Birth hospital

Yesterday, I took my son, who has had a raspy cough on and off for about a month, to the emergency room down here in Southern California. We took him to the same hospital where he had been born, over four years ago now. Every part of me remembered every part of that hospital, so comfortable, so familiar, even though the week we spent there, while my son was in NICU (neonatal intensive care), had been a harrowing week. Whatever animosity I had felt, whatever questions about this treatment or that treatment I had had, whatever stress over the uncertainty of that week, were all gone. Instead I was just so grateful to be at a hospital I knew very well, and had come to trust. It felt like I was taking my son to a new moment of origin.

Plus I got the exam and all the medications without paying a penny for any of it, which would not happen had he gotten sick in Iceland. So I considered it an afternoon very well spent. And now we know that Palmer is one of those kids who just wants to keep playing and running around and making jokes, even with an ear infection and a touch of pneumonia.

Comments

Ko-Leen said…
really hope he's better before the big trip! see you soon :)
February 3, 2010 at 11:44 PM
Thordis said…
Eruð þið ekki tryggð á Íslandi?
February 3, 2010 at 11:48 PM
Lissy said…
Við erum með lögleg heimisfang á Íslandi, but at the military hospitals there is not even a copay, I literally did not open my wallet for anything. In Iceland all the services I have ever received require me to pay some sort of nominal fee.

Perhaps you mean, Thordis, that there is some supplemental insurance I can buy in Iceland that will cover the out of pocket expenses?
February 4, 2010 at 12:46 PM
Thordis said…
no, I dont think there is a supplemental insurance, but you can look for it. There is the annual copay of 200 dollars, less for kids though. I took Katrín to the doctors when she was 3 months old and did not pay. But the copay for the national insurance is 200 dollars or so per year, after that you dont pay... so you get a better deal in CA, at least for him :)
February 4, 2010 at 11:46 PM
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