Visit to the ER

Megan was acting sick and lethargic all day on Tuesday but had no fever or anything. She acted fine on Wednesday, going to school and playing like normal. But she kept telling me that she was sick, so when she said she didn't want to eat and then would beg for treats (like always), I cautioned her not to eat if her tummy hurt. Like so often, treat are so important to her that she forced down some food, so I thought she was lying to me about being sick as she has a history of doing so.

After she got out of the bath, she threw a fit because I wanted her to dry herself with the towel but she was in one of her helpless moods and decided she was incapable of doing that. (This kind of thing is very common, especially right before bed; usually, she claims she can't put her clothes on by herself and often throws a tantrum, losing story and song privileges.) I walked away so she could figure it out or let the air dry her, and when I came back, she started throwing up.

Okay, so maybe she was sick and I began to feel guilty, but only for a second because she has been known to throw up due to tantrums. (I think making her clean up her own vomit has lessened these episodes, and she now sometimes stops screaming on her own before she gets to that point.) But usually it takes her 20 or 30 minutes to work herself up to hysteria before she throws up. She'd only been screaming for 10 minutes.

Anyway, I grabbed a bucket from the bathroom and caught the last half of the vomit as she started to puke up blood! It was about a quarter cup worth too! I called Jean, I called Mom, I called the doctor (after hours) and was directed to go to the ER. Megan seemed fine after the episode and Mom told me it was probably just a burst blood vessel from the force of throwing up. Knowing our insurance doesn't cover urgent care and that the ER usually takes 3-4 hours in the waiting room and it was already Megan's bedtime, I wanted to wait till morning and go in to see her regular doctor. I didn't even know exactly where the ER was at the hospital and I (cheaply) didn't want to fork out the $50 copay. But the doctor said she wouldn't be able to perform any necessary tests to find out what was wrong.

So after a blessing, I took Megan to the ER. Apparently, Megan had good timing because there was very little traffic so the usual 45-minute drive took about 25 minutes (yes, I was going the speed limit), and the waiting room was empty! The only waiting we did was in the patient's room (about an hour). The doctor took a look at her, heard my story, and assured me that she'd just broken a blood vessel, didn't need any tests, and that we could go home. Megan was very brave the whole time and very talkative. She is fine, but I'm keeping her home from school today, just in case.

While I know it was necessary to spend the money to make sure Megan was okay, I feel like I just threw away $50. And because of that, I don't feel like we can afford to go on the special outing we had planned this Saturday. We were debating over the Wurstfest (more for us adults) or the Kiddie Park (for the kids) but now I think we'll just do the usual Kid Workshop at Lowe's and a neighborhood park.