More Doctor Drama

Hi, my name is Paige and it's a good thing I've got health insurance. Why's, that? Because I LOVE to scare the &*%$ out of my parents and require lots of really fancy, expensive, and invasive tests.

This is what I imagine Paige would say had she been able to talk to us the week after Halloween. When her congestion didn't subside and she ran a fever one morning I scheduled an appointment at the pediatrician. I figured they'd check her over, tell me it was a virus and I'd be on my way with the comfort of knowing we just had to wait it out. Instead, they decided to do some blood work.

Two blood draws and one blood culture later I got a call from the pediatrician telling me to take Paige straight to the emergency room. Her blood culture had come back positive for an infection in her blood stream and she was going to have to be admitted for IV antibiotics. After speaking to the specialists at infectious disease they were fairly positive it wasn't a contaminated culture and we needed to prepare for at least two days of hospitalization. This was just the news I wanted on my way to pick up Reese from school.

Paige, Daddy, and I spent the next 10 hours at the children's hospital's emergency wing. Paige can now add chest x-ray, THREE more blood draws, and an IV to her growing list of medical experiences. When her second set of cultures came back clear they sent us home with a follow up appointment with an infectious disease specialist.

During that appointment I wondered multiple times: Do you really want your kid to look at the books or toys in the waiting room for an infectious disease doctor? We played with the contents of my diaper bag instead.

I literally spoke to the infectious disease doctor every day for five days following our appointment to analyze Paige's temperature and behavior. In the end, we discovered that Paige's initial blood culture had a rare contaminant--one that had to grow for 5-7 days before they could definitively say "oops, never mind."

I wish the same applied to the bills we are now receiving.

Oh, and just to keep everyone up to speed, the following week she developed a sinus infection and was on antibiotics until Thanksgiving; with two bulging ear drums she is now on another round of antibiotics, and for the first time in MONTHS she woke up yesterday morning and was NOT covered in green snot. It's about time.