I’m goin’ down to St. James Infirmary
As a first-time parent there is a whole series of “firsts” - first time the babe rolls over, his first bottle, first time he crawls, first haircut, first steps, first words, an on and on. And then there’s the first visit to the emergency room, maybe not one of the best ones, maybe not one that you capture on video, but certainly one that will stick in your head.
After recovering from his couple of sick days last week, Z seemed fine and dandy over the weekend and was unceremoniously chucked back into kiddie jail on Monday. Not for long, however as Dr. O’C got the call yesterday from day care that Z was running a fever of 40°C (104ºF) and raced from work to day care to the nearest emergency room. I raced, by bus, from work to the hospital. Nothing moves slower than a city bus when you’re on it and in a hurry to get somewhere.
Everything’s fine. Z has a case of tonsillitis and is on new antibiotics and ibuprofen and paracetamol for the fever. But that visceral sense of panic and powerlessness when you fear that your child is in danger is not a pleasant one. I fear that it is something that, with a young boy in the house, I’ll be dealing with on more than one occasion. First trip to the E.R. - probably not the last.
My first impression of the Australian health care system is that it pales in comparison to Britain’s NHS, but I’m not completely objective. Our wait was longer than I thought it should have been, but once we were seen by a doc, everything was fine. But it is better than the American system - when we walked out a few hours later we didn’t owe a cent for the treatment, medicine or even the cup of tea they brought for me.
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Ah fuck man. I was hoping you wouldn’t have to do the ER thing for a few more years yet. I am sorry you had to go, but I am glad that Z is okay.
And please don’t get me started on the US system again. In Sweden I had surgery that was supposed to have been outpatient, that turned into a three day stint in the hospital after a 20-minute procedure turned into a 3-hour operation. My bill upon checkout? $24 for the food. $8 per day. Total. That’s all folks.
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20 Aug 2008 at 3:17 pm
Great to hear that Z is okay - not a nice thing to have to deal with. Aussie system is very slow, get used to that because until the government figures out that providing decent funding for health care is kind of, oh I don’t know, a necessity, I don’t see it getting any better! You’re right about the cost though, that’s about the only thing they’ve got right.
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20 Aug 2008 at 5:01 pm
I’m glad Z is ok. They brought you tea? That’s so cool.
20 Aug 2008 at 7:33 pm
You’d find it different if you took him to a GP. The system is designed to push you at GPs, who ration the more expensive medical care. They tend to be nicer, and faster, and well connected to hospitals should the need arise.
Of couse, there’s a small co-pay with a GP. Grrr…
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20 Aug 2008 at 8:41 pm
headbang8- We had been at the GP 5 times in the previous two weeks and he had probably been diagnosing him incorrectly. He had been on three different courses of antibiotics during that time and was on some when his temperature spiked to 40C. So the GP was pretty fucking useless as far as I am concerned. Yeah the wait at the emergency room was a bit annoying, but a nurse saw him immediately, gave him panadol, put on a urine collection bag etc and then we just had to wait to see a doctor. Because I have never used the ER in the UK, I have no idea how it compares. My only experience in the US was a 5 hour wait when I kept passing out from being so feverish and sick. They wouldn’t even let me fill out any forms until the had a credit card imprint.
20 Aug 2008 at 9:01 pm
Poor little Z! I hope he’s feeling better.
We’ve had pretty good experiences with the ER in the US as far as wait-time goes. The bill paying, though? Let’s just say it’s not a free cup of tea.
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20 Aug 2008 at 9:30 pm
Scary scary scary. I tell Tyler every few days to never get sick, because I’m already stressing out over the little hair I’ve already lost.
20 Aug 2008 at 11:13 pm
With three kids and enough er visits that I can’t remember all of them I can tell you, it never gets any easier.
Glad to know he’s on the road to recovery.
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21 Aug 2008 at 1:06 am
Can you believe we’ve never been to the e.r. yet? (knocking on wood). We’ve had a few emergencies, but all happened when our pediatrician was in the office. I’m glad too, because our e.r. is the worst! A five hour wait would be on the short side. I’ve been told that to get treatment quick you have to call an ambulence (sp?).
I’m so glad Z is ok, and you got a Dr that knew what he was talking about!
21 Aug 2008 at 1:21 am
Poor little guy. I’m glad he’s okay.
I had no idea that national health care comes with free tea. That’s pretty rad.
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21 Aug 2008 at 3:05 am
wow, tonsillitis?
I’ve never heard of someone so young with it.
Oi Vey… The US health system is a pet peeve of mine.
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21 Aug 2008 at 3:39 am
The problem with the US healthcare system is that we’ve allowed for-profit insurance companies to dictate to our doctors how to treat their patients. But, I fear a US-government-run system won’t be much better. We’re talking about the same government who couldn’t even determine they were being lied to, by their own intelligence-gathering organization, regarding WMDs in Iraq. The same government who constantly votes themselves raises and works four-day work weeks. Um, yeah. I don’t know what the solution is.
But, to get back on track, I’m so glad Z has been properly diagnosed and is better and that you survived your first child-related ER visit. Never any fun.
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21 Aug 2008 at 3:48 am
Poor Z and poor you guys. The first ER trip is the hardest, I think. After that hurdle (or the next 4-5) it becomes old hat.
They buy you tea? I may just move down under.
21 Aug 2008 at 3:54 am
Hope Zach is doing much better already. We haven’t been to the ER here yet but elsewhere in Canada it’s been long waits but no bill. (We did have private delivery and then recovery rooms that were covered by my C’s benefits, that was very nice. So 3 nights in the hospital for us was completely gratis.) I did like the fact that all my doctor’s visits in the US were on-time, in very clean offices and easy to access. Up here they always run late, are hard to schedule and seem to be in buildings on the brink of collapse.
