200664 Resource 101842 2154 2154 1206753132169 1206754246872 Controlled Hot Tea Bad for Five-Year Old Feet

Rita accidentally dipped her foot in my tea and ended up with 2nd degree burns.

<p>Yesterday afternoon, Rita was home with me while Rose was at school.&nbsp; The two of them alternate going to school every other Thursday so they can get some one-on-one time with Mom.&nbsp; Anyway, Rita and I were about to read a book together and I'd made a cup of tea and set it on the coffee table.&nbsp; I went upstairs to fetch the book when I heard her scream.</p><p>I hurried back down to find her hopping around and screaming about her foot.&nbsp; She had begun rolling around on the couch when I went upstairs and dipped her foot straight into my tea.&nbsp; Andy and I ended up taking her to U of M emergency where she was bandaged up.&nbsp; We had to return today because the doctor hadn't sealed off the bandages very well and they were opening up and dirt could easily get in.</p><p>Rita has been much happier since she got her bandages on yesterday afternoon.&nbsp; She hasn't been on painkiller and didn't even wince when they changed her dressing today.&nbsp; I'm hoping her seemingly pain-free state continues.</p><p>When we first arrived at the ER, yesterday afternoon, they mistakenly directed us to the main burn unit inside the hospital.&nbsp; We drove to the main entrance and I took Rita in.&nbsp; She was screaming the entire time as we asked for help and were escorted to the burn clinic.&nbsp; Once there, they informed us that we had to go back to emergency.&nbsp; By the time Rita was eventually seen, I was a bit shaky having listened to her cries of agony for over an hour.</p><p>Hard to believe that they misdirected us in the first place and it's also surprising that they didn't dress her wound properly.&nbsp; I questioned the original doctor about the dressings and he felt they were adequate but today when I brought her back, everyone we spoke to agreed that the bandages were not adequate and might easily lead to infection if left alone.</p><p>One other frustrating thing about hospitals.&nbsp; When we first got there, they took her name, birthdate, asked why we were there&nbsp;and gathered other information.&nbsp; Once in the exam room, a technician came in and went through the same line of questions all the while looking at her chart (perhaps checking to see if our answers were consistent).&nbsp; Later, a nurse came in and we went through the same questions.&nbsp; Finally, the doctor.&nbsp; Rita was soooo sick of hearing me tell people that she'd put her foot in a cup of tea she asked me to stop talking about it.</p><p>Today, when we went back, we went through the same story again with 3 or 4 more people.&nbsp; One doctor had enough of a sense of humor to assume her weight hadn't changed overnight but the entire process was so impersonal.&nbsp; It's as if no one hears what you're telling them.&nbsp; Each person is operating in a vaccuum and is meeting you for the first time.&nbsp; There's seemingly no continuity or communication from one person to the next.&nbsp; Do all those people really need to know Rita's date of birth?&nbsp; Can't they store it somewhere where they all can access it?</p><p>Interactions are all about getting the fields on the forms filled in properly and instead of feeling like a person, you feel like you're a case, a speciman, an entity to be processed.&nbsp; Granted, these people treat dozens of patients each week but the care part of the treatment is lacking.&nbsp; To be fair, many staff members seem to be making an effort to be friendly.&nbsp; Perhaps it is just the structure of the burocracy that leaves me feeling like a package arriving at a Fed Ex drop box where it is picked up and passed through several levels of sorting before arriving at a clearly defined, pre-identified destination.</p><p>All thanks, however, go to U of M for fixing up Rita's foot.&nbsp; She was more than happy to return this morning and watch cartoons on the exam room's TV and she greatly appreciated the popsicle and stickers.</p> 10 application/xml false 2nd degree burns 5-yr old antics hot tea U of M Emergency Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.04506.30) 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 carols 68.40.167.222 false true false false true 173251 false false true false false false true 101842 blog blogsite/Seidl/web