Monday, March 2, 2009

Peace at Last...

This post won't be long because even though it is only 8pm... we are heading to bed! The last three days Ethan has had an asthmatic cough. His home treatments weren't working so I called the advice nurse yesterday and she told us to go into the ER.

Let me tell you... the emergency room is not for two year olds. By the time we got there, checked in, saw the nurse, and went to sit in the waiting room it was Ethan's bedtime. When we were finally given a room (I think it was three hours later) it took another hour to give Ethan a breathing treatment (almost the same thing that we had at home), have the doctor come in, then out, and to tell us that they want to test him again. They already told us that Ethan was in no danger because his lungs were good, he had no fever, and there was no wheezing. So, why were they keeping a two year old past midnight when there was a kid in the waiting room that needed stitches for the back of his head?! We begged them to just let us go home and told them that we would call our doctor in the morning. They weren't happy with us but they finally discharged us. The doctor gave us two prescriptions (one Tylenol) that we would of had to wait in line for another several hours at Walgreen's. We got in the car and five minutes later Ethan was asleep... poor guy...

Today we saw our doctor and they gave Ethan a medication in the office that would last 48 hours. Within four hours the coughing stopped. Oh, and our doctor frowned when he saw the prescriptions they gave us and said, "Yeah, I wouldn't fill those at all."

2 comments:

Tammy said...

Oh I'm so sorry you all had to go through that. Salem Hospital stinks! Glad his cough stopped after the right meds. Love you guys!

Kate said...

Okay Jen...seriously....I should give you my Mom's #....because I call her before even going to the doctor. With her being a nurse for 30+ years...it saves me a ton of money. Or, take him to Silverton ER! I could let my Mom know, and she could put you on the fast track! Anyway, I'm so sorry you had a bad experience. I hate the ER....the only way it's an emergency is if you roll in via ambulance. It's pretty pathetic....hope Ethan is feeling better!