Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Huge sigh of relief

I want to write about this while it's still raw. Our little one was hospitalized with (not a stomach bug but) RSV. Horror washed over us late Friday afternoon when we woke her up from a nap only to realize that her fever had spiked, she could barely keep her eyes open, and we were going back to the ER. I could not imagine putting her through Thursday night's tortures again. But then I found out the answer to 'What's worse than holding down your baby while she fights the nurses trying to give her an IV catheter?'--when she's so sick she stops fighting back and just lays there. Her veins were flat, and the nurses were on their third stick before they got a line in. Awful. It was awful. These were the worst days of my life. And I write that even as I held my father's hand when he died and evacuated DC on foot on September 11th. Maureen is usually so funny and opinionated and feisty and busy, and she looms very large in my imagination, that it is easy to forget what a fragile little person she really is. Since we returned home she has learned how to use a tissue to wipe Mommy's nose (and thinks this is hilarious) and Crinkle's nose (that's her stuffed dog) and her own nose (but not very effectively). And she's trying to walk all the time, taking 5 steps here, 8 steps there. Crazy baby. Lucky baby. Lucky all of us.

There is nothing like a health crisis to reveal whether or not you really like your doctor. We will be looking for a new pediatrician. 1) While the pediatricians on staff at CMH did a fine job looking after our little one, I would appreciate a doctor who visits his/her patients when they are hospitalized. God forbid Maureen has another hospital stay, but we would prefer this for continuity of care. 2) An office who promptly returns telephone calls even if my questions are ridiculous. And by promptly I mean within a few hours. Claiming that there is "a problem with the phone system" is only a single use get-out-of-jail-free card. 3) Also would it kill them to place a follow up call to see how our recently hospitalized child is doing?

PS - A little while ago a registered nurse from BCBS called to see how Maureen is doing and answer any questions I had. We talked for about 15 minutes. She is going to call back in a couple weeks to make sure things are going well with Mo's recovery but made sure I had her direct line in case anything came up. It's sad when the insurance company does a better job than the pediatrician's office.

3 comments:

Tmomma said...

so glad she's home and getting better. we have a good number of people from work who live in your area, i can ask for ped recommendations/who to avoid if you want. give mo a big hug from us!

Barb Mowery said...

Yes please!--if one of them has a ped in Prince Frederick that they LOVE we would appreciate a recommendation.

Tmomma said...

no recommendations yet