Spoiled and the A&E

  

The last month or so I have been spoiled by those I love.

Brett: took me to two West End musicals, "Wicked" (for my birthday) and "Les Miserables," both of which were amazing. Not to mention the birthday shopping spree...

Maya: has been a constant toy. She entertains me all day long and has been sleeping through the night CONSISTENTLY.

AuntHil: came to visit, gave me reason to see more of London, changed dirty diapers, did dishes and babysat while Brett and I went on a very refreshing and much needed date to dinner and a show (Les Miserables).

Tube ride to Greenwich

Greenwich Market

Greenwich Playground

Peter Pan playground

March has been a great month (especially now that we can watch March Madness until all hours of the night) minus one late-night stay at the A&E (Accident & Emergency). This little girl of ours decided to be even more picky than she already is, and have a severe reaction to formula milk, pepti-junior, designed for babies specifically like her (allergic to milk and soy). The protein in this formula is broken down into tiny bits so it is unrecognizable to most babies with milk allergies. In rare cases (Maya) babies recognize the tiny bits of milk and reject it.

Only about 15 minutes after trying to feed her some of this special milk (maybe two sips) before bed, instead of nursing, she started coughing and choking as if something was stuck in her throat. We figured she found a piece of string, lint, or other object on the floor and tried to swallow it. She threw up and continued to cough/choke. We couldn't get her settled down, so I took her in to try to nurse her to sleep, and she threw up again, covering her poor shaking body in red splotches of hives. She was breathing okay, but wheezing badly, sneezing and coughing. After a soak in the tub and a few calls to our GP, we were given the advice to take her to the A&E, as a precaution, in case she were to go into anaphylactic shock during the night. So we packed up and caught the number 4 bus to the hospital, where we waited from 10:30 p.m. until 2:30 a.m. in a hot, stuffy room filled with sick kids and communal toys (something disturbing about that). The only thing wrong with Maya at this point was that she was awake. I knew she was okay the minute we walked through the doors, but we waited to be safe, we waited because it was free.

After the doctor finally examined Maya and gave her a clean bill of health, we opted to walk the thirty minutes home, instead of waiting twenty minutes for the bus. On our way, we analyzed our whole experience and views about healthcare here in the UK. Bottom line is that we didn't have to evaluate our insurance coverage as a condition on whether or not to take her in. Bottom line is that all we had to tell the nurses and workers when we arrived was our address and Maya's symptoms. Bottom line, again, was that it was completely free. A trip to the ER in the US would have been put off in these circumstances due to high prices, hoping and praying that she didn't go into shock. Here, although we waited, we were assured she was fine and had the necessary help in case she did go into shock. It was definitely an unforgettable experience which was made complete by McDonald's ice cream, Chicken Little playing at least six times in the background, and occasional laughs. It is scary knowing that we are heading back to the states soon with no insurance and sky-high healthcare costs.

Here is a picture of our poor little Maya (courtesy of Dad...we did have some dirty looks for taking a picture in the A&E).

A&E, 11 March 2011, 1 AM