You just can’t take a chance.
A couple of weeks ago there was some poor parent here on FR with a child who had a middle ear infection. The eardrum had already ruptured.
People here on FR were telling him to put stuff in the kid’s ear. NOT a good idea.
Those bad ear infections can move quickly to meningitis with a really bad outcome.
You just cannot take any chances with a child. Actually, you can’t take chances with an adult either. Better to feel embarrassed in the ER than dead in the morgue.
You got that right.
Absolutely.
Man! That is scary! I always got pushy when it came to my children.
Exactly. Theoretically, a triage nurse should evaluate people who walk into the emergency room, but there are walk-in ER rooms where there is no triage and there are just a few bored admitting clerks.
If you have a private physician, call him/her and say that you're going to or bringing your child to the emergency room. Sometimes a doctor will send or tell you to call an ambulance.
Otherwise, dial 911 and call an ambulance. It might cost you $500-$1000 dollars (if you're not on some kind of social services support or don't have insurance - if you do, it's usually free to you), but it's better than being dead. Personally, I'd say that unless you have a really good relationship with a doctor and he knows your situation well, when you get that uneasy feeling, just call 911 and go to the ER in an ambulance.
As a "veteran" ER nurse, I could not have said it better. Wonderful, wise words. Thank you!