And The Award Goes To......

[whiskeywoman]

I have oficially had the crappiest 2 days known to mankind.

Saterday my 4 kids are getting ready for bed, showers, jammies, drinks, the teeth brushing, etc.

I get my 2 yr old ready for bed, a nice warm bath, a clean diaper, warm jammies, her blankie, and her sippy cup.

She begins to doze off, and all of a sudden she begins screaming "OWIE"

I try everything I know to comfort her, rock her, walk her rub her back, rub her tummy, everything, nothing worked.

So my mom notices shes grabbing her ear, so after 4 hours of failed soothing attempts, I take her into the ER,

she has a double ear infection.

They give us some meds and we come home.

4 AM, my 6 yr old comes out holding her ear and crying that her ear hurts.

I give her some OTC ear ache drops, some tylenol, and a warm wet wash cloth.

She finally dozes off on the couch about 6 AM.

Later the same day, she still hasnt moved, she doesn't want to eat or drink, just lay there and snooze on and off.

OK, I won't complain, shes had this gunk thats been going around, and just wants to sleep it off.

Later that night, the big game is about to come on, I make myself some coffee and prepare to watch the Patriots hand the Giants their arses on a silver platter.

I go over to see of my girl is running a fever, no fever, but lots of blood on her shirt.

So I get her dressed and run her to the ER where my worst fears are confirmed, her ear drum has burst.

At the Hospital the nurse on duty begins lecturing me, " You should have taken her to the doctors as soon as she said her ear hurt, what kind of a mother neglects a sign like that?"

I had to calmly remind her that she began comlaining at 4 am, and that no doctor was open on a SUNDAY...

So I get or discharge papers, and get ready to leave,

The nurse comes in and tells me " only one parmacy in town is open, and its only open for another 20 minutes, so you best git your big ol butt in gear and get this filled"

As we are headed out the door the doctor asks " any more kids at home with ear infections?"

gee thanks doc, it's not like I don't feel low enough already.

I know there is no way I could have known how bad my girl's ears were, nor is there any way to know that they were infected without having the right equipment and training to know what to look for.

Anyways, I just feel like I am the crappiest mom ever.

I need to go work off some of this lowered self esteem junk, I'm gonna go check the animals fencing around the pen.

Thanks for letting me vent

[froggystyle1977]

sorry you had to deal with that!! I would be very pissed at that nurse what a B*888 you didn't know and its not your fault!! I almost had child services called on me twice for stupid crap good thing I was in contact with my sons doc!! hope everyone is feeling better soon!!

[thurisas]

Call the hospital, ask for that nurse, and request a copy of the child manual that specifically shows the same circumstances you were in. Parenting is a trial and error job. You do the best you can with the resources you've got and if you've done what you thought was right and you were wrong you do your best to fix the troubles and you learn for the next experience. Don't let this nurse get under your skin, she's apparently from a world where humans don't actually make human mistakes.

Thurisas.

[ToyQueen]

You didn't do anything wrong, Whiskey. The chances of two cihldren in the same family having ear infections at the same time are pretty low.

My stepson came to visit once, and I had no idea he was ill in any way. We were sitting in church, and I looked over to see dried blood on the side of his face and around his ear. His dad, who got him ready, hadn't noticed. It was very stressful. And, of course, it was all blamed on me, the wicked stepmother.

Things happen over which you have no control. This is NOT your fault.

I would call the manager of the ER and make a formal complaint regarding the treatment you received.

I hope they are both feeling better soon.

[Tyger]

I hope the kiddos get better soon!

Thurisas is right, as are the other posters. It may seem SOOO obvious now, in hindsight, however again, the chances of having 2 kids having earaches at the same time are low. And, the 6 yr old was sleeping, which, every pediatrician will tell you that sleep is the best medicine for a sick child. From what you said, she was already sick, trying to get better, and resting. As a mother, you were doing what you thought was best, and the nurse was out of line to say something like that. Maybe the doctor was trying to be funny, but he shouldn't have said that either. There are always times where we will say "I should've done that" with our kids. Don't beat yourself up. You're human. I hope everyone gets better and gets lots of rest!!

[pappyld04]

I hope the girls are getting better soon. I know all of us parents try to assure that we do not end up in the ER with doctors and who knows who else around you trying to make you feel worse than you already did. I don't see any reason to beat yourself up any more than you have already. I don't think you'll let it happen again. I don't think any of us a perfect as parents or anything else. But we do learn from our mistakes. Hope today goes better for all three of you!

