Man I hate hospitals.

So our little Tank is sick again, the frigid cold and his already poorly engineered lungs have allowed him to gather up some RSV and a side order of pneumonia.

We have been here in the PICU much around the clock since wednesday night.

The staff is great, the kid is improving, all is getting well but I do have one bitch about this whole deal.

What the hell is up with the parents of the other kid in the room taking sole ownership of the TV? We have found WHO watches all the effing infomercials, yesterday I was trying to get some "Burn Notice" on (love this show BTW) and boom I am watching a scrunci ad. Today I am watching the Pre game... BAM an ad for debt reconsolidation...

Good thing they won't travel far when I knock their asses around a little.

I have vented. I am off to play with the boy again.

JmfnB

Hospitals suck for a variety of reasons. Thankfully, there are those saintly nurses who are too few and far between. If you get one, let them know.

Good luck with the kiddo.

Your child will be in my prayers. My ex is a repiratory therapist, so I'm a bit familiar with his condition. On a side note, about 10 of my buddies and I went down to Orlando for the world's fastest streetcar shoot out. Before our plane departed, my bud gave everone their own "TV B GONE" zapper. these things will turn any tv on or off anywhere. Can you imagine having 10 loaded knucleheads in your bar with these things while the world series is on? Lots of laughs...

Oh no! Sorry to hear your little Tank is sick. Next time you want to give those idjits a knuckle facelift, think of your friends here who are sending happy thoughts your way, then smile and remember that they're always going to be stupid, whereas you'll be going home soon.

Margie

Good luck, I hope he gets better. A little bit of black tape over the IR sensor once you find a channel you like will work.

Sorry to hear the little guy is sick. Best wishes from my direction!

As for the TV: I like Tommy's suggestion.

I hope the little guy gets better soon.

We did the RSV thing with our daughter last week. She needed nebulizer treatments three times a day for a week, but now she's doing great. Of course, now the rest of the family is sick, but she's okay.

Keep us updated, he's in our thoughts.

Best wishes.

Hope the kid gets better. Yeah, hospitals suck.

I'm reminded of the PICU time when a 15 year old gang banger, after he and his buddies robbed a house and stole a bunch of guns, was playing Russian Roulette. He lost, or won, depending on how you look at it. 38 Spl. Being a Neruosurgery resident, we of course got involved in that one. His extended family was camping in the PICU waiting room. They went around stealing the possessions (purses, contents, anything not nailed down) from the other parents of sick kids.

Good luck John, hopefully everyone's home soon.

May Tank be better soon. Oddly enough, one of my nicknames in HS was Tank.

And I concur, hospitals generally suck.

I had a watch in HS that functioned as a universal remote. It was bulky and the buttons were awkward, but it served its function well...irritated teachers for weeks until I was finally given up by some classmates...jerks. Hopefully you will be outa there before It could reach you, but if not, let me kno, I think I still have it somewhere.

May you and yours emerge stronger. Like all else, this too shall pass

Marjorie Suddard wrote: Oh no! Sorry to hear your little Tank is sick. Next time you want to give those idjits a knuckle facelift, think of your friends here who are sending happy thoughts your way, then smile and remember that they're always going to be stupid, whereas you'll be going home soon. Margie

I had a much less eloquent and more sarcastic reply in mind extolling the virtues of Burn Notice, as its Bruce Campbell content is much higher than any other TV show and that alone will help the young Brown improve by osmosis (or Brucemosis), but Margie, as usual, had a better solution.

Please except my sincerest wishes for a quick recovery, and given our personal discussion about some of your family's health challenges, remember that little Tank comes from some pretty tough stock, and he is loved.

Perhaps a "Um...I was watching that" is in order, or you can always Ask a Spy

Godspeed little one

Well the micro machine came home last night, I don't really agree with the specialists line of thinking "he seems to be over the hump, we're just going to send him home because there really isn't much more that we can do for him here." Now I have an issue with the fact that the kid was on a forced breather 12 hours ago because his pulse/ox was not maintaining a 90% level and he is still having Bradycardia occurances every time he sleeps... but you're right, let's let the mechanic and the cook monitor his health instead.

If it weren't for the fact that the little snot shooter keeps smiling ear to ear I would have taken him straight to UM medical center instead.

Pics will be up tomorrow.

Glad the little booger dispenser is home. Kids are so resilient and can be happy where you'd think they would be miserable; it still hurts to see them sick.

