Our Side of Drama

Well - round two at the hospital is over - for now! What an experience all of this is becoming!! We arrived at the hospital right at noon and were immediately directed to a private room in the sedation department. Numbing pads were placed on JD's feet to prep for the IV. The Child Life Specialist and her intern began explaining the projected timeline for the rest of the afternoon & the sedation doctor then came in to ask us questions regarding JD's health history and to examine him for the procedure. She explained to us the risks and benefits of sedation - it really makes you not want to do it when you hear all that!!! They placed the IV - which was extremely traumatic for JD - and then we headed down to Radiology.
Once in Radiology JD was placed on a stretcher and the real "fun" began. He started getting hooked up to all sorts of monitors, tubes, etc. It's a good thing I knew this was a somewhat minor procedure or otherwise seeing him like that would have scared me! Once they began giving him the sedation meds he began to fade fast! He fought it for a while and then could hold off no more! He gave in to the powers of the med they call "magic milk". Once he was sedated, the doctor realized we hadn't signed one of the consent forms yet. They took us into another room so the US tech could go over the form with us and we discovered the particulars of the procedure. For the first time we throughout this ordeal we were told the full truth! The point of this procedure was only to draw enough fluid to send to the lab. I explained to the tech that the ENT specialist had said they were going to drain this completely and that would hopefully resolve the problem. This wasn't the case! She said they would get as much fluid as possible but that was the main point.
They finished the procedure and called us back into the room as they were waking JD back up. I asked the Radiologist why they couldn't use the fluid they had already withdrawn back in January. The Radiologist said she had never been told they had done the Fine Needle test. I was furious!!! Evidently the ENT specialist didn't see the point in sharing ALL information with the radiologist - so now we are paying for a test that was done a month ago, that we didn't get any answers from! I went off! I explained to the doctor the seriousness of this situation and how we had specifically explained our finances to the ENT doctor. Evidently they completely ignored everything we said.
When JD was moved to recovery in the AMU I called our pediatrician and expressed my concerns. I asked if the follow-up could be done through the pediatrician's office instead of the ENT. I explained that I am furious with the ENT and don't feel that we are getting treated fairly by him or his office. The pediatrician has said that they're going to try and work it out that we can follow-up with them. Yay for small victories!!! The test results should be back on Tuesday so we should find out sometime after that! Please keep praying that somehow this will just heal on its own. We're already being billed for services being rendered that we never should have and still have no answers. GOD's still in control - we know that! Now we just have to be patient! Please keep praying!

In His Hands -
Jeremiah, Crista, & JD