Surviving the Emergency Room

This past weekend, my wife made an unexpected visit to the
emergency room with my daughter. Friday morning, my daughter woke up
with over 25 mosquito bites all over her body including 3 underneath
her left eye. Apparently mosquitos got into her room in the night
(probably due to faulty weatherproofing of the air conditioning unit I
installed) and massacred my little girl.

After 24 hours, the
bites under her eye started to swell to Italian Stallion proportions.
The eye became tender, extremely painful, and bigger by the hour. It
was time to call the Urgent Care number (reserved for questions during
weekend hours). That was followed by a quick appointment, then a
redirect to the emergency room at the hospital. The result was a
diagnosis of Cellulitis, an infection in the deep tissues of the skin.
This was caused by my daughter scratching her mosquito bite and getting
it infected. A 7 day dose of antibiotics should clear it up.

Emergency visits can be more traumatizing for
you than it is for your kid. And with a combination of bad luck, bad
decisions, and bad child locks, you may be making more trips to the ER
than you ever thought possible. Here are a few tips to help you survive
an emergency room visit with your kid.

• Put
on a Brave Face — You may be freaked out but your kid will no doubt be
worse. And they will be the one in pain. They say when you hit
turbulence on a plane, look at the faces of the flight attendants. If
they look scared, then you should be too. This applies to the ER. Don't
show fear: your kids will pick up on it and freak out too. Special
note: It is natural to freak out on the inside. With matters pertaining
to your offspring, you would be inhuman if you didn't.

• Be
Patient — Trips to the ER are about hurrying up and waiting. Most of
the time you will be there for ailments that are a huge deals for you
and your kid but minor in the bigger context of emergency care of a
hospital. For instance, a broken arm might hurt and be absolute horror
but resetting it will not trump a GSW anyday…anytime…anywhere. You will
be directed to go places, then directed to sit down and wait. Then,
just when you think you are making progress, you will move to a
different room and wait longer. The real trick during this time is
keeping your kid's mind off the reason you are there. Stall as long as
possible, then, when all else fails, move onto bribery.

•
Bribery — Depending on the infliction, there will be times when your
kid needs to be completely compliant. It may be a shot, or a donation
of a blood sample, or staying still for an x-ray. When you absolutely
need to, result to bribes. These times are not the times to worry about
diet, spoiling your kids, or sticking to a bedtime. This past weekend,
we got off easy by bribing my daughter with a big bowl of ice cream.

• You Are a Good Parent — Do not let anyone tell you differently.
Medical staff may talk to you in ways that translate to either, "You
should have brought them in earlier" or "You shouldn't have brought
them in at all". In either case, stick to your guns. No one knows more
about your kid than you and your wife. And isn't a false alarm better
than taking chances outside of a fully operational medical facility.
The key to remember is if you are debating whether to go to the ER or
not, then you should go. A debate in your head is enough.

•
Power in Less Numbers — If possible, it is in your best interest to
take as few people to the ER as possible. Again, there is a lot of
waiting and the last thing you want to have to do is watch other bored
kids when you need to concentrate on the hurt one. This weekend, we
chose to keep me home with our son. This allowed my wife to concentrate
on my daughter and my son to stay at home with his toys and his nap
schedule.

• Ask the questions and become the expert —It is
important for you to know everything about what happened, what the
problem is, and how you treat it. If you do not know the answers, ask
the questions. This will be good for your own peace of mind and for the
simple fact that you will need to re-tell it to family and friends. I
didn't know what the heck cellulitis was until this past weekend. Now I
get to store that nugget into my brain to pull out a cocktail parties.

• Follow Up with your Pediatrician — The person that knows the most
about your kid after you and your wife, is your pediatrician. If you
ever see anyone else, make sure your pediatrician knows the latest.
Sometimes, the initial treatment does not work. In this case, your
pediatrician will follow up with an alternate plan of attack.

So far, my wife and I have been blessed with only a few visits to the
ER. But each time, we learn from our past mistakes and brace ourselves
for the next visit. Any noodads out there have anything to add to the
list to prepare people for the ER?