We also had a health scare at the beginning of the month. We were in Banff for a conference (both registered with one on child care and one at session switching periodically) and R had just started crawling earlier that week. He was left on the bed by one of us and it was assumed that the other one was watching him. Our fearless R crawled to the edge and promptly crawled off. Or at least tried to crawl off but instead went head first onto the floor about a foot down. He bit his lip, had a bleeding nose and was wimpering-crying so we called emerg. They transferred us to the health line and the end result (after much bouncing by me to calm R down) was that we were to watch him for some undetermined length of time to make sure he wasn’t sleeping too little or too much. Not very helpful. I could have used the soothing tea.
21 Aug 2008 at 5:48 am
OH I hope he feels better soon. The hospital trips are gawd awful. Having just had mine in for emergency surgery in May I feel for you.
Lucky you on the bill though. Even with my daughter being covered by TWO insurances our out of pocket will be around 800 bucks.
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21 Aug 2008 at 6:51 am
Thanks all for your kind words. The boy is fine. I’m home with him today and then, we’re hoping, back to kiddie jail on Friday.
NATUI - Sweden puts the fish in efficient socialism. When are y’all headed over there?
Agnes - if this were my first experience with government health care I’d still be impressed, we just had good luck in the UK, so I know it can be done better. And, at least the Aussie government recognizes that providing health care is part of their job. Try telling the U.S. government that!
Angel - I thought the tea was a nice touch, calmed me right down.
headbang - What Dr. O’C said. You really need to make sure your GPs know what they’re doing.
Nichole - I’ve had good and bad experiences with U.S. hospitals, but the bill is never good.
Joe - y’all probably have a while yet, they tend to stay pretty healthy while breastfeeding. It’s when they start crawling that things go pearshaped.
Chris - yeah, I know. And boys are forever breaking limbs and all that as well.
JK - that is a miracle! Especially with two boys and I’ve seen the way that they jump around the place.
CMGD - here’s the thing, and this is a pet peeve of mine. The government does not have to be incompetent. The Bush Administration, and G.O.P. in general, however have done such a good job at eviscerating the government that it now is incompetent. Think about the Justice Dept. The Bush flunkies spent 7 years eliminating qualified applicants and stocking the department with incompetent idealogues who have a law degree from a correspondence school. THAT’s why the government is broken. There’s no reason, other than the G.O.P.’s small government obsession, that the federal govt. couldn’t run an effective single-payer health care system. It’s a bullshit myth spread by the Right and it REALLLLLLLLLLLY pisses me off.
Andrea - I had a feeling that you’d come down on the side that you’ve come down on and, having no experience with the Canadian system, I can’t give any insight. But I know that more than 10% of Americans don’t have insurance and thus can’t afford that clean, efficient health care. I bet they’d take the wait. Even some people that do have health insurance, depending on how dickish their insurance companies are, end up paying a lot out of pocket. You guys were lucky to be on Mizzou’s insurance - which is quite good - whilst in the States.
Baby Z had a similar incident to the one you describe while under my watchful eye, but fortunately with less dramatic consequences - glad R’s OK! Thanks for the pics!
Courtney - that’s right, if you guys vote for the right candidate you too can have tea with your free ER visit. Actually, the only presidential candidate that proposed taking the U.S. that far is now out of the race.
Xbox - and mine and one of the reasons I’m an expat.
21 Aug 2008 at 9:37 am
Sorry AFM, I just can’t get excited over the NHS. It is budget basement healthcare and you don’t get to choose your GP. Now you see, the one you’ve been seeing…the one with ineffective anti-biotics? You don’t have to go back! Go somewhere else! You’re allowed to. Not so in the UK. My sis was recently told she could no longer attend her trusted GP of 20 years as ‘boundaries’ had changed >:-(
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21 Aug 2008 at 10:05 pm
Glad Zach is ok. 40 deg C is a very scary thing. It happened to C once, and we immediately took her to the pediatrician (this was US, kids see peds, not GPs); she had a beginning of an ear infection. We had one ER experience in the US: C choked on a pear which she then coughed up but her dad insisted we see a doctor and it was evening. All was v e r y s l o w in the ER, but I think because she was fine. We paid $50 for the visit (it included examination by 2 docs, chest x-rays, and a doll as a gift). Our UK ER experience happened as soon as we landed, and weren’t in the NHS computer system yet (though my husband was working). C sprained her elbow trying to wiggle out of my hold on a moving bus (apparently a very common toddler injury as they even had a leaflet about it at the hospital). It took hours to see triage nurse, I think 2-3hrs. She got something for pain, then waited for another hour to see another nurse who put the elbow back in its place. Charge: 0. They took our word that my husband was legally employed. I was impressed by that part.
22 Aug 2008 at 6:35 am
I think it’s funny, Vera, you come from a socialist country and abhor the socialist system. I come form a capitalist country and abhor the capitalist system. Is it familiarity breeds contempt, do you think?
22 Aug 2008 at 6:43 am
Glad to hear your little one is okay. Trips to the ER are never fun. I’ve been three times so far with my 2-year-old, twice for falls and once for illness. Luckily I’ve had great experiences here in the UK, the children’s ER is fantastic at my local hospital and I’ve never had to wait more than about twenty minutes to be seen. The thought of worrying about how much my insurance would pay for such visits makes me sick to my stomach. I’m so grateful for the NHS.
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22 Aug 2008 at 3:46 pm