Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Visit to the ER (yep, already)

Madison started running a fever the first night we got into our condo. She crawled up in our bed in the middle of the night and I could tell she had a fever.. she was just on fire. She wasn't throwing up, and was eating fine, so I didn't take her to the doctor right away. I have enough meds to beat a fever.. or so I thought. Day 2 was the same, no break in fever. I took her to the local clinic in Mont Kiara (where we live), based on the recommendation from other expats I've met here, called Global Doctors. They were good, but they gave her the WORST tasting antibiotic I've ever tried, and the flavor on the cough medicine actually said "tastes like sour plum" .. ya, ok, that's not going down.
So by 11pm that night we were getting really concerned, and at that moment she started to puke. It was bad.. she was burning up, not responsive, and Ryan and I tried not to panic as we rushed out of the house to get a taxi. Ryan had made friends with this taxi driver, V.J., so he called him and he came quickly, and broke almost every traffic light getting us to the Prince Court hospital downtown, which is new and they're used to treating expats. The experience was great. They rushed Ryan & Madison right in, as I filled out the weakest questionnaire I've ever seen (took 30 seconds!).
Long story short she has a terrible bacterial infection, and her chest/lungs are full of fluid. They took a throat swab then gave her a quick shower (that was torture for me to watch both) to lower her temp, a suppository of IB profin, and after about an hour her temp started to drop. The docs were great.. stayed with us until all of our questions were answered and we felt comfortable leaving - no rushing us out b/c they needed the bed like in the States. They said it's pretty standard for expats to experience this when they first arrive, as there are so many new bacterias here. We just need to be more careful with hand-washing and making sure she doesn't pick up her paci and put it in her mouth if it's on the floor. That's a whole another story as we're trying to ween her off of it anyway. Wish us luck.
As we left they handed me the medicine for Mads and said goodbye. I looked at Ryan and asked if he already paid, he said no. No one took our information so we were a bit confused how this process worked. I asked the reception desk if I needed to pay or if they'll send me a bill, and they acted like it was an afterthought. Amazing! It's nice to be somewhere where quality healthcare comes FIRST, then you settle payment... especially when it's a sick child. The bill was hilarious, they itemize EVERYTHING.. 2 pair of latex gloves (.$30), 1 popsicle stick for throat swab ($.10), doctor's consult $30, one IB Profin, etc... the total bill was around $60 (USD). Insanely cheap for an ER visit! Here are some pics of that terrible night - my poor baby...




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