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after waiting for two hours in the triage waiting area.
Triage Guy: Violet Hall?
ME: Oh yes, that's us.
Triage Guy: So mom, tell me why you are here.
ME: Well I think she may have swallowed a 'button' battery.
Triage Guy: And why do you think this?
ME: OH well here, I brought the thing...see (as I pull out the little battery operated tea candle) I was folding the laundry and I look over and notice she has a hold of this candle...that my son was playing with earlier and I had thrown out but he must have dug out of the trash. And anyway she starts gagging on this little battery cover that had fallen off. I notice that the battery is gone and I know it was in there before I threw it out. I combed the room but I couldn't find the battery so thought it may be possible she swallowed it so I brought her in just in case she swallowed it.
Triage Guy: And when did this occur?
ME: 4 o'clock
Triage Guy: Any diarrhea, vomiting, shaking, fever anything unusual in her mood or behavior?
ME: No...she seems fine actually, I just want to be sure.
Triage Guy after checking her out: Okay follow me (as I'm led to a smaller waiting room for children).
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30 more minutes pass.
Nurse: Follow me to room 25
ME: Okay
Nurse: Tell me what happened
ME: She may have swallowed a 'button' battery from this object (as I show her the tea candle)
Nurse: has she had an X-Ray yet?
ME: Uh no, no that's why we are here
Nurse: Okay let me have that to show the doctor and I'll go order an X-ray.
David shows up 2 minutes later.
X-Ray People: Does that outfit have any snaps?
David: not that I can see
ME: yes, at the bottom, do you want me to just take it off?
X-Ray People: Yes please, since we are looking for a foreign object we don't want to confuse it with anything on her clothing.
They take the X-Ray and leave. David plays with Violet for a while, then she falls asleep. We watch a rerun of house.
Doctor: She's clear, she didn't swallow anything!
US: OH GOOD! Thank goodness. That's awesome.
Doctor: Yeah it would have been pretty bad if she did swallow a battery though, you did the right thing by bringing her in just in case.
ME: Yeah I didn't even know if it was possible to swallow something that big? (It was the size of a nickel).
Doctor: Oh YES, I've seen kids swallow Quarters so yes, it's entirely possible. You did the right thing...and it's better that she didn't.
US: Yeah of course.
zzzzzzzz more house......
Discharge Lady: I'm gonna get your information now. Do you have insurance and ID?
ME: Oh yes, here you go.
Discharge Lady: Do you still live at the (name of Apartments)? That's where I LIVE! On the other side though.
ME: No, we've moved...the other side, that's nice they've redone that side I heard...
Discharge Lady: Oh really? Why did you move?
ME: We bought a house.
Discharge Lady: OH I wish, but probably not for another year or so.
ME: yeah that's what we were saying for almost 3 years.
Discharge Lady: So Dad you want to be listed as the Incase of Emergency?
David: YES
Discharge Lady: Name?
US: David
Discharge Lady: Oh haha, how cute, David and Diana...I always wondered how that happens to cute couples, where they have the same first initial.
ME THINKING: What?
ME: Oh, heh, thanks, yeah (I don't know what to say).
Discharge Lady: Okay follow me!
That's that. It was such a long wait. But even for seemingly critical cases. One lady went up to Triage and said "I'm having trouble breathing, can someone help me" in a rather breathless tone. Triage said "You'll have to wait your turn, there is nothing we can do to help you". Another lady whose teenage son had wheeled her in said "I can't feel my arms or legs" Triage says "Okay you have to fill this form out first and then wait, it's a long wait". Another lady who had been waiting for nearly 3 hours finally gets seen. Comes out two minutes later. Looks like she's gonna cry. Gets on the phone and I hear her say "They didn't do anything, just told me it's allergies, they didn't even do a blood test".
Next time I have an emergency, I am not going there, that is for sure.
3 comments:
I'm so glad she is ok.
Speaking of swallowing, did you hear about this?
http://krazykaitlin.blogspot.com/
oi! with lucian's "incident" it was 12 hrs before they did the CT scan and figured out he was really injured and admitted him! and i work there...
are you kidding me??? these kids keep us on our toes!! yeah, I would definitely recommend Texas Childrens if you ever have to do the ER thing again.. NOTHING around here!! Glad she is o.k>!!! and btw, I have loved all 100 of your posts!
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