I took Isabelle to the Dr. office because I noticed she had a really bad cough and some wheezing. I figured she needed a nebulizer treatment like in the past. After two consecutive breathing treatments in his office, her Dr. said she was not responding well and he was going to admit her to Athens Regional Medical Center. I was freaking out! I went from thinking she had a cold to now hospitalization.
Izzie had Pneumonia, RSV and Mycoplasma. All very serious if untreated. Izzie had lots of visitors including 2 of my friends that work at the hospital, a couple church friends, Deacon Jim to deliver communion and Fr. David McGuinness from our church to say a prayer for Izzie. Izzie received a beautiful bouquet of tulips and some teddy bears from our friends as well. The nurses were all awesome. We never saw another Dr because her Pediatrician made sure he watched over her care while she was in the hospital. He came to check on her and called us each evening to make sure there were no changes. We have the best Pediatrician ever!!
After 3 days of breathing treatments and meds, we asked to go home because she was feeling much better and I knew I could do the breathing treatments at home. We had really bad insurance at the time and that meant we would be paying for this hospital stay mostly out of pocket. As we sat and watched cartoons in the hospital room, I could hear the dollars adding up. Cha Ching...Cha Ching.
As a side note: I have to say, we have the BEST church community ever too!! My CRHP (Christ Renews His Parish) Women's Group, took up a collection to help with the medical costs. This helped tremendously and they are all so thoughtful!! For a couple weeks straight, we had dinners delivered to our home thanks to our wonderful Athens friends (Melissa and Rachel) and my wonderful church friends!! Our extraordinary group of friends and church community truly make Athens a home for us. I have never found this in any other city we have lived in. It was about 4 months later that I would finally receive the dreaded hospital bill. For 3 days in the hospital, Izzie's bill was $6,900.!! Almost 7k to lay in a bed! Sure she had an IV and some meds but really?!?!? Our insurance company found some things they would pay for, otherwise everything else was our deductible, however, because we had insurance, we got the discounted contractual rate for everything which cut our bill in half. We owe the hospital a lot still, but at least they were really understanding and put us on a monthly payment plan...for the next 2 years. Thank goodness, Dane got a new job with the Red Cross because we now have good health insurance!
By day 3, Isabelle was still sick but wanted to get out of her bed to play, hiding in the linen closet, climbing up on things...all normal 2 yr old stuff. Her Dr agreed that she could go home and sent us on our way with a nebulizer and some meds. After about a week and a half, Isabelle was finally better and we could finally leave our house. Talk about major cabin fever! I have to also add that Alexis was a trooper through all of this. She had a cold too but got over it fairly quickly. She is the BEST Big Sister!!
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