A&E

Spent the entire afternoon and evening in A&E with Betsy.

She is fine though we have to go back on Tuesday. She had a ferocious looking rash, which I wasn't actually too worried about until a nurse at the drop-in centre described it as 'interesting' and told us to go to A&E immediately. When I looked surprised she said, 'I saw a rash like that recently in a healthy looking child and it turned out to be......' she left it hanging there leaving me imagining all sorts surely ten times worse than what it actually was.

We saw nurse, nurse, nurse, doctor, nurse, nurse and then the consultant paediatrician, across six hours. Each one listened, bored, to what we had to say, looked mildly irritated at our presence, until they looked at the rash. Then their eyebrows shot into their hair, they started muttering about blood tests and then shunted us off to the next level.

By half seven they were talking about admitting Betsy, much to her horror and panic, and my surprise. However, they decided against it. We were sent home with the promise / threat of a call on Monday for an appointment on Tuesday.

Having had a very inexperienced nurse attempt and fail to put a line in for blood when she was about five, Betsy has been almost phobic about medical procedures ever since. The slightest mention of a doctors appointment would be met with, 'PROMISE me they won't try to get my blood?!!!'. Having seen this panicking nurse hack up Betsy's left and right hand, then both arms, than start on her foot, whilst Betsy screamed blue murder and I made things worse by tunelessly singing, 'Five Little Buns in the Bakers Shop' in an attempt to sooth her, I can totally understand.

We got home at 8pm having totally missed the birthday tea that our friends had planned for her :(