23 February 2006
On the Way to the ER
by Betty Tisel
Listen to an audio version of this MOMbo essay.
Driving across town on city streets early Tuesday morning, it took just fifteen minutes to get to a children's hospital emergency room.
My eight-year-old daughter's unrelenting intestinal cramps prompted this journey. In general, we make light use of the mainstream medical system. But I realized again how lucky my family is to have access when we need it.
I just couldn't help thinking of other moms when I was driving to the
hospital, with my daugher whimpering in the back seat. Moms who live in my town who would hesitate to go to the doctor or E.R. because they had no insurance. Or moms who live far from a medical facility. Moms who are sitting with a sick child and cannot even offer a cup of fresh, cold water because there is none available. How grateful I was, that when cold, fresh drinking water and Tums and lullabies and massage and a hot water bottle didn't help my daughter, we have an alternative, a next step.
It is the right of every child to receive prompt and courteous medical care. It is the right of every parent to be able to comfort their child when ill. I am a lucky mom, and I want every parent to be able to have access to basic comforts for their children AND access to a next step of medical care when it's needed.
My daughter is fine. By the time the kindly doctor arrived in our E.R. room, the cramps had subsided. The diagnosis: too many raw carrots eaten last Monday, after a weekend bout of stomach flu. Her intestines hadn't yet recovered enough from the flu to process the raw vegetables. So we're back to saltines and chicken-and-stars soup for now. And I received the gift of gratitude, and renewed longing for a more just world.
Betty Tisel lives in south Minneapolis with her partner Sarah and their two children, ages 9 and 12.
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