CHOA vent
Tonight, I was in the kitchen for a second when I heard Evie fall. She's clumsy, she falls, so I wait for her to cry or something. And then it starts. I run to her and she is gasping and then I see all the blood in her mouth.
I grabbed her and ran into the kitchen and start googling "choa nurse line". NO FCKING NUMBER COMES UP! It took me for friggen ever to get the nurseline number. I was at my complete wits end. I was IMing with someone and all but screamed at her "WHAT IS THE CHOA NUMBER" and she didn't know it. Or something. So I am now getting upset, that every number google gives me is not the right number and I start crying. And making Evie more upset and theres blood all over my kitchen and I still don't know where its coming from.
You know where I found it? I googled some other variation on CHOA nurseline and got a bump post from earlier this year where someone asked.
Oh but wait, now I have prompts. Press 1 if you'd like to speak to a nurse. Ummmm, I called the nurseline didn't I? But that doesn't connect you with a nurse. It connects you with an operator. To whom I said very panicked and through my tears, "I need to speak with a nurse" and who does she connect me with? Another operator. Who takes my information and tells me someone will call me back. I said, "well how long do you think that is going to take because this is a lot of blood!!!!" About 5 minutes.
Someone did call back after 2 minutes, but by then I had lost my mind. I had given her a popsicle and figured out that she had bit through her tongue. The nurse asks me all these questions I can't answer because as I told her 100 times, I did not see her fall. She starts making me paranoid with her questions, "could she have had something in her mouth that is now lodged in her throat or that would pierce her throat?" I doubt it, she's breathing, but maybe?? I don't know???
The nurse told me to go to the ER, but then called back and said not to, for some reason that made sense but I don't remember now, then called back again to ask even more questions. I ended up going to CVS to buy some tylenol and she's sleeping now.
But ok, so if the nurseline isn't for bleeding emergencies, what am I suppsed to do? Call 911 every time my kid bleeds profusely just so I can get some immediate answers? I call the nurseline because I want to talk to a nurse, not three operators and telepromt.
I'm sorry this is long. I am tired and spent and I was on my own tonight, which made it doubly stressful. Do you call the husband who's on a guys weekend with his colleagues and tell him you might be on your way to Scottish Rite or do you wait? In the end, I was so frustrated, I called him. I needed some calming down. He actually did a good job of it. I would really like a drink more than anything.
Re: CHOA vent
God. I'm so sorry, Michelle. I can't imagine what my reaction would've been with all that blood. Poor kid. Evie and her tongue have a pretty awful history together!
I would've TOTALLY called my husband. Just because he's away doesn't mean he's not still subject to parenting.
I'm glad he was able to give you some peace.
She's good this morning. She keeps saying her tongue feels funny. I have to laugh.
I'm sorry you had such difficulties. I also love the hotline as they have been easy to work with for me. They have a list of questions to go through - it's protocol. Does your pediatrician have an answering service that you can call after hours? That's what I used to do until I used the CHOA hotline. Faster.
I agree that it's not for bleeding emergencies. It's for 3 am- my kid has a fever- can I wait till morning or do I need to go to the ER right now- type "emergencies."
I would suggest putting the number somewhere so that you can call it immediately next time.