I am the mother of 4 boys and although I regard my boys are reasonably mellow, I have had my fair share of visits to the emergency room. After 24 years of motherhood and 4 sons, I have this love hate relationship with my doctor,the emergency rooms and our medical aid.

I can diagnose almost anything now and I get really annoyed when doctors tell me I am wrong (- which is never!). I also get very annoyed when I have a injured child and I have to take him to the doctor before I can get an X-ray done. Invariably the doctor orders an xray just to make sure so why must I wait for an emergency appointment at the doctor (1- 2 hour wait) or emergency room if it is after hours (3-4 hour wait) then travel to the hospital and get an X-ray done (2 hour wait), then go back to the doctor for a follow up on the X-ray and to get the relevant treatment (1-2 hour wait). If I go straight to the X-ray department I can cut out at least one hour and possibly avoid going to the doctor if it is not serious and no broken or damaged bones indicated. I can make a proper booking for an appointment at the doctor and not spend 2 hours waiting for him to fit me in. This saves me time and money (and the medical aid spends less money as well). However I am obliged to follow the correct procedures and wasting my time waiting on the medical system in these times.

The most bazaar visit to the emergency room was probably when son no 3 came to us one evening saying his nose was itchy. Upon further questioning, he admitted to putting an “astro” up his nose. So of course off we go to the emergency room and fill in the obligatory forms and wait forever to be helped.

After a four hour wait in the emergency room the doctor was not in the least bit fazed about the astro. His advice was to leave it alone – it would crumble and disintegrate over time. I was so annoyed when I left there – I had spent hours waiting for nothing!

I am going to go back and reminisce about some of the emergency room visits I have had to make over the years.  So this is post 1 of many.  Look out for the rest……