Great Timing

Why is it that kids have the most ridiculous habit of only having a medical problem when the dr.'s office is closed? They have a mild cough until 5:05 p.m., then it turns into horrible wheezing. Or they are able to sit happily in their high chairs every day of the week except Sunday, when they decide to kick themselves over and cut their heads open? WHY?

Oh yeah, because this means that you are stuck in the E.R., the LEAST EFFICIENT PLACE ON THE PLANET besides the electric company's answering service for MANY, MANY HOURS, when the same visit (had it happened at 2 p.m. instead of 7 p.m or on a nice Tuesday afternoon) should be solved with a quick trip the dr., a poke, prod, a prescription, and a sticker.

This is a long wind-up to ask the question, "Where do you think we spent last night????"

That example about the high chair happened about 6 months ago, so it is the coughing-turned-wheezing that we will focus on today. Alex had a cold on Sunday. He coughed a lot that night, even waking himself up a couple of times. On Monday, Dan and I juggled the daycare so I could go to school and get things ready for the sub, then come home and take him to work in time for a meeting. I had a sleepy, droopy little boy the rest of the day, but he was not overly sick-looking. Then we looked up some things on the internet, which led to a call to the dr., which led to that e.r. visit at about 8:00 p.m.

Again, I will mention that the e.r. is the least efficient place ever. The last time I was there with Alex (that high chair incident) they asked me details over and over and over again. I thought it was some subtle child abuse check ("Can you tell me what happened? When it happened? What was he doing? What did you do when he fell?") to make sure my story stayed the same or something. But this time, WHY DO 4 DIFFERENT PEOPLE NEED TO ASK ME "SO WHEN DID HE START COUGHING?" Seriously, my answer is not going to change. There is really no way that I did something bad to him to get him to this state.

And, to prove the point even more, we had a nurse come by with, "He'll need another nebulizer treatment in a few minutes." The respirtory therapist came by and did the treatment.Nurse comes back by, "Just a few minutes on that treatment."

"Ummmm...I think we just had it."
"No, he needs another one."
"But he's already had two."
"Oh, he's had two? OK."

A few minutes later, different nurse, "Just waiting on that second treatment."
"We've already had two."
"Oh?"

And we wait and wait. Dan goes to the counter..."What are we waiting for?"
Oh, you guessed it, different nurse, "Alex needs a second treatment."

NO HE DOESN'T. HE NEEDS TO GO HOME.

And we went home. I wonder how much earlier we could have left if we just posted a sign letting everyone know the status at all times.

So, the outcome: Alex has pneumonia. Apparently it's not that uncommon in toddlers and little kids. It can come from a cold virus that just goes awry. The dr. said that she's seen a lot of it recently. The petrie dish known as preschool has apparently been good to Alex this week, allowing him to stay home and watch Nemo and Elmo repeatedly.

Not so good to Mommy, however, who has about a million things to do before Christmas break starts next Friday. I have report cards that are due soon, my students are doing the Mass on that Friday and are performing in a Christmas program that I am supposed to be helping them rehearse for as well as make props for. Sigh. Again, I will comment on the great timing of toddlers and their illnesses! It's not like he could wait until break started or get sick on a Friday night and be all better by Monday. Oh well, it's been an OK couple of days, even if I'm humming the theme to Elmo's World all day.