The Pocono Medical Center Experience
After another night coughing through the night, I knew I needed to see a doctor. What ever illness this is, needs more that over the counter medicines. Finn was also sounding really wheezy too, and although his disposition was still really good, I thought I’d err to the side of caution and take him too. I called the front desk and got directions to the Pocono Medical Centre in the next town from us called East Stroudsburg, PA.
We found the hospital with no difficulties and once we got there we brought everyone in as I had no idea how long I’d be. I spoke with someone at the front they got mine and Finn’s names and the reason we were there and were told that the nurse would be with us in a few minutes. About 5 minutes later we spoke with the triage nurse named Brian, he got our vitals and told us we’d probably be there about an hour or so. I let Andrew know so he could take the other kids and go do something with them rather than sitting in the ER waiting room. I was kind of in shock that I would only be there for an hour as it seemed pretty busy.
Finn and I waited a few more minutes then we were called behind the big doors to an exam room. Finn was getting hungry so I decided to nurse him, (not so easy in a Johnny shirt). A few minutes later I got a visit from Robert in Registration. He had a mobile cart with a laptop and took all of my insurance information, so the hospital could direct bill BlueCross. This was great as I thought I might have to pay upfront then submit once we got home.
Our next visit was from Dr Cornish, he was very thorough and explained everything to me in detail. It was decided that a chest X-Ray would be best for me, and they’d do a test for RSV on Finn. He assured me I’d only be separated for a moment from Finn and they actually brought in an extra nurse into the X-Ray room to entertain Finn on the other side of the glass. Once we returned back to the exam room, the next nurse (and I had a little chuckle about her name, anyone that has watched Pokemon will understand), her name was Joy! She took the sample from Finn for the RSV test. What she did was squirt a little saline in his nose, so she could get some of the mucous coming from his nose. It only took her a minute and Finn hardly even squirmed.
We waited another 20-30 minutes to get the results from the X-Ray and Finn’s test and Dr Cornish came back to tell me that we both have Bronchitis! He prescribed us both Zithromax and some pretty strong cough syrup for me, so strong that I can’t drive while taking it! We went to the SuperCenter Walmart to get them filled, as I knew we could take the kids to the toy section while we waited, it was a good thing too, as it took almost an hour and a half to fill! While browsing around Liam seemed really sluggish, I touched his forehead, he was burning up with a fever too! We got some Motrin into him and soon after he was feeling better. This particular Walmart had some unique art as well, I used had to capture a photo of. This is a map of the US made out of each states lisence plates. It was really well done and looked like it was made to scale.
$92 later, we got our prescriptions and headed out on the road again. We headed west on I-80 in search of an Outlet Mall we saw when we drove in and somewhere for lunch. We found The Crossings Premium Outlets ( www.premiumoutlets.com ) in Tannersville, PA with over 100 stores, unfortunately Ciaran fell asleep (those Britax seats are just too comfortable), so we decided just to drive around and see what outlets were there and then head further NW back to Scranton as Andrew had also spotted some of the big-box electronic stores there. This way Ciaran could sleep on the drive there and we’d all eat once he woke.
Scranton was a bit of a bust. We did get to Staples and buy an adaptor we needed for my laptop and a package of pens. Yes, pens. I have been without a pen since we left Saint John! We had a bite to eat then headed back to the condo for the evening, with Pokemon playing in the background. It was a peaceful drive, until we realized that we needed to gas up. Just as soon as I said to Andrew that the van pretty much runs on fumes, and we should make it to the next exit, the “Low Fuel” light came on! I then see a big blue sign “Exit 20- GAS”. WE get off Exit 20, and the next sign we see is another sign for gas with arrows pointing to both the left and right. I told Andrew to go to the left, right away we see a station sign with the prices, but no actual station! I should have clued in right away as the gas prices were around $2.00 a gallon, not the over $3.00 of today! We found a place to safely turn and headed in the opposite direction, and drove for a few minutes, and came to a set of lights…no gas! Now I was starting to panic little. We got back on I-380 S and were joking around about what we’d do if we ran out of gas and what would be better to do?…”Drive 90km/hr to save fuel, but get to a gas station slower, or drive 110 km/hr and use more fuel but get to a station faster?” Please comment if you know the correct answer to settle this for us.
Lucky for us we found that the next exit sign once again said it had gas, we rolled the dice and got off, as soon as we got off, we both had a worried look on our face as there wasn’t a sign directing us to the gas! I shouted left and after a few minutes of holding our breath, we spotted the station! Phew! With the minivan filled, we continued our peaceful journey back to the resort with the kids not ever knowing our stress!
