Hospital Visits

I've made 2 hospital visits in the past 24 hours. Zoe came down with a high fever early Friday morning. Saturday afternoon she developed a rash and we took her to an urgent care center. The doctor told us that it was probably viral and to keep an eye on her rash to see if the spots changed color or didn't disappear when pressure is applied (which is a sign of meningitis). Sure enough right around bedtime last night she developed new spots on her feet that were a dark red and didn't dissapear when pressure was applied. The nurse on call told us to take her to the ER.

Poor Zoe. We woke her up and rushed her to the ER where they proceeded to give her an IV, take a urine sample via catheter, x-ray her chest, and poke and prod her. I wish I could have done more for her. She fought the nurses with everything she had. They had to bring in an extra person to hold her down. One of the nurses commented on her strength saying that we don't need to worry about her on the playground.

All of her tests come back fine. The ER dr said that he thought the rash looked viral, not bacterial, but give us an rx for antibiotics. I questioned him about why he was prescribing antibiotics if he thought it was viral. I asked if he thought she had a virus and a bacterial infection. He gave me a blank stare and said "just in case". It was after 1am and I was too tired to argue with him. I couldn't tell if he was trying to placate us or to cover his ass. I think it's time to switch to a more holistic pediatrician.

This afternoon my father informs me that my grandmother is in the hospital because she was having difficultly breathing. In fact she has been in the hospital since Thursday but he thought she would be out by now and didn't want to worry me by telling me about it. This is my 84 year old grandmother with one lung! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I went to see her this evening. Overall she seems to be doing well. They have the breathing problem under control. They are keeping her because they are now concerned about her heart. She's having a stress test in the morning.

I'm making a rule that no one else I care about is allowed to have any serious medial issues for the next 6 months. Everyone out there take note.