Sleepless night sick college kid ER

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t want to guilt you OP, but why aren’t you by his side inside of writing on DCUM? Why are you trusting the roommate? Get in the car and GO!

+1
What could possibly be more important than getting to your unwell child who is in the er. They also should have swabbed him to confirm the antibiotics he’s on at the we will be effective

Because the son doesn't want her there. You really think she should force herself into a situation where she's not welcome?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t want to guilt you OP, but why aren’t you by his side inside of writing on DCUM? Why are you trusting the roommate? Get in the car and GO!

+1
What could possibly be more important than getting to your unwell child who is in the er. They also should have swabbed him to confirm the antibiotics he’s on at the we will be effective

Because the son doesn't want her there. You really think she should force herself into a situation where she's not welcome?

She did not say he didn't want her there, just that he was concerned about her being on the roads, I assume because it was 1AM!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can we stop feeding the troll?

+1 there is an angry man (or college kid) on this thread and 99% of the posters think the OP should go visit. Nuff said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t want to guilt you OP, but why aren’t you by his side inside of writing on DCUM? Why are you trusting the roommate? Get in the car and GO!

+ 1

+1 OMG

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regardless of the age, every person in the ER who is sick needs a patient advocate. When you are sick and exhausted you just aren’t in the best state of mind to navigate the system. Mistakes happen all the time even with an excellent medical team - they are just overwhelmed.

He has his roommates with him who can advocate for him.

Jesus, let the roommates (who are also sick?) go home. Seriously?

+10000 those kids do NOT want to be there. They don’t feel great either and they probably have homework and studying to do. Trust me. My dd went to the er once with a friend and the poor girl had to sit there all day with her. My dd felt so bad. It’s not the friends job.

You don't need someone in the ER with you.

Many posters in this thread seem to have lived awfully sheltered lives.

Actually you really do. Unless you are there for something minor like a broken bone. You must not have spent much time in ers, but it’s terrifying how much can get lost with shift changes, etc. If he’s not feeling 100% then there’s no way he can be on top of it. Have they tested for mono and pneumonia?
We almost lost a dear friend to something similar and it turned out she had pneumonia around her heart yet the er docs were just treating it as a throat issue. It wasn’t until she was transferred from Alexandria hospital to sibley (seemed like a strange transfer) that their infectious disease dr figured it out. The er had been about to release her. She ended up being in the ICU for a month.
It’s not about letting your kid be an adult - I’d rush to the er to help an adult friend. At the very least relieve the sick roommate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t want to guilt you OP, but why aren’t you by his side inside of writing on DCUM? Why are you trusting the roommate? Get in the car and GO!

+1
What could possibly be more important than getting to your unwell child who is in the er. They also should have swabbed him to confirm the antibiotics he’s on at the we will be effective

Because the son doesn't want her there. You really think she should force herself into a situation where she's not welcome?

She did not say he didn't want her there, just that he was concerned about her being on the roads, I assume because it was 1AM!

That means he doesn't want her there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you seem to disagree with any advise anyone is giving on this thread. What's the point of posting?

OP has not been back. Her thread has been taken over by people debating about going to see her son, versus letting him deal with it on his own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you seem to disagree with any advise anyone is giving on this thread. What's the point of posting?

OP has not been back. Her thread has been taken over by people debating about going to see her son, versus letting him deal with it on his own.

I'm going to assume Op is in the car...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t want to guilt you OP, but why aren’t you by his side inside of writing on DCUM? Why are you trusting the roommate? Get in the car and GO!

+1
What could possibly be more important than getting to your unwell child who is in the er. They also should have swabbed him to confirm the antibiotics he’s on at the we will be effective

Because the son doesn't want her there. You really think she should force herself into a situation where she's not welcome?

She did not say he didn't want her there, just that he was concerned about her being on the roads, I assume because it was 1AM!

