I sat in two dentist chairs Monday morning. One to finish the last of two recent crowns and one for a teeth cleaning that has been scheduled months ahead of time. I left just in time to work for a couple of hours then decided my daughter needed to get to an emergency room.
A call ahead to the transplant team and a plan to bring her to Children’s for a look-see and labs to check the kidney and blood for the reoccurring infection took place. Possible admittance. Our transplant coordinator was kind enough to call me back minutes later to say an emergency in our city would mean multiple sick children into the ER, so of course, we went to our day-to-day ER at Kaiser. During rush hours.
SIDENOTE: I recently heard that in Atlanta you’re an hour away from Atlanta. That is nearly always true on ER visit days. Mondays after work being statistically the worst day to go to this Kaiser ER, apparently. So, a normal time for us to go, naturally. Or a holiday because our emergencies typically happen on holidays. Ask anyone who knows us.
There was a bad cough on top of aches and pains and UTI. Labs and cultures ordered. Breathing treatment came through at the right time. An X-ray revealed no pneumonia. An IV for the labs and a separate stick for a large vial of blood to grow a culture. A bag of fluids and IV antibiotics helped. It was on the longer side of our trips to Kaiser for an emergency and there was a lot of pain involved for Q.
We are continually grateful for Kaiser’s exceptional care and efficiency. I don’t know any other urgent care or ER that allows the triage/check-in nurses to order a urinalysis test before you’re seen by a doctor, just as an example (although I am sure because of medical history it was allowed). They also allowed us to wait in an unused area of the floor so Q didn’t have to be exposed to anything unnecessary. When we were back in a room, the ER doc spoke with the transplant team and since we caught the infection before it got to her blood (again, whew), we were able to leave in just six hours. At 1:00 am we made a stop at Waffle House for an All-Star Breakfast where we quadruple-tipped our server because it was something fun. We try to do something fun – anything fun – after an emotional and stressful time revolving around healthcare. I can only explain that things like this reset us.
Q did not want to have to go to the ER on her holiday break but she knew she had to go for help so she was resigned. Part of maturing is knowing when you need help from others (we can all use that reminder, can’t we?). The doctor, who spent considerable time with us for Q’s medical history, remarked on how funny Q is because she was especially entertaining with the doctor nurses. Q continually amazes me with her tenacity to keep moving forward and trying, even if she has bouts of sadness and frustration about what comes her way because of her health status at any given moment.
