The ER Sucks

It was a Monday - we had been home from the hospital for two days, and were still (impatiently) awaiting the pathology results.

Laila was fussy all day long and was running a fever. We called the doctor and they notified us that if the fever persisted, we should bring her into the ER. We tried to keep her calm, but she was just not herself.

Now, it was 8pm.

We called our incredible nanny, Molly, who immediately rushed back over and was prepared to sleep sitting up in the rocker in the nursery with Laila on her chest all night.

But, by 11pm, her temperature was still high and so we knew we had to bring her in.

Unlike the first time we went to the ER, this time, in the middle of the night, the joint was packed.

Although we told them that we had a surgeon, that she had a tumor, etc, they still made us wait, and we didn't get a room in the ER until after midnight.

From there, it was one calamity of errors after another. Since it was late, the fellows and residents on call were calling the shots and no one could agree on what shot to take.

They accessed the new port in her chest, started fluids, took blood and then left us there to wait. At 2am, Chris decided to head home, and I stayed (one of us needed to sleep). They finally came back and said they needed to do another CT scan to make sure the tumor hadn't ruptured during the biopsy. They put in the "order" for the scan, and then we had to wait again.

Another hour passed, she FINALLY fell asleep on me in the hospital bed, and they came in to take us for the scan, We arrived in the room, I lifted her sleepy little body onto the machine, and the tech said, "Oh no, the needle in her port is the wrong size, we cant do the contrast imaging."

WTF. So, after 30 minutes of deliberation, they sent us back to the ER room. Nurses came in and apologized and said that because her port was so new they didn't want to re-access it with a larger needle. The only option was to put in an IV through her hand or arm. And then they disappeared again.

It was 3:30 am. She finally fell back asleep AGAIN and they came back again for the IV. She sadly has rolling veins like mine, and after pricking her on every inch of both arms they decided to abort the mission. They had no other choice but to re-access her port -- poor baby.

Another hour passes, no one comes. It is now 4:30am, and they came back in and said, "We called your surgeon, and he said no CT scan was needed, so we are just going to do an ultrasound and admit you."

So, after ALL of that, bruises all over her arms, hours of disrupted sleep and waiting, no progress was made.

The ultrasound started finally at 5:30am and then at 7am, we finally were admitted into the hospital room that would again become our home for a few days.