Home is better than the hospital. Hospital is dangerous and a sure-fire bug catching place. If Tank is breathing on his own, he is 10X better at home than at the hospital. Hospital==DANGEROUS.

Glad he's home.

John Brown wrote: Well the micro machine came home last night, I don't really agree with the specialists line of thinking "he seems to be over the hump, we're just going to send him home because there really isn't much more that we can do for him here." Now I have an issue with the fact that the kid was on a forced breather 12 hours ago because his pulse/ox was not maintaining a 90% level and he is still having Bradycardia occurances every time he sleeps... but you're right, let's let the mechanic and the cook monitor his health instead. If it weren't for the fact that the little snot shooter keeps smiling ear to ear I would have taken him straight to UM medical center instead. Pics will be up tomorrow.

Glad to hear the good news John. We have been praying for you and yours. I can appreciate what your dealing with. Cameron's right lung colapsed again on Friday (12th time) and we're just getting out of the woods again ourselves. Thank God we live here where we can get in a car we own, drive to a hospital 10 minutes away, have insurance and an employer who allow family illness time. I can't imagine the horror of being a parent and dealing with real life issues outside our great country. John, we are with you and yours.

Dr. Hess wrote: Home is better than the hospital. Hospital is dangerous and a sure-fire bug catching place. If Tank is breathing on his own, he is 10X better at home than at the hospital. Hospital==DANGEROUS. Glad he's home.

That's why I hate hospitals, they're all full of sick people.

I hope he is feeling better soon! At least he can watch the channels he wants to now!

Wally wrote:

Dr. Hess wrote: Home is better than the hospital. Hospital is dangerous and a sure-fire bug catching place. If Tank is breathing on his own, he is 10X better at home than at the hospital. Hospital==DANGEROUS. Glad he's home.

That's why I hate hospitals, they're all full of sick people.

My job sends me into nursing homes on a daily basis. They are like Petri dishes.

People don't understand that. Hospitals are very dirty, dangerous places, no matter how hard to try to keep them clean, and most do try very, very hard to keep them clean. There is a bug in Galveston that is not resistant to every known antibiotic. It is completely immune to every combination of 2 known antibiotics. If you try really, really hard, you can find 3 antibiotics that you hit the patient with all at once at around $3K/day and that will slow it down. A little. And it's never the same 3 antibiotics, either. Now, you want your sick family member or yourself anywhere near a bug like that?

Look at it in probability terms, as that's the current state religion: You're sick. You have a 1% chance of getting much worse and dieing at home. You have a 5% chance of getting much worse and dieing at the hospital. You're better off at home. If you have a 10% chance of getting much worse and dieing at home, then you're better off at the hospital. People just don't get that. They think they are better off in the hospital and they don't want to go home.

I just want to keep watching Burn Notice and a $90k hospital bill is better than a cable bill

I had an Allied Health professor in college who used to say that prescriptions are "Permission slips to get better". People go to their doctor and they aren't happy unless they walk out with an antibiotic, regardless of whether or not they have an infection. Then when they really need one, it won't do the trick.

Dr. Hess wrote: People don't understand that. Hospitals are very dirty, dangerous places, no matter how hard to try to keep them clean, and most do try very, very hard to keep them clean. There is a bug in Galveston that is not resistant to every known antibiotic. It is completely immune to every combination of 2 known antibiotics. If you try really, really hard, you can find 3 antibiotics that you hit the patient with all at once at around $3K/day and that will slow it down. A little. And it's never the same 3 antibiotics, either. Now, you want your sick family member or yourself anywhere near a bug like that? Look at it in probability terms, as that's the current state religion: You're sick. You have a 1% chance of getting much worse and dieing at home. You have a 5% chance of getting much worse and dieing at the hospital. You're better off at home. If you have a 10% chance of getting much worse and dieing at home, then you're better off at the hospital. People just don't get that. They think they are better off in the hospital and they don't want to go home.

Oh, I understand that.

Tommy needed stitches when he was 2, and while we were waiting in the ER, he dropped his toy on the floor and it rolled under the gurney. Now, this was a little stuffed toy, and he loved to rub it on his face, chew on it, lick it, do all the things little kids do with soft stuffed things.

I told him it was gone. Period. NFW was I going to pick it back up and see it put back into use, ever.

Yeah, I'm a mean mom.

Margie

That explains a lot Margie.