Dont do me any favors.
As a lot of you know Nikki and I have been sick. Last week I started feeling better, but Nikki didnt.
We had gone to the doctor on Friday May 28. We were told we had a virus and there wasnt much he could do, just Tylenol and bed rest. So we did that.
I got better, Nikki started getting worse. She had a terrible headache, body aches and a sore throat. Nikki, being the little commando that she is kept thinking that any day she would start to feel better too. She hadnt said very much about feeling lousy.
Remember Nikki is 18 yrs. old. She is a very busy girl involved in many different activities. She is a senior getting ready to graduate and a manager at her job. There are some days I only see her for a few minutes.
On Saturday June 5th she woke up with a temperature of 103. She was in a lot of pain, was having trouble talking because her throat was so swollen and called me at work. I told her to call the clinic and see if she could get in and that I would drop her off a blank check as so as I got to that side of town.
Every place she called was closed. She was told by one office to go to the emergency room.
So she did.
When she got to Southern Maine Medical Center she told them she didnt have health insurance. They saw her, but they didnt treat her.
I am angry, I have to keep erasing what I write and start over. Forgive me if I stop making sense.
The doctor told her that because she didnt have insurance, he didnt want to run up a big bill.
He didnt want to run up a big bill.
He looked in her throat and ears, tapped on her face to check her sinus and told her the thought she had strep throat. His diagnosis was pharyngitis. No throat culture was taken. No blood tests were done. Nothing was given for the 103 fever.
He didnt want to run up a big bill.
He gave her Amoxicillin 1500 mg to be taken on Saturday and 750 mg to be taken for 8 following days. Tylenol as needed.
The following morning she woke up again with a 103 temp. She tried to go to work, took her meds as instructed but couldnt shake the fever or the pain. Her throat swelled so much it began to close. She came home and went to bed and tried to sleep the rest of the afternoon. Sunday evening she came out of her room and she was crying because she felt so bad.
I didnt even know she was home. She scared me half to death.
I put my hands on her to hug her and could feel the heat coming off her. She had to hold her head back to breathe and talk. The swelling in her throat had become much worse causing her neck to be disfigured and her tongue was swollen. She was talking like Elmer Fudd.
Luckily there wouldnt be a big hospital bill.
I thought we could just call the ER and find out what her test results were and be advised what to do next. Thats when she told me there were no tests taken because the doctor told her he didnt want to run up the bill.
She thought he was doing her a favor.
Dont do me any favors, treat my daughter for illness, and let me worry about payments.
I took her to York Hospital. There was no way I would be taking her back to SMMC.
FYI, Chevy Blazer steering wheels can handle a great deal of force. I am surprised it didnt snap off in my hands on the drive to York.
As I drove to York, I called my family to tell them what had happened and about the major concern about the bill.
I dont have insurance that is true. What SMMC didnt realize was that I have a wealthy family. Before I got off the Maine State turnpike I had 3 MasterCard numbers and 2 Visa card numbers, no limits on any of them.
NOW could someone do some tests on my daughter?!?
I was trying to remain calm when we walked into York Hospital but Nikki could no longer talk at all because of all the swelling in her mouth. She knows the alphabet in sign language. That is how we were communicating.
I taught all my kids the sign language alphabet when they were little. I recommend this to all parents now. ESPECIALLY IF YOU DONT HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE!
I was trying to explain to the lady that was checking her in that I had money, lots of it, but no insurance. Please treat my daughter. She kind of rolled her eyes and waved her hand at me. After she finished admitting Nikki she explained to me that there is some new law in our state saying if someone comes into an ER and doesnt have insurance the hospital has to foot the bill. They were having a lot of problems with other hospitals not treating people to cut cost.
I dont know how to find out about this law. I really want to know more about it.
I did learn a brand new word that day, Unethical. Isnt that a fun word? Kind of rolls right off the tongue.
Well, not Nikkis tongue, it was too swollen.
The immediately hooked her up to an IV because she was dehydrated and took a lot of her blood. They gave her prednisone to reduce the swelling so she could breathe easier and Motrin to reduce her 103 fever.
Interesting thing about the entire experience was that they wouldnt take the credit cards from me. They told me they were more interested in treating her then worrying about payments.
The test results came back positive for Mono. The fantastic doctor that we had was very concerned about her badly swollen liver. Nikkis spleen was also swollen but she was very worried about the liver. Her liver would have been swollen the day before when she was in SMMC. Nikki couldnt do anything physical because of fear that she would damage her SWOLLEN LIVER.
But there isnt going to be a big bill from SMMC, nope.
Nikki was immediately taken off the Amoxicillin and told to avoid the Tylenol. Tylenol is bad for the liver. She must see her doctor again this week to have it looked at again. Since we went to York Hospital Nikki is feeling a little bit better. She sleeps a lot but she is able to breathe and talk again.
She still sounds a little like Elmer Fudd. After watching her get so ill, it is a beautiful sound.
