EMALAHLENI PRIVATE
HOSPITAL
HOW A HOSPITAL
CHANGED OUR HEARTS
Lil Mister in hospital at 8 months |
Did I ever
mention that Lil Mister was hospitalized at 8 months for respiratory illness? I
probably have and should actually do a post on that some day! But, yes, he was
hospitalized at 8 months for RSV after a 6 month battle (and 8 different
antibiotic treatments) with illness in his first year of life. It was one of
the scariest things I ever experienced and vowed I would never let my children
go through that again. Nonetheless, sometimes Mother Nature and our bodies have
other plans!
Both boys are
up to date on their vaccinations and both take a vitamin daily. We do our best
to eat healthy (as in I RARELY ever get takeaways) and follow all the rules
about not going out after bath, dressing warm, etc.
I mentioned that Monday I decided to
take Lil mister to the pediatrician.
You may be surprised to learn this isn’t such an easy task! But it was probably
one of the best decisions I have made in 2014!
The
doctors in our home town frustrate me. My medical aid does not give me a lot of
choices! I have two doctors available in my town for our use. On the other hand,
what my medical does provide is unlimited visits to these doctors! I can see
them as many times as needed within a year and never pay a cent. There is also
no savings plan on my medical aid in which their office fees are charged to.
So, based on that benefit and the many others they provide, I stick with it.
Most of
the time these doctors are great. They are always understanding and patient and
if they really feel they aren’t sure like with my rash, they will do what is
necessary to find an answer.
Yet, for
some reason, they are stuck on thinking my children’s illness is ALWAYS sinus
related. Yes, we do all suffer from sinus...part of living in a farming
community. Our valley farms primarily grapes and citrus. The citrus creates a
lot of pollen....not good for our sinus’.
Every time
I take my boys to the doctor here, we get the same diagnosis with the same
medications. I truly believe my children are now immune to these medications!
LJ has been on two rounds of antibiotics since the beginning of March and Lil
Mister is now on his third since January. When I heard Lil Mister beginning to
wheeze from coughing and noticed he was unable to sleep at night, I hit my
drawing line.
As a Mom, you must learn to trust
your instinct. No matter what the situation, don’t settle until your heart
settles!
Besides
the fact that my two toddlers seem to think a hospital is a great place to run
and scream (laugh it off) my medical aid makes this, too, a little bit difficult!
This hospital however changed my heart
completely!
I phoned V
(since Hubby is unavailable being in another town) Monday morning and asked his
opinion. We had the option of heading to the pediatrician (an hour and a half
away) or waiting two days to get into a different doctor here (where I would
need to pay cash) for a second opinion. He phoned back 5 minutes later to tell
me we were going to the ped and he was off work.
Now, I
can’t just decide I want to see a pediatrician. They are considered specialists
and I need a referral from my doctor for that (which takes 3-4 days to get the
medical aid to approve). So our option now was the hospital. Our hospital here
is a state hospital and unfortunately, although free, cannot provide us with
the care and expertise we needed.
We consult
with the doctor at that hospital first though and he advises (after stating
that if Lil Mister was his patient he would diagnose whooping cough and have us
admitted) that we head straight for the private hospital in W-town. Amazingly,
this is the town where Hubby is currently at!
V and I
quickly rush home and pack bags. We needed to be prepared for the possibility
of being admitted to hospital and couldn’t afford to have to drive an extra 3
hours (home and back) if the bags weren’t packed. We gather the boys and hit
the road.
It was
around 2:30 pm when we finally get to the casualty department at the private
hospital. Again, medical aid makes things difficult. The pediatrician is in the
same hospital on the same floor but I still need a casualty doctor to provide
my medical aid with enough motivation to approve me seeing the specialist!
If we were
to consult with a GP the medical aid does not see that as an emergency, so I
needed the casualty doctor to refer us! See how difficult this decision is to
make. Knowing that I will need to jump through so many hoops must make you
understand how truly exhausted my mommy heart is of seeing my child suffer!
Also, maybe you can understand why we don’t just take our children straight to
the pediatrician each time they are sick. To go straight to a specialist
without the medical aid approval can cost me as much as a month rent! That is
more than half what I earn in a month!
Luckily,
this hospital was quite and quick! Within an hour, we had filled in all the
paper work and gone through the admission process (checking heart rates,
answering medical history questions, etc.). The doctor came in and quickly
examined Lil Mister and decided that a chest x-ray was necessary.
Again,
quite quick for hospitals (though chasing the boys made it seem like it was
FOREVER) we had the x-rays done and were back in the casualty room within the
hour. The doctors came back in and broke the news that made me want to scream!
My medical
aid still would not approve us seeing the pediatrician! The chest x-rays came
back showing that Lil Mister had bronchitis (this is the 5th time he
has had this since he was born). This is treated as an out-patient and
therefore the only way our medical aid will cover the costs of the pediatrician
is if I choose to admit Lil Mister.
Problems
come in with where do I send LJ then? Hubby works and I couldn’t bring the
nanny with us and the hospital won’t allow LJ to stay as we can risk him
getting ill. No one is close enough to take LJ for me either.
And here is where I gained the most
respect I have felt for medical staff in this country since moving here. The casualty doctors realized before
they spoke to me that this would be a problem. They took it upon themselves to
go sit down with the pediatrician. She took the time to review Lil Misters
entire medical record, his x-rays, and the examination that the casualty doctor
already preformed. She then wrote a script for treatment at home!
Understand
she got no pay for this. Nothing! The medical aid is not going to give her a
consultation fee. She did this on her own.
Then the
hospital took it one step further. They noted everything and still sent a
referral into the medical aid even though they know it will be denied. This is
for further reference if he was to get sick again, they show it was their
suggestion we see the pediatrician. The script was then filled out by the
casualty (not the pediatrician) so as to not begin a payment fight with the
medical aid. They advised that we treat Lil Mister at home. If, one, he does
NOT get better or, two, he gets better but becomes ill again in the next few
weeks (which is what has been happening) we can phone them and inform them we
wish to come through. They will then send a second referral without us driving
all the way there to request admission for Lil Mister into the hospital. They
will then phone us back with the confirmation and we can set everything up to
take Lil Mister for admission to the hospital to see that same
pediatrician....all of this once again at no additional cost to us!
My heart was soaring for these people! They went truly above and beyond to
help us and get Lil Mister better! The staff was kind and patient and overall
understanding to our situation!
We were
out of the hospital by 4:30 pm! We grabbed some food and stopped to say hello
to Hubby before heading home!
Amazingly,
Lil Mister slept through last night without coughing once! Between V who took
the time off work and helped me wrangle the boys and the amazing staff at Emalahleni Private Hospital...I felt truly blessed for my family on Monday!
In the
end, Lil Mister does NOT have whooping cough (praise God) and maybe being
closer to these doctors when we move to W-town won’t be so bad after all!
XOXxx
Shana Danae..
I'm glad he is feeling better, and thank goodness for the staff who were willing to put in a little extra effort to help you out. Visiting from Wake Up Wednesday Linky Party
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for stopping by! Yes, the staff were a blessing! They are feeling much better thank you!
ReplyDeleteThat is some wonderful service that you recived! I'm glad for your family. I hope they're all back to being healthy.
ReplyDeleteExactly! It was such a blessed change! They are feeling so much better now!
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