I’m tirrrrreeeed, soooo tiiiiiiirrrrrreeeeeed.
I’m tired. I know, it’s hard to tell, so I thought I’d let you know. So tired, I think I forgot how to work my toaster. Just kidding… not really.
Why am I so tired, you ask? Well, M has been sick for a while. She started acting funny (as in not M) on Friday. I can’t pinpoint one moment of her being “not okay” but I just had that feeling, ya know?
She’s had a low-grade fever (99.5-100.5) since Sunday morning, and a gnarly cough to go with it. She’s been coughing so much, that she’s busted blood vessels around her eyes. Poor girl looks like she’s been in a bar fight.
Which brings me to last night…
We put M to bed at around 8p, and she was coughing a LOT. I mean, more than normal. So J went upstairs a few times to have her blow her nose to get some of the crud out. Normally, this helps her sleep better… but it just kept getting worse. So around 10:30p, I decide to go get some honey for her. As I walk to the door, J screams from upstairs to come up- RIGHT NOW. I run up, and find M and J in her bathroom. There was what *looked like* blood all over the sink. Bright red, mixed with a little dark.
FREAK OUT TIME.
Off to the Dayton Children’s ER we go…
So while were on our way (J is driving like a maniac, BTW- yes J, I just sold you out) it dons on J that M had a twizzler right after dinner, around 7:30p. AWESOME.
So now the question was, do we still go in and get her checked out anyway, or do we go home and guess that it was candy.
Off to the ER we went.
When we got there (11:15pm), it seemed pretty empty. There weren’t many people in the waiting room, and those that were had kids running around and playing. So we figured it would be a short wait.
We were wrong.
We were taken to a room at 1:27a. No one came in to see us for a while, and when they did to check her pulse, the person didn’t have any paper on him, so he had to write her information on a plastic glove. Nice.
Oh, and did I mention there were candy wrappers and dirty tissues on the floor? No? Let me just clarify here. I have volunteered at hospitals before. I practically grew up in an Emergency room. I KNOW what should be cleaned. I do not expect the room to be spotless, nor the floor to be mopped. I do EXPECT that trash is disposed of before a new patient enters a room. It’s just common sense. The manager came in to pick it up, but then defended the room by saying we can’t clean everything. Whatever. You can change the linens and pick up dirty tissues at the same time. I’m a mom, and I do it at home ALL the time. Mmkay?
So M’s nurse came in and listened to her lungs. Her temperature was never taken (except for triage at 11:45p), neither was her blood pressure. Just pulse by the person before. She then told us that the resident would be in shortly.
The resident came in at 3:22a. He checked her out, and said her lungs sounded great, and thought that the runny nose (post nasal drip) and Twizzler combo probably was the culprit- which are caused by a virus. Awesome! We could probably just give her Zyrtec to help with the cough. So he said to wait for the doc, who would be in shortly.
3:50a rolls around, M is crying because she wants to go home. I can’t blame her. J and I agree that if we don’t hear from anyone (after letting reception know) in 10 minutes we were leaving. We both thought the resident did a great job explaining to us the situation, so didn’t feel the need to wait around to hear a doc confirm what the resident told us. We trusted his judgement. 10 minutes rolled around, and no doc. So we went to reception to tell them that we were leaving. Their answer? “okay”. Really? Really. Here’s your token for the parking lot, now be on your way.
We got home, and I cleared M’s room out of anything she didn’t need, so there was no possibility of allergies acting up to add to the mix. Then I propped her up on several towels (under her pillow) to help the drainage, and J gave her some buckwheat honey for her cough. She didn’t cough all night (well, by all night I mean 4:30a-10:30a) which was a blessing. This morning she woke up with a low-grade fever (99.5 again) so I’m just keeping a close eye on her.
Needless to say, I’m not happy about our experience, and I know that it’s not a reflection of how the entire hospital works. I just think there are some things that they (the emergency department) can IMPROVE upon. Like, don’t argue with the parent about the trash on the floor in the room. It’s not cool.
Yeah, that would be a good place to start.
I’m sorry to hear you had such a rough night. That does not sounds like fun.
As a side note, glad to hear you aren’t beholden to DCH, given all the publicity you’ve done for them. Good for you for keeping it real!
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Thanks Jennifer, it’s the one thing I will NOT change. I will always be upfront and honest, even if it isn’t pretty. This mom is not a sell-out. While this was a bad experience, I still think the other departments are fantastic. I will continue to support them (if they allow me to), but I won’t lie about an experience (and I know they don’t expect me to). Know what I mean?
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Yep thats right its J, the infamous father to M and hubby to Domestic Debacle. I just have to say that while Domestic Debacle’s narative of last nights grand ol’ time at the Dayton Childrens ER was fairly accurate, she was MUCH MUCH niceer than I would have been.
I am actually so disappointed and appalled at the level of care and customer service we received, that in the future I’m totally against supporting DCM in any way shape or form! I would rather drive the hour to Cincy and go to a better Children’s hospital than put my child, my wife and myself through all the crap we had to endure last night. You know, it would be different if this was a one time deal, but its NO it’s not. It was the same thing the last four time… yes I said FOUR (with the exception of time we took M there thinking she had C. Diff. – I guess Domestic Debacle was right; Dayton Children’s ER needs to think you have an infectious disease to get good fast treatment).
IMHO, Dayton Children Medical Center (ER especially) just doesn’t really care about their patients or the parents who are there with their kids. You know how I know that? First off, we actually sat down one time and had dinner with the director of the ER and told her of our horrible time at the ER. She didn’t do a thing! Second, I know for a fact that numerous DCM employee’s read this blog and Domestic Debacle’s twitter page. Lets see how far out of their way they go to remedy the situation. I’m willing to bet that they don’t even do as much as they did when they asked Domestic Debacle and M to do a radio and TV commmercial for them. You all know the one, it was the post prior to this one.
I know this sounds like a rant, and it is but as I said on twitter: “I am appalled, disapointed and generally pissed off at the horbile experiance we had at Dayton Children’s ER AGAIN (4th time).” I also want to make it clear that this comment purly J’s opinion and should not be considered that of Domestic Debacle or this blog in general.
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I’m sorry you had such a yucky night! I’ve been there!
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Oh man I hate having to go in like that! What an awful experience. If you had turned the car around though, I bet you would have worried all night.
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I have had very similar situations w/ the ER there. I think it is quite notorious for this actually. I was amazed at the difference we had w/ Collin last month during his 1 week hospitalization there. I pray she continues to get well. You guys did the right thing. Good job Mom and Dad!
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