...Christmas at the E.R.

I have originally planned to mention the name of the hospital in this blog but have now decided not to. Due to what we experienced this morning. That picture on the farther left is Joel and Ava. Taken 12.30 christmas morning. Yep we spent christmas at the E.R. of a reputable hospital. Nothing grave, we just wanted to make sure Ava was okay. She had been suffering from cough and colds the past day. There were lots and lots of kids at the pedia section, understandable actually and we really didnt mind. Ava and I waited for 2 hours for our turn. Understandable. While Joel and Alyssa waited at the nearby Casa Rosario pensionhouse (the owners are good friends) for my call to pick us up. I was in a good mood. And so was Ava. What irked me a bit was a resident (of Chinese descent---no offence meant to the community), femaile, young. Not smiling. Maybe I also understood how she felt coz afterall it was christmas eve. Exactly, christmas eve. I heard her say millions of times, " its a kiddie party". As I was counting the minutes approaching christmas midnight, I once again heard her say,"oh no, oh no, it's getting worse. They keep on coming." I knew she meant the patients (kids). I just kept my mouth shut. But I really wanted to tell her that nobody really wanted to be there on christmas eve, or on any day at all. Nobody wants their kid to be sick and in a hospital emergency room. She just should have kept her thoughts to herself. There were 2 other resident doctors on duty and none was as morbid-faced as her. Another lady doctor was cheerful and bouncy going about her job. So why be a doctor when you want to be home on christmas eve? Why say something like that amidst parents who are scared to death with being clueless to what's wrong with their 3-year-olds and 1-month-old kid? fortunately for us, Ava was diagnosed okay. Her bout with pneumonia has made us more vigilant than ever. kiddie party? its no party when your 10-month-old daughter is coughing and can hardly breath thru her nose becauseof congestion. Nobody wants to be at any emergency room on christmas eve. I really really really took offense.
The picture on the right was taken 12pm this afternoon. I woke up at 4am to her coughing so I put her on the nebulizer. All pedias are still on christmas vacation and so our only choice was to go back to the E.R. of the same hospital. We were directed to the OPD, the nurse said it wasnt as full. And so we registered at the OPD area. The same guy resident doctor saw Ava and said, I know this baby. 5 minutes later we were ushered into the doctor's office and Ava was checked. Thank goodness she is okay. Just cough and colds. The guy doctor probably got our file and let it jump to number one in line. Im so sorry to the parents who we 'bypassed'. Really. We were out of there in 8 minutes.