[jennycherie]

So I get or discharge papers, and get ready to leave,

The nurse comes in and tells me " only one parmacy in town is open, and its only open for another 20 minutes, so you best git your big ol butt in gear and get this filled"

As we are headed out the door the doctor asks " any more kids at home with ear infections?"

whiskeywoman, that is COMPLETELY, horribly UNprofessional behavior on the part of the doctor and the nurse. Look up the office of the hospital administrator and file a formal complaint. I would also consider (depending on how responsive administration is to your complaint), contacting the licensing boards in your state for both doctors and nurses to file a formal complaint there as well. There is NO EXCUSE for this kind of behavior.

[Mikayla1]

So sorry Whiskey!

That happened to a friend of mine and she HAD taken her boy to the ER, and was sent home with a minimal antibiotic that failed to clear it up before his eardrum burst! This is in NO WAY your fault and don't let some pisspoor nurse make YOU feel like a bad mommy!

Kisses girl!

[hollybw]

Sorry to hear this happened to you and your children.

A couple of summers ago, my son (1 1/2 years at the time) developed an ear infection which was detected at a routine doctor visit, though my son had never even complained or shown any symptoms. He was given an antibiotic. We returned to the doctor a week later. Apparently the pediatrician's work load was too much, as he had hired two nurses to begin seeing some of his newer patients. The infection was no better, so one of the nurses gave him another antibiotic. Next visit - another nurse and ANOTHER Rx! Well, I was really beginning to get pissed at this point. Next visit - someone else trying to give us a fourth antibiotic! How was my son ever going to be able to fight off anything else if he got sick after taking all these antibiotics?! I told them "absolutely not - please refer us to a specialist!"

I was beginning to think he was needing tubes placed in his ears, as my husband and sister-in-law had. ENT doc said I was right, and put the tubes in - never another problem.

I wish now that I had never let it go that far. I should have demanded to see only his real doctor or an ENT doc - not a different nurse everytime who apparently was not looking back at his chart! You can bet that I refuse to let my son be seen by anyone except his doctor since then!

So you see, even if you had gone straight to the doctor, that doesn't mean they would have done the right thing either. And, no one should have expected you to know her ear drum would burst - my son never complained the whole time this was going on, never showed the first symptom.

It is really crappy that they spoke to you that way. You did nothing wrong IMO. Some people just shouldn't be in the medical profession. Hope your children are feeling better soon.

[whiskeywoman]

Thanks guys.

I appreciate the support.

I have called the local hospital board and filed a formal complaint against the nurse and doctor for their "comments"

and for the doctors lack of telling me any special instructions for caring for my daughters ear.

I wasn't told ANYTHING, not if I am supposed to clean it or how long it would take to heal, or if I am supposed to take special precautions on bathing her.

So now I am kinda clueless on what to do until I can take her to the clinic, or until I can find the right website that can give me a rough idea on how to care for it.

On top of all this other crap, now I have to worry about her having surgery and the the very strong reality that she may be deaf in the one ear.

On a positive note she is taking her meds regulary wich will clear up the infection, and the draining is helping relieve the pressure so she is beginning to feel better.

Howard,

the ONLY reason the Patriots lost was cause the Giants got lucky in the 4th quarter and made the final TD wich clinched the victory for them.

I think the Patriots had an excellent run myself, not many teams get that kind of a record in any season.

And yeah, I agree, the coach's behavior and attitude during the post game interviews sucked big time.

I undestand he was dissapointed, but you don't take it out on the others. they played a hell of a good game.

I never got to actually see the entire game because I was in the ER with my daughter, but I got to see the highlights.

[Tyger]

I respect doctors, and realize that they go thru an enormous amount of training and education to get where they are. That's all fine and good. But, what patients need to know, that, even in the ER, those doctors are actually WORKING FOR YOU! You have a RIGHT to question them, and DEMAND that they look at your/your child's chart. They need to pay attention!

I stood up to one pissy ER doctor with my daughter. He tried demeaning me because my daughter had a bladder infection (which is common in my family), and refused to take the medicine. I tasted some of the medicine, which was liquid, and I will admit that I wouldn't wanna take it either!! He tried making me feel like shit. Then, when he examined her, he said that he MAY run this this and this test, then disappeared. All of a sudden the x-ray tech came in. HUH? Ok, well, fine. But, when the nurse came in with an IV bag, I told her NOT UNTIL I TALK WITH THE DOCTOR. Now, this doctor is of some oriental descent, all fine, I don't care what nationality you are, but he was short. I don't do this often, but I DID use my 5'9" frame to give a more powerful presence in the room and stood up when he came in. And he haughtily said "they said you wished to speak with me" "oh yes I did", and I laid into him, and the door was open when I did so too.

