Our Almost ER Visit

No, not recently. But, a friend of mine recently had to take her daughter to the ER, which brought up memories of the one and only time we almost went to the ER. Lydia was 3, Audrey was 1, and Charlie was not in the picture yet. It was a Tuesday night. Jayson was playing softball and Audrey was sleeping. Lydia was not feeling well. She had a fever, so she was in her jammies earlier than she normally would be. Then she complained that her neck hurt. My immediate thought was, "Oh my God, she has meningitis."

I called the doctor on call for our pediatrician's office. I went over her symptoms with him and he was also concerned about the neck pain. He told me to ask Lydia to put her chin to her chest.

Let me interject here to say that Lydia is and always has been a drama queen. A very good one, too. She can pick up on emotions in a room and respond in a way that will ensure as much attention is placed on her as possible. She can cry at the drop of a hat. She can lay a guilt trip on you and you won't even realize what hit you until she's laying in your spot on the couch with a handful of cookies and your blanket and you have promised her that tomorrow you will make special pancakes for breakfast and ride the train at the zoo.

So, when I asked Lydia to put her chin to her chest, she winced with pain and cried that it just hurt too much and she couldn't do it. I informed the doctor and he said that if it's too painful for her, I needed to get her to Children's Hospital ER. So, I frantically called Jayson and told him to come home immediately. As I ran around the house grabbing my shoes and purse, I continued to ask Lydia if she could please just put her chin to her chest, and she would try, but then cry in pain.

I got Lydia in the car, and as soon as Jayson got home, we left. As we drove, she seemed to cheer up. I popped in her favorite Raffi CD, and we sang along. I pointed out that she seemed to be feeling better, which threw her immediately into another fit of pain. I told her that if we went to the hospital, she might have to get a big shot. Didn't seem to upset her. I asked her again to touch her chin to her chest and she refused because the pain was just too much.

We pulled into the ER parking lot and got to the doors. I knew that if we went through those doors, we would be in for a long night. I was having doubts about the severity of her symptoms. I knelt down in front of her, and pointed to a monkey on her pajamas right on her belly. I smiled, "Look at this silly monkey! What's he doing?" She looked, down, chin to chest, and smiled at the silly monkey. I stood up, grabbed her hand, and sighed, "Back in the car, Lydia. We're going home."

Our First Scar

We have never taken any of our kids to the ER or urgent care. I know we've been lucky. We came close this summer when Charlie fell off the couch. Lydia and Charlie have both fallen down the stairs. Lydia made it to the doors of the ER when she was about two. I was convinced she had meningitis. She had a fever and hadn't been feeling well, then complained that her neck was sore. I immediately called our doctor's after hours number and the doctor on call told me that if she couldn't put her chin to her chest, I should bring her to the ER. I asked her to put her chin to her chest and she couldn't and complained it hurt too much. Now, you have to understand that Lydia has always been an actress. I wasn't entirely convinced, but after several more attempts to get her to put her chin to her chest without luck, I called Jayson, who was at softball, and told him to get home and watch Audrey while I took Lydia to the ER.

We got in the car and she seemed to cheer up quite a bit. I kept asking her to put her chin to her chest, but then she would start to get more morose and wouldn't do it. We finally got to the ER, and knowing that if we went in there it would be possible she would need a spinal tap, I asked her one more time to put her chin to her chest. Nope. So, we got out of the car and headed to the doors of the ER. Then I had an idea. I pointed to a monkey on the front of her pajama shirt and said, "Look at this silly monkey! What's he doing?" She giggled and looked down at her shirt, putting her chin to her chest. I swooped her up and we headed home.

This weekend, my insurance plan changed. I went from a $300 family deductible to a $4000 family deductible. There is a wellness program that will be put in place to reimburse a large part of the deductible, but it won't start until January 1. Also, our deductible starts over January 1. We were told that our best bet is to just not need a doctor until next year. So, on Saturday evening, the first day of our new insurance, I was going upstairs to put Charlie to bed and Jayson was getting Audrey to bed. Lydia was brushing her teeth. I heard a loud thump and Jayson yelled, "Holly! Get down here now!" I threw Charlie in her crib and ran downstairs to find Lydia screaming and crying and Jayson holding a rag to her chin.

Lydia had somehow fallen off the bathroom stool and hit her chin on the bathtub, busting it open. She later told me she was goofing off and had forgotten to calm down for bedtime. I held her in my arms and held the rag to her chin. When I pulled it away, I saw a 1 cm cut that was spread open pretty wide. I put the rag back on and told Jayson, "I think she needs stitches." I'm pretty certain that had we taken her to the ER or urgent care, she would have gotten a couple stitches or they would have at least used that fancy glue. Jayson pointed out the fact that we would be paying in the neighborhood of $1000 or more if we went. We opted to call his mom and she brought over butterfly bandages.

After she fell as I calmed her down, she was making a gurgling noise and I couldn't figure out why. I thought maybe she was bleeding in her mouth, but looked inside and saw lot of spit and no blood. I told her to swallow, but she refused. I held a towel for her and she spit into it and yelled, "I was using your minty toothpaste and I'm not supposed to swallow it!" While I held Lydia and calmed her down, Audrey gave her kisses on her head and Lydia asked her to stop, so Audrey just stroked her arm, and Lydia said, "Audrey, will you please stop touching me?" Awww... she was very concerned about her big sister.

So far, we can't tell how it's going to heal. The butterfly bandage held it shut, so I'm glad we didn't go to the ER (I also ran a marathon on Sunday and was dreading the thought of Jayson spending the night in the ER with her and me being up all night worrying). I'm sure she'll have a little scar, but I think it will make her look pretty tough and give her a little character.