The Emergency Room

Emergency rooms are strange places. 

On Saturday morning, when I took Toots to the local ER, I wasn't sure what to expect. 

There is a small hospital here in Whitefish and a larger, more respected one in Kalispell, which is about 15 minutes away. 

We went to the one in Whitefish for two reasons-

One- I knew he mostly needed an IV for dehydration and they could handle that fine.

Two- It is right next to the baseball field where the boys and HH would be. 

When we arrived, there was nobody waiting so we got right into a room. 

The nurse came in, took his vitals, and said the doctor would be in. 

Then there was lots of waiting.

Little Bear was with me in the stroller and he didn't particularly like the waiting.

He had missed his nap at this point and I was trying really hard to keep him in that stroller for the sole reason that I didn't want his hands touching that floor and the pathogens that surely lurked there. 

I failed. I gave in to the screaming. He crawled and walked amongst the pathogens. 

Finally, the doctor arrived. 

The first thing he said was- You have a screamer there!

Well, he is one and just learned to walk and I was trying to keep him off the floor and out of your halls. (smile) 

He checked Toots over, asked questions. 

He said- I'm concerned it might be his appendix. But, let's get some blood and an IV put in to hydrate him. 

I had the same concern because I had mine out when I was 7 and my mom and sis also had appendicitis. It runs in families. 

The nurse came in. He numbed Toot's arms for the IV, came back and tried to find a viable vein. This was the tricky part. I swabbed the inside of Toot's mouth with a small sponge to distract him while the nurse tried to get the IV in. I took about five minutes. Five very long minutes. They got the blood, but didn't hook up the IV.

They called in an ultrasound tech from home. She couldn't find his appendix. This meant he had to have a CT scan.He said he had to drink a gatorade mixture with a dye in it before the scan. 

Me to doc- Could he please have the IV fluids you mentioned earlier? He is going to throw up that gatorade mixture. Is there something you can give him?

Doc- Oh, he should have had the IV fluids already. I'll have them give him some anti-nasea meds too. 

Thanks.

While I waited, I called HH at the game. I wanted to talk to a new friend of ours who is a dad on the team and a doctor in Kalispell to get his advice if Toots was going to need surgery. It was great getting his input on the hospitals and surgeons and what he would do if it was his child. 

Hottie Husband showed up. They won their game. Another dad who coaches with HH took the boys for us for the afternoon.

But, right before HH got there, the nurse came in and closed our door, saying that a child was hurt and she didn't want us to see. There were blinds on the window of the door and I waited a while then peeked out to see which guys from the fire station had brought the child in. 

I recognized them and then saw HH out there talking to them. 

He came in and told me that a two year old had died. From a seizure. 

It has taken me days to process this and it colored my whole time in that hospital. 

I couldn't stop thinking about the mother and what she must be going through. 

We had to wait two and a half hours for the dye to get through. 

Toots did great in the CT scan machine, which looked like a giant donut.

 It turned out it wasn't his appendix. 

One of HH's fireman buddies came in. His girlfriend was one of the ER nurses and she came in to visit too and took care of our little guy the rest of the time we were there. 

The doctor came in and made this balloon hat for our boy.

HH blew up the glove.

He left the hospital feeling much better

and saying-

The hospital is nice.

I like it here.

They made me a balloon.

That is the best doctor.

And I left thinking-

Thanks for my healthy, alive children.

Thanks for the people of this town.

Thanks for our friend who took our boys.

Thanks for the friend I could call for advice about hospitals and surgery.

Thanks for the fire department and the ER nurse who know us.

It is nice to feel known and cared for here.