Day Four: Urgent Care

Or hell.

We returned to the resort and Allie rested in bed while Rich took Anna and Emily for a swim.  Why didn't we rush her directly to a doctor?  Well, she wasn't having any trouble breathing, she wasn't in pain and she was acting lucid when she was awake and after her nap at Crystal Palace, she was awake.  There was no in and out of consciousness thing going on.  And her temperature was only 99.1 degrees. 

Allie has had two incidents that have caused the area around her eyes to swell and puff up.  The first was when she scratched to death a mosquito bite on the top of her head and it became infected.  The second was very, very, mild compared to the first.  She had had a cold for almost two weeks and her pediatrician diagnosed it as a sinus infection.

After about an hour or so of rest for Allie and swimming for Anna and Emily, we headed out the door.  When asked about the best way for Allie to be seen by a doctor, concierge provided us with a brochure and directions to Centra Care, an urgent care facility located a few minutes outside of Downtown Disney.  It was now almost late afternoon so we all decided to go because we would need to eat dinner at some point.  I was trying to convince myself that Allie had a basic ear infection.  The doctor would prescribe an antibiotic and we would be on our merry way.

Yeah.  Not so much.

Grammy stayed in the van with Anna and Emily to reduce the risk of them picking up germs.  I must have been at Disney too long because the receptionist was not happy to see us.  She almost seemed annoyed by our appearance.  There's a large sign on the wall stating that they accept most insurances.  If you don't have insurance, costs were broken out by "level."  So Level 1 was (approximately) $122, Level 2 was $220 and Level 3 was $308.  There were no explanations regarding what types of services would be covered by each of these levels.

After briefly explaining to the receptionist why we were there, she asked for my insurance card and my license.

"Harvard Pilgrim?  We don't take Harvard Pilgrim and we're really expensive today."

Excusemewhat?

"Well, how much would it be for us to pay out of pocket?"

"308 dollars."

Yeah, love those levels.

Rich and I had a brief discussion on what we should do.  The waiting area was fairly empty so presumably, Allie wouldn't have to wait very long to see a doctor.  If we left, where were we going to go?  The ER?  The wait there could be hours upon hours and whose to say whether or not they would even accept our insurance.  We decided to stay.

I had to complete Allie's registration online in a cubby where someone had left a snot filled tissue.  After about 15 minutes or so of waiting, I realized that I couldn't find my license.  I went back up to the receptionist to see if I had accidentally left it up there.  "I have it.  I'll give it back to you once we finish your registration."  I still can't figure out what she had to do because I was the one who filled out the 20 screens online and since they were not going to take our insurance, I could have said I was Snow White and it wouldn't have mattered.  So give me back my freaking license.

We waited and waited.  A bad feeling came over me and I told Rich that I knew the doctor was going to say that it was "just a virus."

We waited some more.  I finally asked how many people were in front of us.  One person.

So apparently Disney sends employees there for random drug testing.  There were two Disney employees dressed in what looked like captain uniforms.  Maybe they run some of the boats or ferries.  Anyway, they were having a painful experience as well.  They emerged from the back area where the patients were seen and waited and waited next to us.  One of them began chuckling while reading his email.  "Listen to this spam email I just got.  My contact in Dubai tells me that you are dead.  Is this the case?  Well, I've been here for so long, I sure feel dead."

I watched a man I hadn't seen earlier emerge from the back and start shuffling through papers behind the desk.  My spirits rose when he walked through the doors and came out into the waiting area.  We were next.  Was he going to call us?  No.  He was checking the inventory of potato chips for sale.  Finally, one of the Disney employees approached him and explained that they were just waiting to hear that their paperwork was all set.  The man was like, "Oh, I just got here.  I don't know what's going on with your paperwork.  We'll look into it."  I wanted to jump up and yell, "They are waiting for you and you've been checking on potato chips!"

After about an hour, we were called back.  Well, Alicia-anne was called back.  Sorry about your hard to pronounce name, Allie!  A nurse took her temperature and weighed her.  (She's still a peanut at 31 pounds.)  We explained what was going on with her and waited some more.  Finally, the doctor came in to examine her.  Her ears were fine.  (Crap?)  She tried to open her mouth for him to look at her throat but she couldn't figure out how to get her tongue out of the way.  I finally told him that she hadn't been complaining of a sore throat.  He asked a few times if she had been coughing.  No.  Runny nose?  No.  Diarrhea?  No.  Throwing up?  Once but it was random.

He ordered the nurse to conduct a flu test and if I had known what it entailed, I would have told them no because I knew that she didn't have the flu.  They shoved a swab up both her nostrils and she cried hysterically for 20 minutes.  And guess what?  That's right.  She did not have the flu.  So the doctor comes back in and tells us that he doesn't know what's wrong and she must have a virus.  I asked him why her eyes were swollen.  What?  What do you mean her eyes are swollen?  Okay, did this man listen to me when I gave her symptoms?

He looked at her eyes and because there was no puss or anything, he said he didn't know.  Now, what I should have done was shown him Anna and Emily and said, "THIS is what she is supposed to look like."  He told us that it could be from being tired and that we should continue to give her whatever we had been giving her for the fever.  (I had told him it earlier that it was Advil.)  And of course, they never told us what her temperature was.

If I had given my $300 to a psychic, I would have had better results.

Because we had to drive by Downtown Disney on our way back to the resort, we stopped and picked up sandwiches at Earl of Sandwich to bring back to our rooms for dinner.  Following doctor's orders, I gave Allie another dose of Advil.  She did not sleep well that night, which means that I didn't sleep well either.  It took her forever to fall asleep and then she was restless.  I was awake in the middle of the night with her for about 2 hours.  She wanted a cracker and then some water to drink and then she had to go to the bathroom and she was so weak I had to help her on and off of the toilet.  I couldn't sleep because I needed to figure out what was wrong with her.  This wasn't a virus.

When Anna was sick back in August, I found myself awake one night watching over her.  I prayed to a god I don't understand and asked for Anna to be better.  It was the only thing that I could think to do.  Here I was again.  Praying.  I didn't know what else to do.

I don't remember my thought process but I began to focus on the Advil.  She's never had Advil before.  My mom can't take Advil because she's allergic to aspirin.  And then it all clicked.  She could be reacting to the Advil!!!  She has to be reacting to the Advil!!!!

We have since discussed all of this with Allie's pediatrician and he agrees that it sounds like she had a bad reaction to Advil.  I've done some reading with Dr. Google and interestingly enough, facial swelling is of the first symptoms listed under allergic reactions.  Also, excessive sleepiness can be a side effect of Advil.  (I won't list out all of the symptoms and side effects but Allie definitely displayed many of them.)  Thankfully, she only had about 6 doses of it over those 4 days.  I feel so very guilty that this happened.  If we hadn't given her anything, I think she would have been fine on Monday and none of this would have happened.

Also, Rich called our health insurance provider when we returned home and explained what happened.  We were told that we could submit a claim for reimbursement.  I'm not sure how much they will reimburse but the woman he spoke to said that it is fairly common to have to pay upfront for services outside of Massachusetts and then submit a claim.  It would have been nice if Centra Care had told us that inside of telling us that they were expensive that day.  And what does that mean anyway?  Are there days when they aren't expensive?