Thursday, October 29, 2009

Cesspool

Dominick’s been fighting a cold for little over a week now. Once we hit day ten of coughing, runny nose, sneezing and sleepless nights – we headed into the pediatrician’s office.

Now, we love our doctor. We love the practice and the nursing staff. What we don’t love is when ever you go there, you feel like your walking into a cesspool of sickness! Lucky us they have “walk in hour” every weekday from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. We were sure to arrive pretty close to 8 a.m., not knowing how busy it would be and we wanted to limit the exposure time we’d endure waiting in the waiting room.

The waiting room wasn’t too crowded: a grumpy teen ager to my right, a four year old playing with his business suited dad across the way. No one looked horribly ill. Thankfully we get called in the room pretty quickly.

Long story short – Dominick was prescribed his first antibiotic, zithromax. The nurse practitioner said his symptoms were lasting too long and he had fluid in his ears that could easily turn into an infection. I wasn’t too happy about the antibiotics, but if it’s going to help Dominick get better – I can deal. I have huge issues with taking antibiotics if they’re not needed… but that’s an entirely different post.

On our way out – it was extremely crowded. We were literally stepping over patients as we made our way to the door. One little girl had a very pink eye – I tried to keep my distance… two twin boys were both hacking up a lung and god knows what other sicknesses were brewing in the several other dozen kids slumped in their chairs.
I literally wanted to cover Dominick with a plastic sheet and hold my breath as we made our way through the waiting room.

I’ve heard of some doc offices having “sick” and “well” waiting rooms. Brilliant! But even when your kid is “sick” you have to endure the torture of sitting on the vinyl covered benches, hoping that the room was disinfected just before you came.

I admit it, I have become a germaphobe. This coming from a person who would never think twice about double dipping – yes I admit it! But I’m a completely different person now. I can’t help it. I work in a children’s hospital where they constantly cram infection control down your throat… now I have to deal with other people’s sick children! That just put me over the edge.

I have since stocked up on disinfectant wipes, hand sanitizer and I literally had to hold myself back from buying those surgical face masks we all know don’t do a thing.

Hopefully Dominick will start feeling better soon so we won’t have to go back to the cesspool any time soon. I’m sure we’ll be there again… but let’s hope it’s after flu season.
PS - still loving the electronic snot sucker! I get personal joy out of seeing how much snot I can get out of my child. Weird... but true!

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