Claire's fever continued into day 4 and her congestion worsened. We called our pediatrician, who told us to go to an urgent care in Syracuse and have them do a CBC and urine analysis. We called our insurance company, who gave us the name of a couple of urgent care places near Grammy and Grampy's house. I called them to confirm they could help us and they said the could not run those tests on a baby, and that we would need to go to the pediatric emergency room at a local hospital. So we went to the hospital and i called our insurance company to tell them what we were doing. They said, unless the doctors atthe emergency room considered Claire's condition to be serious, that we would be on the hook for the full cost of the visit - even though we were following the directions of the urgent care recommended to us by our insurance company.
Note to the next president: FIX HEALTH CARE!!!
Anyway, we spent 6 hours in emergency for a blood test, urine test and x-rays. While the staff were kind, there was clearly no communication among the nurses, aids and doctors. "What do you mean no one told you the test results? They were completed 90 minutes ago." "You can be discharged as soon as the aid takes Claire's vitals. Oh, I didn't realize she [the aid] was just here to take her vitals". Here is a picture of the bear and I in the emergency room. She has a splint to keep an IV line in her arm. She was a champion.
Anyway, after 6 hours in the ER, the total bill was $81 - $75 copay and $6 for parking.
Claire was still congested last night and again this morning, but she did sleep finally. And she no longer has a temperature. I am hoping her congestion will disappear completely by Saturday, when we fly home.
Until the next posting, keep some tissues handy.
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