Thursday, November 13, 2008

Thank Goodness for Health Insurance

Was on the Mom’s Rising Web site today, they were asking folks to submit stories of why health care is important to you. It really didn’t take me long to think of a story, Jack..having my Jack alive is my story…

On a day that should have been amazing, I thought my world was falling apart. It started out like a typical day expect my five week old son Jack could not sleep and was extremely fussy. Jeff got up early and hung out with him on the couch, during the day we noticed that something seemed off, Jack just wasn’t acting right. We took his temperature under his arm and it only registered to about 99.9 therefore we really didn’t panic, we decided to give him a tiny bit of Baby Tylenol and see how the day played out. Well, as the day went on Jack seemed to get sicker and sicker, finally around 5pm I called the after hour care for his pediatrician.

The nurse on the line had me take his temperature rectally and it registered more than 102. With that reading, the nurse had me take Jack to the emergency room..

The ER took Jack immediately, they took X-rays and at first that Jack had a bowel obstruction and that it had ruptured. The doctors decided to air-lift Jack to Children’s Oakland, to make it easier on my five week year old, Jack was placed into a voluntary coma. That way he could sleep while his body worked to fight the infection.

Jeff and I drove to the hospital not knowing what to expect, we were informed at the hospital prior to leaving that there was a chance my son would not make it. Imagine being told you baby, your five week old baby might not live, it is the worst information a parent can ever receive..

To make a long story short..we got to Children’s Oakland to find out no bowl obstruction, however he was very sick. Jack had caught a virus and would be in the ICU for a few days, I slept at his bedside that night. We were put into the family housing for the time he was in the hospital but I didn’t sleep or each much during that five days…

To help Jack fight the virus/infection he was given a blood transfusion to jump start his immune system. Once he got that and the medication Jack started to get better and after five days we took him home..

Without insurance the amount of money I would have needed to pay would have broken my family. About five months after that incident my oldest Ashlee fell on Jack and broke his arm, again needing to rush him to the hospital.

Without insurance the bills would have been our of control and beyond our financial means..

3 comments:

phia07 said...

Oh My Gosh! i gotta tell ya I got misty reading that even tho I know Jack is right there in the pic you have just thinking that your little baby had to go through that and you!

Anonymous said...

wow, that story gives me goose bumps. I cannot even begin to imagine how scary that must have been for you and your family. So glad it had a happy ending!

Mommy In Pink said...

Oh my goodness...htat just awful. I am so sorry you and your boy had to go through that. I'm so glad things worked out okay...that is so scary!