Let's face it. I have enough kids around me that I can't tell my own thought apart from Backyardigans tunes or lines from iCarly. But I try my best - well most of the time anyways.
Sophie comes to me one night saying that her ear is bothering her. No big deal I say. It's probably a wax build up again I say. We'll fix it up really quickly I say. So we go and get ready to check her ear out and I see some wax hanging out around her outer ear in a way that says 'you can get me with a quick swipe of a qtip'. Of course I follow all of the books and use nothing smaller than my elbow to get that bit of wax out. Yeah. I got the qtips. I swipe the ear gently. I see wax on the end. I see blood in the ear.
Well crap I say. Crap mommy? What? WHAT HAPPENED TO MY EEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR? Calm down Sophie it's no big deal (dialing telecare). Mommy just needs to ask the nurse a question. WHAT'S HAPPENING TO MYYYYY EEEEEEAAAAAARRRRRRRR!!! (gasp) IS THERE BLOOD? MOOOOOOOMMMMMYYYYYYY IS THERE BLOOOOOOOOODDDDD?? Please Sophie I can't hear the nurse I say and start to rock her while I'm waiting for the nurse and yelling at myself for poking a hole in Sophie's ear...
Ok I'll back up a bit. When I swiped the ear, a few drops of blood came out behind the wax. Yes I know it is probably a scratch at this point, but after checking in her ear with my top-notch medical equipment (a mini mag-lite), I could not see any signs of a scratch, so I call the lovely people at telecare who usually tell you to go to the doctor within 24 hours. You have a scrape? Go see the doctor within 24 hours. You have your intestines hanging out of your bellybutton? You should probably get that checked within 24 hours.
Oh yeah. Back to the kind nurses at telecare. I go through the questions - yes she's breathing fine, no she's not going to pass out. I explain what had happened and am waiting for the 24 hour thingy, and the nurse says that I had better take her into emerg and get it checked out. Great. Andy is working. I am now facing the threat of three kids (at bedtime no less) in the emergency department waiting to see a doctor.
In swoops Auntie Sue. She comes to the rescue and sits with the other two while I drag Sophie - who is finally calm by the way - to emerg at 8pm on a school night. So me and Sophie grab a few books and a few snack and head off to wait for the doctor in the middle of the wave of H1N1 that is bringing our city to crushing halt - I think we're going to be a while.
We get to emerg. We see the triage nurse who greets us with a 'there's quite a wait'. She asks the questions. I give the answers. She's about to swish us off to the waiting area and I take a chance with the old "I know you're not a doctor, but you see an awful lot. Is this something that can wait until morning or at least the after hours clinic?" She bites!! Nice Triage Nurse pulls out the ear looking into thingy (a technical term really - you wouldn't understand) and has a peak at the ear in question. There is a fair amount of blood in the canal she says. Maybe you should stay and have it looked at she says. I say thank you and we go get the red bracelet that now makes you cool cuz you were at the hospital. Red is even cooler than the plain old yellow one because red means you have allergies.
So four and a half hours, one almost asleep girl until she heard someone open a snack and then was all 'IIIIIIIIIyuuuuummmmm huuuunnnngryyyyyy, two large story books and several trips to the hand sanitizer (after 2 hours that was the fun thing to do) later, we see the med student. He takes a look with the ear thingy and says she has a scratch in her ear. A SCRATCH. But the doctor should really have a look and make the final decision. In walks said doctor. Doctor guy looks in and says Yep. Definitely a scratch. Again A SCRATCH.
I dragged my daughter to the hospital and endured a four and a half hour wait with a tired seven year old for A SCRATCH. Let's hope that the next time she scratches he knee and I say my standard 'suck it up princess' she forgets to remind me about the time she was rushed into the hospital for A SCRATCH.
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