Surprisingly it is not lack of sleep even though Girl Child is 6 and had rarely slept through the night since she was a baby. Yes she slept through as a baby and then stopped and has probably only slept through an entire maybe 90 days out of the last 5 years. That's a guessimation because I haven’t kept track (I’m sure the real numbers would freak me out) so it could be worse or better but I’d say that is pretty close to the mark.
What I hate the most about this mothering gig today is knowing when to worry.
History: Girl Child has her adenoids removed. Discharge instructions say to call hospital if there is a blood nose in the first 48 hours but you are warned that there is a chance of bleeding for up to 2 weeks after the operation. If the bleeding won’t stop it’s an issue that needs medical advice. The operation was two weeks ago tomorrow. We had some issues with bleeding over the first weekend and this week a couple of minor (stopped in a couple of minutes) blood noses which we think were due to the heat. That happens to Girl Child a bit in hot weather.
Then today I get a call from school that Girl Child is in sick bay with a blood nose.
Me:Thanks for letting me know, is it stopping?
School: No. And she has an ice pack.
Me: Okay I’ll be there in under 10 minutes just to check her out.
I get there have a quick look, she is dripping rather than gushing a great sign as far as I am concerned but it still isn't stopping. By this time it has probably been bleeding for about 15 minutes. Damn!
Call the family Dr and give the receptionist the rundown. Get asked to call the Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) guy who did the operation. Okay not a problem. Give a rundown to the receptionist who asks me to hold and then get put on to receptionist no. 2. Up shot of that conversation is that if it doesn't stop to take her to hospital. By this time It’s probably been bleeding for 20 minutes with an ice pack which should help. Hang up and someone says Hey it’s stopped. Hurray, finally.
Now my issue is when do I worry? Should I worry when it’s been 10 minutes and not stopping? Or when? And does it matter if it’s just dripping rather than gushing? In my non medical opinion only dripping is less of a deal than gushing but how long do you wait to see when it stops?
Girl Child and I go home because I am worried about her bleeding again and plus she needs a change of clothes. Have a chat with Girl child and she tells me that it should be gushing and the ice pack in sick bay slowed it down to dripping. Now I’m more worried. My default position when I’m worried about medical stuff is call Health Direct.
So I talk to the RN and the deal is when the bleeding (whether it is just dripping or gushing) has continued for 20 minutes then it’s time to go to hospital. If there have 3 blood noses in 24 hours it’s time to to the the Dr. Thanks Health Direct! I like to have clear guidelines.
This isn't the first time that i have done the worried mother thing about my relatively healthy children. On at least 2 occasions I have taken Boy Child to the Dr because his asthma is playing up and been told that he is okay. Yet we have ended up at the hospital that night. For some reason with him it appears that my mother worry starts too early or we managed it well enough for the Dr to not concerned. Yet I know from his history he is on the down hill slide. It’s not like he crashes big time and gets admitted but he does end up on in Accident and Emergency for several hours.
Enough whining from me but for the record for today the thing I hate most about this mothering gig is knowing when to worry!
That is all.
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4 comments:
I'm glad you got a direct answer from Health Direct. Every time I've ever called them, I've gotten the same old line - "If you're worried, bring him into the E.D). Helpful, not so much.
Love reading your blog, E.
xxxx
That is the worst, I entirely agree. Sound like you are pretty sensible about it to me though!
First of all, I love your blog title. Somehow that's how I feel too!
Second, I understand COMPLETELY the knowing when to worry thing! I'm the same way with my army. And as a worrier by nature I'm always afraid of coming across as a paranoid freak-mom. Sounds to me like you're doing a great job though!
Melissa - :) thanks so much. Mutual admiration society here? LOL.
I have had some if you are worried go to your GP / the hospital etc responses from Health Direct. And I have worried that there is a note on the file with Mother refused to take child to A&E. Yesterday I did emphasise that at that point Girl Child was fine and I just needed info.
Solnushka - Thanks for thinking I sound sensible. I try to work on that. Really I do.
raisinganarmy - I am sort of glad for the love of chocolate was taken because I think that would have cramped the blog a bit. Whining is so much better and you can have chocolate at the same time. Yes it's the whole paranoid freak parenting thing I try to avoid. Thanks for the support.
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