybe more interesting. Sorry to disappoint.
Garrett was being seen because he was battling c-diff (a nasty GI infection common after a serious bout of antibiotics)which is bad enough on it’s own. However, he also had full leg casts (up to his hips) on both legs to prep him for club foot surgery. (Something that has not happened yet, but more on that later)
His neurological induced arching was causing open wounds to form on his thighs from his casts . One of the complications of C-diff is severe diarrhea. Nasty bacteria ridden diarrhea, right next to some open wounds, on a little boy who has out of control arching and spastic movement. You understand why we were at the ER. Those silly casts needed to come off.
I’m not sure when Dr. Jim asked for my number, but I think it was after Andrew had (kindly- well, sort of kindly) barked some orders at the ER nurses. You see, Dr. Jim teaches a class every spring to the resident Drs. at the hospital about “the Atypical” ER patient. He wanted us to come with Garrett and be his guest speakers.
We did this a few weeks ago. Andrew was able to take an hour away from his work day. We got a babysitter (aka Grandma) for the other kids, and Andrew and I had our first midday date of the pandemic. At the ER. With a totally healthy kid. We got to talk to a room full of polite listeners for an entire hour. Andrew and I both like to talk. We both think we are funny and charming. We have not been in public for over a year. I am not sure if we will be asked back.
BUT for those of you wondering- we do fit the protocol of the Atypical ER parent. The parent who knows more about their child than the Doctor. The parent who is capable of barking orders to the nurse- and the nurses should really listen. The parent who knows that their child could have an extremely rare and unprecedented reaction to certain medications that will cause brain damage. The parent that is not simply freaking out because their kid fell of the bed and bumped their head a little. Oh . Wait. Well, I guess we could give that talk too.:)