As a lot of you know Nikki and I have been sick. Last week I started feeling better, but Nikki didnt.
We had gone to the doctor on Friday May 28. We were told we had a virus and there wasnt much he could do, just Tylenol and bed rest. So we did that.
I got better, Nikki started getting worse. She had a terrible headache, body aches and a sore throat. Nikki, being the little commando that she is kept thinking that any day she would start to feel better too. She hadnt said very much about feeling lousy.
Remember Nikki is 18 yrs. old. She is a very busy girl involved in many different activities. She is a senior getting ready to graduate and a manager at her job. There are some days I only see her for a few minutes.
On Saturday June 5th she woke up with a temperature of 103. She was in a lot of pain, was having trouble talking because her throat was so swollen and called me at work. I told her to call the clinic and see if she could get in and that I would drop her off a blank check as so as I got to that side of town.
Every place she called was closed. She was told by one office to go to the emergency room.
So she did.
When she got to Southern Maine Medical Center she told them she didnt have health insurance. They saw her, but they didnt treat her.
I am angry, I have to keep erasing what I write and start over. Forgive me if I stop making sense.
The doctor told her that because she didnt have insurance, he didnt want to run up a big bill.
He didnt want to run up a big bill.
He looked in her throat and ears, tapped on her face to check her sinus and told her the thought she had strep throat. His diagnosis was pharyngitis. No throat culture was taken. No blood tests were done. Nothing was given for the 103 fever.
He didnt want to run up a big bill.
He gave her Amoxicillin 1500 mg to be taken on Saturday and 750 mg to be taken for 8 following days. Tylenol as needed.
The following morning she woke up again with a 103 temp. She tried to go to work, took her meds as instructed but couldnt shake the fever or the pain. Her throat swelled so much it began to close. She came home and went to bed and tried to sleep the rest of the afternoon. Sunday evening she came out of her room and she was crying because she felt so bad.
I didnt even know she was home. She scared me half to death.
I put my hands on her to hug her and could feel the heat coming off her. She had to hold her head back to breathe and talk. The swelling in her throat had become much worse causing her neck to be disfigured and her tongue was swollen. She was talking like Elmer Fudd.
Luckily there wouldnt be a big hospital bill.
I thought we could just call the ER and find out what her test results were and be advised what to do next. Thats when she told me there were no tests taken because the doctor told her he didnt want to run up the bill.
She thought he was doing her a favor.
Dont do me any favors, treat my daughter for illness, and let me worry about payments.
I took her to York Hospital. There was no way I would be taking her back to SMMC.
FYI, Chevy Blazer steering wheels can handle a great deal of force. I am surprised it didnt snap off in my hands on the drive to York.
As I drove to York, I called my family to tell them what had happened and about the major concern about the bill.
I dont have insurance that is true. What SMMC didnt realize was that I have a wealthy family. Before I got off the Maine State turnpike I had 3 MasterCard numbers and 2 Visa card numbers, no limits on any of them.
NOW could someone do some tests on my daughter?!?
I was trying to remain calm when we walked into York Hospital but Nikki could no longer talk at all because of all the swelling in her mouth. She knows the alphabet in sign language. That is how we were communicating.
I taught all my kids the sign language alphabet when they were little. I recommend this to all parents now. ESPECIALLY IF YOU DONT HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE!
I was trying to explain to the lady that was checking her in that I had money, lots of it, but no insurance. Please treat my daughter. She kind of rolled her eyes and waved her hand at me. After she finished admitting Nikki she explained to me that there is some new law in our state saying if someone comes into an ER and doesnt have insurance the hospital has to foot the bill. They were having a lot of problems with other hospitals not treating people to cut cost.
I dont know how to find out about this law. I really want to know more about it.
I did learn a brand new word that day, Unethical. Isnt that a fun word? Kind of rolls right off the tongue.
Well, not Nikkis tongue, it was too swollen.
The immediately hooked her up to an IV because she was dehydrated and took a lot of her blood. They gave her prednisone to reduce the swelling so she could breathe easier and Motrin to reduce her 103 fever.
Interesting thing about the entire experience was that they wouldnt take the credit cards from me. They told me they were more interested in treating her then worrying about payments.
The test results came back positive for Mono. The fantastic doctor that we had was very concerned about her badly swollen liver. Nikkis spleen was also swollen but she was very worried about the liver. Her liver would have been swollen the day before when she was in SMMC. Nikki couldnt do anything physical because of fear that she would damage her SWOLLEN LIVER.
But there isnt going to be a big bill from SMMC, nope.
Nikki was immediately taken off the Amoxicillin and told to avoid the Tylenol. Tylenol is bad for the liver. She must see her doctor again this week to have it looked at again. Since we went to York Hospital Nikki is feeling a little bit better. She sleeps a lot but she is able to breathe and talk again.
She still sounds a little like Elmer Fudd. After watching her get so ill, it is a beautiful sound.
Just know I am glad your daughter is feeling better.
Hope she'd doing better, tell her I said hi. 
