Sick kids and Native Hospitals

You know, I don't think I'll complain about our hosipital again. I know sometimes you don't get the answers you need, and sometimes you don't get what you wanted, and sometimes you're told to go home and rest and drink plenty of fluids...but NEVER, and I mean NEVER are you told that you can get an appointment three days later, when you bring a kid in with a devistating migraine and a 103 temperature. Seriously... they tried to send us home.

Now, I'm no doctor, I'm no nurse, shit, I don't even have an ETT certificate...but I'll be dammed if I don't have the common sense to give a kids some freakin tylenol or something. Nope. Nothing.


Trying to cool off in the waiting room.

So, yeah...I was a little mad. The only medication we had was Advil so advil he got. It didn't work.

About an hour later, after we left the Indian clinic, Koy woke up with a start, and yelled for me. His muscles were clenching, involuntarily and his teeth were clenching. We checked his temp and it was 105. ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE FUCKING DEGREES. (I'm sorry I'm cussing up a storm, but really...105?)


This is me...not to impressed.

So needless to say, Dean's got some paramedic friends, and their advice was better than nothing, so we called and they told us to IMMEDIATLY bring him to the ER. So we did...

After many blood tests, and lots of fever reducer, and plenty of water later, the doc came in wearing full contamination gear fielding a little tiny q-tip looking thing and said, "I need to test him for swine flu. He's showing all the symptoms."

So, then I was scared. I thought about the other kids, the people on the airplane, and all over KTN. Needless to say, we teased Koy a bit and snorted like a pig, which actually made him smile. When the doc came in about an hour later sans his contamination gear, we knew he was fine.



This little piggy did NOT go to market with Koy.

After a long and harrowing time at the Ketchikan General Hospital ER, his fever finally lowered to about 101 and they let us go home. I've been religiously pumping him full of tylenol, advil and water and gatorade, oh and bananas, and whatever else he can handle.

His poor body is very tired, his mind is tired, and his muscles are beat...and he really hasn't done anything except lie down, get in the shower, and sleep.

Last night it seemed like I needed to just call the neurologist we saw in May and ask him what I needed to do. My maternal heartstrings just are so worn thin right now. I don't think I could handle anything else. I want nothing more to than lie down with my child and tell him everything will be OK.

BUT...today is Papa Max's (http://finnskimo.blogspot.com/2009/03/passing-of-great-man.html ) memorial. And we have a lot of things to do today. I'm in charge of the media stuff. Funeral Programs, Photos, Slide Show, etc.

Here's to a vacation that started out awful...but hopefully with plenty of prayer and hope...will turn around and end up great. One can only hope right?