First experience at the ER

Both kids have been sick over the last week. Ads had been diagnosed with bronchitis more than a month ago and then Y went down with a bad cold which was subsequently diagnosed as bronchilitis after we made a trip to the ER last weekend. Incidentally it happened to be our very first visit to the emergency room, which by itself is quite strange. One would imagine (and indeed, one knows) that with a 3-year old son, I should have made several trips to the ER in the last couple of years. But Ads is such an incredibly cautious child (not to mention needlessly fearful and timid at times) that he has never fallen from a great height, cut his head open, or suffered any bruises or cuts requiring immediate medical attention.

Anyway, we assumed Y just had a normal cold and after calling the advice nurse a couple of times, I knew I was doing all that was possible to alleviate her discomfort. But one evening last week, she suddenly grew very listless and was obviously finding it hard to breathe. Mentally cursing myself for not having taken her to the hospital sooner, S and rushed to Kaiser. We had a long wait (2 hours plus) there but thankfully all was well. Her nose was completely clogged up with mucus and we got one of the nurses to use a nebulizer/saline solution and suction it off.

It was interesting to know what we would have to do if ever there was a real medical emergency. The nurse on duty at the lobby made us wait in a separate room so that Y would not be exposed to infections from all the sick people waiting in the lobby. They obviously knew she was not seriously sick because they took a long time to see us. I heard a couple of people grumbling that they had been waiting for hours and no one had seen them yet. And we coughed up $100 for the privilege of being told that our daughter had the common cold :)