Wednesday, November 07, 2007

A Trip to the Big City

T. claimed (falsely, as it turned out) to have recovered this morning, so we went to Winston. We didn't get more lost than we expected (about 20 minutes of lost-ness, which was the time we'd allowed), and the hospital was Wonderful. I'm not normally a fan of hospitals, but this one is really nice. Not only was the building clean and spacious, with lots of glass and art (much different from the warren-like hospital in Vero), but the staff was friendly and helpful. Nice people sure make a difference! K.'s doctor was just as sweet as could be. She explained the whole Factor V Leiden thing to us, and then asked us if we understood. Ed allowed as how he didn't, quite (she had a thick Colombian accent, which, along with all the unfamiliar terms, made things a little confusing), she explained it all again, without seeming in the slightest annoyed or impatient. She told us that K. is heterozygous for Factor V, which is good (Ed was quite pleased to be absolved of all blame). She said that she advises parents to consider carefully before testing because of possible insurance problems, but, since we had already gone ahead and "opened the can of worms," she suggested that we might want to go ahead and have K. tested for all the other blood disorders that are frequently seen in people with Factor V Leiden. K. wasn't keen to have more blood drawn (she hid in a puppet theatre), but we figured we might as well know everything. Happily, the pediatric phlebotomist was wonderfully competent and easily filled the stack of tubes that were required. K. started out very anxious, thanks to the idiot nurse at our local doctor's office who brought in four nurses, plus Ed and me, to hold her (K.) down while she (the idiot nurse) poked around for 10 minutes looking for a vein. Today, K. just sat in my lap while the nurse got her vein in one practiced stick.
Poor T. was very obviously Not Well by the time we left the hospital, but he didn't want to give up on our planned Day of Fun. We had thought about a trip to the children's science museum, but decided to see how T. felt after lunch at the Chinese restaurant, which both T. and K. had been looking forward to. The lunch was great, and K. ate her Sweet & Sour Chicken (without the sweet & sour sauce, please!) up with a yum, yum, yum, but T. couldn't eat more than a few bites. With promises to hit the museum on our next trip into the Big City, we drove home. T. slept all afternoon. The acetaminophen brought his fever (102.5, poor baby) down by evening, and now he is looking tolerably better.

*The hospital in Winston is wonderful, but the traffic was awful. Not as bad as Orlando, but I'd be terrified driving there. Ed didn't mind it a bit.

3 comments:

Amy said...

I'm glad the trip to W-S went well, but am sorry T isn't feeling well. Be sure to give him our well-wishes. I'm with K and hate to have my blood drawn. I actually still remember one massive meltdown as a child when they needed to take blood from me.

Melora said...

Amy,
I will pass along your "get well!" I was hoping to get him back to "school" today, but he is still asleep (at 8:40) and Ed says leave him.
I don't like having blood taken either, but at least I have one really good, visible vein. Apparently, K.'s hide, which isn't good when an inept nurse is trying for blood.

andie said...

It's so nice when a potentially Disastrous Visit isn't! I'm happy the staff was good.

Hope T is feeling better by now!