Above Rubies
Above Rubies
My panic started to rise as the night went on. First it was just non specific abdominal pain. Then my daughter started to spike fevers. The worst part about being a doctor is that you know of all the possibilities. My hands slid down her belly and she tensed somewhere in the range of the appendix. Shit! It’s amazing how every other concern seems to fall away. Work. Money, Financial independence. None of it matters The well being of my child. A price above rubies.
I pretty much would pay anything.
Getting Help
You should never doctor your own children. Nor your wife. Nor your parents. The best medical advice requires splendid objectivity. This level of clear thinking and precision is impossible when you have too much skin in the game. Therefore, the decision was easy.
We trudged into the pediatrician’s office first thing in the morning for a walk-in appointment. It happened to be the best doctor this morning. She is older and experienced. She always gives the most level headed, clear eyed advice.
Good advice. A price above rubies. You can’t pay more to get better (for the most part) in our medical systems as it stands. I surely would if I could. thankfully, today we got lucky.
Nickels and Dimes
The office copay was ten bucks. The laboratory will likely cost a few more. The doctor decided to send my daughter to the hospital to get an ultrasound of the abdomen to evaluate for appendicitis. Not a perfect test, but the one with the least risk and long term consequences.
I could hear the cash register ching as I signed into the hospital. There would be deductibles. Co pays. facility fees and radiologist fees. I’m sure I will have to pay my share.
But I don’t care. I would pay a price above rubies to make sure my daughter is okay. Double. Tripple. Whatever it takes.
Resolution/ Kind Of
The ultrasound could not clearly visualize the appendix. The white blood count looked reasonable. The doctor thought it prudent to monitor for twenty four hours and then reevaluate.
Back home with ginger ale and gatorade in hand. My daughter is exhausted but no worse for wear. She will rest today. Lucky for us that it happens to be spring break.
Assuming she does okay overnight, tomorrow we will trudge back to the doctor’s office. She will push on her belly, and hopefully decide that it was a virus and not appendicitis.
We will pay another co pay. maybe have to surrender more blood.
Yet we will do it. There are somethings that are just to precious. The lives of our loved ones. A price above rubies.
Final Thoughts
In life we should be willing to pay for value. There are three types of value. The first is the innate goodness of the product. We are willing to pay for a the finest medical opinion because good advice is priceless.
The second is availability. In the middle of a crisis, I don’t have time to shop around labs and radiology suites. I will pay whatever is necessary to have access to what’s available.
And the last is the reason you need the product in the first place. The value of my daughter being the highest, I am willing to pay for the best medical opinion and even a premium to have access to the most available resources.
My daughter’s well being, a price above rubies.
There is absolutely no question that our children are priceless. Glad to hear that your daughter is getting the care that she needs. Our daughter was hit by a car crossing the street at college. She was very fortunate not to have all kinds of broken bones and worse. Thankfully we found a second opinion Doctor, expert in the field, who has the perspective of making certain that nothing was missed. Good Care matters!
Good care definitely matters.
My son is in college and recently told me he was sick, vomited, and had belly pain. I asked him to push on his belly and tell me if it hurt and where. He said it felt okay. I told him to sleep, take Tylenol and Motrin, hydrate, and take care of himself. If he was still sick the next day, he needed to find the Student Health Center and take himself to be checked out. It is the letting go that is the hardest.
It’s hard when they are far away.
Sorry to hear that your spring break was interrupted with this scare and hopeful that all is ok afterall DocG. Also a good lesson in what money can and cannot buy
Yep. She is feeling better today.
Glad to hear your daughter is being taken care of. I’ve got two sons who mean the world to me. I would do the same as you. FIRE is to spend healthy time with your loved ones.
But as I have two and you clearly value the little pricks very highly… how many rubies are we talking? 😉
Two kids. 11 and 14.