My First Experience in the ER as a Parent

So my darling daughter, Adalyn, with exuberance abounding during my choir rehearsal last night, tripped and fell flat on her face. Her nose began to bleed and then swell. (approx. 9:50pm)

AT 10:10pm, I was made aware of this and we (Angie and I) began the proceedings of going to the emergency room for the first time in this area.....and for the first time as parents.

This is not a pleasant experience for anyone at any age. You are filled with the questions of unknowing. I mean.....did she break her nose?...... If she broke her nose, is there anything that can be done anyways?......if we don't take her to the ER will we regret it?....If we do take her, will it be a waste of time and money?........and by the way, where is the hospital?

We figure out the closest hospital was about a 20 minute drive.....so we go to find it. Addy is being brave...not crying.....but not enjoying keeping ice on her 'boo-boo' (10:25pm)

We arrive at the hospital.....I'm excited because there's not a lot of activity....we're gonna get treated quickly...this is making my decision to go to the hospital easier to accept. We park.... unload everyone out of the car seats....walk to the door.......the doors don't open.......THEY'RE CLOSED?????!!!!!!! What kind of a hospital closes?

Have I really been so out of touch with hospitals that I didn't know they have working hours?

There is a sign that says in between the hours of 10pm and 7am go to [this other hospital]..so we proceed to the other hospital (10:35pm)

We arrive and check in with the receptionist.....she's nice and gives Addy a beautiful green bracelet that has her name and info on it.....Addy want to take it off immediately....but after we tell her only the doctor can take it off...she calms a bit.....and so the waiting begins..... (10:50pm)

At 11:20pm, we are called into triage where we tell the nurse whats wrong and vitals are taken. I am realizing that Addy hates her temperature, blood pressure, & pulse taken....fun times!!

.........and so we wait......and wait........and wait

Finally we are called to go to the doctor......YIPPEE.........(12:50am)

Nurse comes into our holding room (1:10am)

At this point, I must tell you that I didn't realize their are no walled-in rooms in the ER...so, you get to hear everyone's problems, sounds, pains, etc... It was a packed night....so we had our elderly, our druggies who overdosed, our kids who couldn't breathe, and people with existing illnesses who were screaming out in pain..........all while trying to calm two little girls and two frightened parents

FINALLY..... the doctor comes in at 1:45am......He says it is a good sign she is not bleeding and doesn't think it is broken; however, we can not tell and we need a CAT Scan....DA-DA-DA-DUM! (that was Beethoven's 5th for anyone interested)

I send Angie and Macayla away ( back to the car ) and I begin to wait for this CAT scan.....Addy passes out ( PTL ) (2am)

At 2:35am, we go to the other side of the hospital for the xray and we wait to get all magnetized up

At this point, I must say it is not a pleasant feeling seeing your child next to the CAT Scan machine....even though I knew this wasn't life threatening....its just not a good feeling.

(and YES.....I know its illegal to take pics inside these buildings...but I just had to -
the big hole was about to chomp down on my little girl)

Well, I wished I had the next few minutes recorded...because I'm telling you...CRAZINESS!!!

I had to move Addy from one bed to the other....she woke up and FREAKED out..... She went ballistic....I tried to calm her.....she wasn't giving in......the doctor was an old craggedly man who was towards the end of his shift ( I guess).....he was...."Look, sir....you're gonna have to calm her down".......and I was....... "I can't"........he then said....."You're gonna have to hold her"

So the doctor put the magnetic vest on me.......yes they do make one in a 'very' large size. So I'm all suited up....holding Addy's hand...telling her we are going on a treasure hunt....blah blah blah.. none of it is working

I think I've calmed her down a bit and then the doctor puts foam in between her head and the headrest.....then STRAPS HER HEAD DOWN..........yeah right.......Addy is going ape at this point...........The doctor is yelling at me....ADDY is crying.....I finally get her calm and the table begins to move into the hole............Addy looks up and sees the RED LASER light going to her face and jumps out of that bed....SCREAMING as loud as she can.....

The doctor throws up his hands .....gives me a ...."I can't do this.....we're going to have to sedate her".............SEDATE HER???? EXCUSE ME????? I don't think so

We go back to the ER.......(2:50am).......the [original] doctor tells me that we can sedate her but she seems to be okay because there is no bleeding and she can still breather...so he wants us to keep an eye on her and then he discharges us at 3:05am.

We get home at 3:45am and Addy is asleep..................so was it a good idea to go to the ER? Hindsight no...because we waited 5 hours for them to say "keep an eye on her". But as "inexperienced emergency situation" parents, we would've worried all night if we didn't have her looked at........

I must say, I don't see how anyone could be in the medical profession. Thank God for them. I just don't see how they do it...........

A special shout out to my brave wife Angie, and little girl, Macayla, who were troopers through the whole night.

To my sweety, Adalyn.....I know one of your favorite movies is Hunchback from Notre Dame, but we definitely don't want you looking like Quasimodo....so we're gonna get all better real soon.

My final thoughts about this experience is that the emergency room had no resemblance of Grey's Anatomy, Chicago Hope or even ER......WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?