That means he doesn't want her there.

ok dad

[Anonymous]

OP— Just came back to update. DS arrived at 1 am and after 8 hours (4 in waiting room) he’s back at apartment and fast asleep. He made sure his friends left the hospital after he was settled. They all wore n95 masks in waiting room. He has everything he needs because I sent a massive grocery delivery on Thursday for all 6 roommates in varying degrees of sick. He has a big single room with a full midi fridge, air purifier, meds/first aid, and a clean apartment because they’re all clean freaks. Didn’t help much since they’ve all gotten each other sick. He’s taken two of his roommates to ER in the past couple of months. He’s very responsible with medical stuff, good background knowledge, and he’s transparent about most things. He’s the go to solution guy.

Trust me, I would have been there many hours ago or I’d have dragged DH out of bed to go. DS just wanted to get some relief and sleep. His words: I don’t want to worry or wait for your arrival because I’ve been here for hours (spanning 2 ER doc shifts) and the IV drip is dinging and done. He also said we will inevitably lose cell service in certain spots while driving. He preferred I stay on FaceTime or audio in case doc came in, which he did. Said he’s too busy to come home. He just started as a paid TA for one of his professors. He also has an interview on Monday.

I was on FaceTime with him most of the duration and back at apartment. I haven’t slept so bear with me. I have the electronic discharge docs. Just gonna paste the important stuff. To the poster who mentioned epiglottis, you may be onto something. I’m now freaked out by Dr. Ty findings (morning shift ER doc)

Diagnosis: Acute sore throat

Imaging Tests:
ECG 12 lead
XR chest 2 views
XR neck soft tissue

Medications ER:
acetaminophen (Tylenol) tablet 975 mg / Last given at 7:10 AM
ampicillin-sulbactam (Unasyn) 3 g in sodium chloride 0.9% 100 mL IVPB-MB+ /Stopped at 7:45 AM
dexAMETHasone (Decadron) injection / 10 mg Last given at 8:18 AM
ketorolac (Toradol) injection 15 mg Last given at 8:32 AM:
Lactated Ringer's bolus 1,000 mL

Medication at home: Amoxicillin 1 morning 1 evening plus ibuprofen as needed.

Stats at discharge:
Blood Pressure 133/78
Pulse 120
Temperature 99.4 °F (he never had a high fever)
Respiration 18
Oxygen Saturation 98%

Comprehensive metabolic panel TBD

XR neck soft tissue (Preliminary result)
? Of tracheal narrowing. No prevertebral space widening. Epiglottis hazy on lateral.
Recommend CT with contrast. Doc was somewhat adamant about it. At first he said there was a shadow that might have been due to position of neck or it could be a “boil” in which case he’d remove it with a needle procedure. Epiglottis “hazy”.

I’m not a doctor, but I politely said we’d follow up with our primary doctor and hospital. He said he’d discuss it with DS, not yet 21. I informed him that we are his legal delegates, medical proxies, and all the other stuff. I stayed on the phone and texted my son that it’s not happening at this hospital. DS replied, no shit!

Discussed and declined CT with contrast and requested all findings in discharge papers. Will send digital X-rays Monday to his primary doc.

His chest X-ray showed some things that I won’t get into here. ER doc didn’t mention it. I only found out from discharge notes. I used Google doctor to determine a pattern in findings. I hope I’m wrong. In a nutshell, it pointed to a previous illness not treated. This is the first time he’s had strep, if that’s what it is! He had Covid once and recovered without long term issues. He had undetermined freshman crud, used university health center with negative results. Picked him up to take to primary doc who prescribed a mega antibiotic power pack which did the trick. Wonder if it was too late.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the update OP, I’m glad you were able to FaceTime him and I completely understand why he didn’t want you to meet him there.

I wonder what you’re talking about on the chest xray. I’m the PP who had the DD who ended up with atelectasis (sp?) as a result of scarring from pneumonia which came originally from COVID. Wonder if it’s similar scarring?

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the update, OP!

[Anonymous]

Hopefully not epiglottis - I think that’s generally a medical emergency. Thank you for the update, OP! Sounds like you’ve got a great kid (with great friends)!

[Anonymous]

I hope your son feels better soon. It's hard when any of are sick no matter what the age!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Roommates Uber’d son to ER. They’re all sick with various campus wide crud. He went from zero to ER. 3 hours in waiting area. First time strep. They’re finally putting IV in now for antibiotics, fluid, and pain med. Said they’re giving him something to lower his heart rate. Is this a thing with strep?

How high is his heart rate OP?