Last night we had an adventure I understand no parent escapes entirely: the off-hours medical crisis. We have not had a serious crisis in the 5+ years of our son’s life. I assure you, it is a pleasure the greater for being deferred.
Between 6:00 and 7:00 pm last night, our son blew up a severe ear infection. Wick picked him up from his babysitter and he was fine, if a little subdued. When I got home 30 minutes later, he was curled in my easy chair, whimpering in pain because his ear hurt. I scooped him into my lap and put a hand on his forehead, and five minutes later we were out the door and on our way to the nearest MedCheck, which fortunately is all of 5 minutes away.
They were wonderful. They told me what the minimum paperwork was, and I filled it out while holding the crying child. They copied the insurance card, and told me to have a seat. We did. It was less than five minutes before they called us back, skipping us past at least three adults who were ahead of us, and who (thankfully) seemed not at all put out. The doctor was in within about another minute, looked in his ear, and gave orders for topical anasthetic ear drops, pediatric codeine/ tylenol, and something else. The doctor and three nurses were all doing something at once. Once he was comfortable and no longer in such pain, then they went on to do a thorough examination, get me to finish the paperwork, etc.
I couldn’t thank them enough. I still can’t. To have your child in such pain, and not be able to do anything about it…. I know there are worse things, but that is quite bad enough.