Friday night, I had my first ER visit since moving here. Earlier that day, I started having pain in my lower front side. By the time Wayne came home, I was doubled over in pain and fighting going to the hospital. I was burning up and peeing every 20 (which also hurt like hell). I had heard horror stories about the care you get in hospitals here and had no desire to go.
When I had the miscarriage, the NHS (National Health Service) helpline sent me to an outpatient part of the hospital. There, they didn't as much as take my temperature. All they did was make me wait 3 hours in terrible pain (in a waiting room with the other healthy pregnant woman who were there for their ultrasounds), took a scan to confirm my miscarriage and sent me on my way with a pamphlet called 'Your miscarriage experienced'. Oh, and I can't leave out the ultrasound technician who was inappropriately upbeat, cracking jokes and confirmed my miscarriage by saying 'Yeah, there's not going to be a baby this month, there's nothing in there but blood.'
Needless to say - after that experience, I wasn't real keen on re-visiting the hospital...
Wayne and I ordered dinner which I suffered through and then told him we'd have to go. There was no way I could wait to see the GP on Monday. We were both a bit concerned that maybe the miscarriage could have been a ectopic pregnancy that the technician missed and thought we were better going sooner than later. We arrived in the ER at 9:30 and where home in 2 hours. I had heard that you don't get out of the ER here in less than 4 hours and was pleasantly surprised at the quick response and thorough care (In the US, I've never been home so quickly from an ER visit). They took some tests and found I had an infection of some sort. They gave me some antibiotics and pain meds. Luckily, by the time were saw the Dr, my fever broke or he said he would have admitted me. He told me if I became feverish again to come right back because it could have meant the infection was spreading to my kidneys and I'd have to have a stay in the hospital until the infection cleared. The fever didn't come back and a couple of hours after we got home, I was already feeling better. We filled my prescription for the antibiotics the next day and it only cost
My in-laws just left after a five day visit. I don't mind it being a five day visit, but then again, five days of your house not being your own is always a bit unsettling and although I don't look forward to their departure when they are here, I can't say I'm sad to have things go back to normal. As a treat for my son's birthday, we took him to the Museum of Natural History in London on Thursday. He chose to go because we took him last year (he's been crazy about dinosaurs since he was three years old). They give out adventure packs at the museum which consist of a back pack, safari hat, and binoculars with an adventure to follow during their visit. The back pack has clues in it to solve a mystery. Last year it had a dinosaur claw, a tooth and a sample of dinosaur skin he had to match up to one on display. He had a great time solving the mystery and even remembered which dinosaur it ended up being. Last year's trip was wonderful. We walked right in,
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