I told him that, she is my daughter, not some sort of piece of machinery that he can just add, tweak, and do stuff with without consenting ME first. I respect that he's a doctor, but, as her MOTHER, I demand respect as such, and, that he WILL keep me detailed information as to what he thinks needs to be done, and not just go ahead and order something done. I respected him and valued his diagnosis and suggestions, but I was not going to allow him to just go off and do them without consulting ME FIRST And, if he did so again, I would DEMAND another doctor, and speak with someone higher up. All he said was OK, and walked out. But, he explained EVERYTHING to me in detail after that.

Like I stated before, you don't mess with my lil cub!

I guess he remembered me, cuz when I had to bring my 24 yr old little sister in, back in November, he was her doctor, and was explaining all her stuff to ME. I kept telling him she was the patient and an adult! LOL I had told her about this doctor, and when he left, all she said, laughing, is "I guess he remembered you".!!

[Kat Soup]

I am so sorry about your girls I have two as well.

I have great respect for those in the medical feild and we all have bad days but her coments were uncalled for!! There were several other NICE ways to tell you you need to hurry to get the meds.

The best place to look online for my family has been WEB MD. if your girls keep having ear problems go to a health food store and talk to them, my sister in law gets an oil ( garlic and something I think, they will help you) to put in the ear when they start to hurt. She has had such great sucsess with it that they don't get ear infections any more. If you would like I can ask her as well, just let me know

Best of luck and I hope everyone feels better soon!!

Kat Soup

[littlemissnonamegirl]

No way in hell are you the crappiest mom, I think you took freaking awesome care of your kids the best you could when they were sick! I mean shit, you can't help it that the hospital wasn't open. I'm sorry to hear they were being such d-bags at the hospital, that was completely uncalled for on THEIR part. I hope your kids are feeling better, and are recovering. Poor things, and poor you for having to deal with that crap. It's not in any way your fault. You have every right ot be angry.

Sorry again, and no way are you a bad mother. NO way.

[bazil323]

Wow, that med staff was terrible! How can anyone be so rude? I work at a hospital, and we try very hard to train staff to always, always treat patients and their families with respect. I can't believe how uneducated and disrespectful many of the healthcare workers are even today.

My mom just had a horrible situation with my sister's "doctor." My sister has William's Syndrome, a cognitive disorder. She has the mental capacity of about a 10 year old. She started having what appeared to be a form of seizures. It started out with her right hand sort of jerking. After about a week of this, it traveled up her arm and started involving her face. Mom took her to the doctor, he wasn't sure what it was, so he sent her for an EEG. The technician performed the test, as usual. It didn't really reveal anything other than it wasn't affecting her brainwaves when she had a "seizure." She had several during the course of the hour long test. The tech even had the doc come in and watch while she had a seizure. The results didn't reveal anything, and the primary doc asked if mom wanted to take her to a neurologist. Of course Mom said yes. At this point there was no diagnosis. She hadn't seen a neurologist.

Mom took her for three days of testing by a neurologist. Afterward they were waiting until noon when the doc was supposed to come in. Mom needed something from the car, so she told the nurse that she would be right back, she needed something from her car. When mom came back, the neurologist had apparently been told that Mom wanted to leave and he should come up now. The neurologist had come in and told my sister that she was discharged, but didn't said anything else and he went into an adjoining room. Mom had found a description of "simple partial seizures" that sounded exactly like what my sister was having. Doesn't register on the EEG, awake and conscious when she's having them, affects only one side of the body. So mom wanted to ask some questions (mom is an RN). She went to the door of the room he went into and called his name. There was no answer, but she heard someone in there. (Kind of an L-shaped room). She went back through the patient room where my sister was out to the nurse's station and asked if they'd seen the doctor come through. No they hadn't. So she went back to the L-shaped room and actually stepped into it just in time to seen him going out to the nurse's station. She caught him at the nurse's station and called his name. He then pretended that he hadn't seen her or heard her until just then. Right, and pigs can fly. He then brushed off her concerns and told her it was non-epilectic seizures and "usually once we do the testing, they go away. I tell them, you have permission to not have seizures anymore, and they stop." He had also started asking about William's Syndrome and "it this something someone told you, or something you read about?" My sister had genetic testing done when she was 7 that confirmed the diagnosis. She has all the earmarks of William's, and she has been a part of the research on William's Syndrome! What a jackass! He also said that the other neurologist told her that it was non-epilectic seizures, her primary told her this, you're just searching for someone who will tell you what you want to hear! My sister did not have an appointment with the other neurologist, my mom had never even met him, and no one had diagnosed what this was! UGGGHHH!