About Last Night

Who knew that in order to get myself to be better at blogging, all I needed was a kid with an ED.  

Last night, or do I call it super early this morning, we experienced our very first AN emergency room visit.  Now since we were made aware of my son's ED he has complained of some level of chest pain most days.  I am constantly keeping an eye on him, but having read everything we have, and what we have seen others go through in some of the support groups I am in, I am always leery about taking him in unless it is serious for fear that they will brush us off.  

I went to bed around 10:30 last night, I was exhausted and ready.  Around 12:40am he came in and said "Mom, my heart hurts really bad, I think you need to take me in".  I am a fairly light sleeper and I sat upright in bed, blearily awake.  Thank goodness I sleep in pajamas! It took me a minute to fully awaken, and then I began asking all the usual questions, It hurts more than usual? Is it unbearable? For how long? I had him sit on my bed and try and relax so 1. I could think and see if I could figure out which ER would be the best to take him to and maybe have someone on staff who was experienced with ED and 2. To see if he could relax and the pain lessen.   He really felt he needed to be taken in, I thought I had found a better ER so we both got dressed and headed out.  

As per usual, we were given a short registration form to fill out, and we made sure to mention he is AN.  All they wrote on the intake form was chest pains.  No one asked about family history.  Which we have a lot of.  Both side.  Heart attacks, stents, genetically high blood pressure.  They weighed him, fully clothed, shoes on, pockets full of a hefty phone and wallet and then announced his weight to him.  The kid understands kilograms so he knew.  1 of many rules of dealing with a kid with an ED, DON'T tell him his weight.  DON'T tell him his fully clothed WEIGHT.  

We are so new to this.  So very new, we are learning as we go.  So I am unsure of what tests to ask for, I am unsure of challenging a medical doctor who is supposed to know more than I do.  Aren't we supposed to be able to trust the system? They escorted us back to the Peds ER ward.  Walking.  No wheelchair.  Just a come on lets go.  Really taking those chest pains seriously aren't they.

Ok.  

The doctor and nurses were very nice, do I feel like they knew how to handle our situation? No.  He asked some questions, again my son mentioned he was AN.  They decided to check his electrolytes, and his thyroid, and do an EKG.  They set him up to start an IV.  Not that he ever got one.  They attached all the stickers and brought in the tech to do the EKG.  Which she had to try and do 3 times.  And then proceeded to tell me that it was such an old machine and didn't really work properly.  Great.  We were there until about 3:30am.  The doctor came back in and said well we don't really see anything to be concerned about.  They gave him an Ibuprofen, and then decided it was probably just anxiety.  Do they give Motrin for anxiety? He was then given instructions on how to breathe through it.  I will say, at the end of the very short stay, I felt like the doctor realized he was ill equipped for this and suggested we see a cardiologist because their EKG would be more comprehensive and they would be able to see more that was going on.  1 point for him! 

The big question here, for today, is how on earth does one find out if and which ER's are going to have someone on staff who is ED competent? In an emergency, an actual emergency, I am not going to have the wherewithal to call around and find out which one is the best.  Who is going to understand the disease and the protocol that goes along with it.  Through all of this I am consistently validated that getting my masters in clinical mental health counseling and becoming licensed to work with ED is exactly what I need to be doing.  How are there so few resources, and I keep reading how too many doctors that claim to know how to help, don't really.  

Much Love