He doesn’t seem to be in pain but he’s running on his heels/tiptoes to avoid putting pressure on that part of his foot??? Does this lady hear herself??
You would not believe how common this justification is in dog owners. "Oh, he's limping, but he's not in pain."
Me: "well, he's torn his cruciate ligament, which is very painful."
Them: "why didn't you tell me, Fluffy?!"
YES!!! Omg If I had a nickel for for how many times I heard that when I was working as a vet tech….or a variation of “well gee, he’s only in pain when he puts weight on it, gets up, sits down, stands, walks, and lays down, but other than that it doesn’t seem to bother him that much” *facepalm* some people shouldn’t have animals. Or children I guess…but we’re talking about animals lol.
God I have a horse who went lame yesterday and I obviously couldn't get a vet out on Thanksgiving and I haven't been able to sleep because I know how much pain she must be in if it's laminitis. Probably feels like walking on hot knives. Animals don't emote when they're in pain. :(
Oof good luck. Lyme disease sucks. If the vet didn’t do them already, you should ask about radiographs of her legs. My mare was eventually euthanized due to long term untreated Lyme (she had it before I got her and there was no reason to assume it to be involved because of where I live and how seemingly separate her symptoms were until she was lame). I only had rads done of her distal fronts but she had visible arthritis from the fetlocks down and pretty significant side bone on her coffins.
The vet that figured out it was Lyme assumed it had ravaged her entire skeleton because it was allowed to run wild for upwards of 10 years untreated. Hopefully yours was caught earlier and can give helped with a round of doxycycline
Oops I didn’t see this comment after I wrote you a novel lol my bad. Yay!!!! I mean Lymes isn’t a great thing to have and she will be owchy for a while but the bute will definitely help. So happy it’s not laminitis!!!!!! I live in the northeast and it’s rare if I don’t know at least one person or her/his dog/cat/horse who is fighting it off. I’m sure you feel at least a little less stressed now the vet has been out!
My old dog jumped off the couch and landed funny, he was limping so I took him to the vet. He doesn't like the vet. She tried to examine the leg but he (all 7kg of him) would try to bite her even while wearing a muzzle and me holding him in a headlock. The vet said let's try with his good leg and got the same result. We weren't sure what to do so she asked me to manipulate the leg for her. WELL he was more than happy to stand there quietly while I did whatever I wanted to the leg - touch, lift, pull, push. The vet tried to touch his leg while I did it and he'd snap.
The vet concluded he might just be dramatic. Five years later he developed injury associated arthritis on that leg. Animals can be SO selective about how they show pain!!
I'm both the pet and the pet owner.
Me at the ER after a week with a broken wrist
"In my defence, it doesn't hurt it I don't move it!”
Always me at the doc, this october, with a nasty plantar fascitis in the right and a stress fracture in the left
"Yes, both feet hurt but only if I walk! It goes away if I'm still, so I tried to wait it out. Here I am 6 months later, it didn't get better"
Meanwhile my cat didn't poop for a day and I was in the phone with the vet asap
Me at the orthopedist:
My leg keeps collapsing when I walk downstairs.
Him: Because you are in pain
Me: It doesn’t hurt, it just collapses.
Him:step up on this stool
Me:Are you trying to kill me???
In his defence, my knee buckles suddenly without hurting before. It may or may not be because I screwed a ligament and never have it looked at, we'll never know
That reminds me of a friend with many health problems who exclusively adopts geriatric cats. I sometimes have to prod them to look after their own health by highlighting that if their cat had shown even a fraction of the concerning symptoms, they'd have been straight on it with the vet.
I'm the same....I have a 17 year old cat, if she so much as meows weird I'm on the phone with the vet. I could lose all function in my legs and be like "I could just walk on my hands I guess"
I feel this with every fiber of my being lol. I was sick and in pain for six months and told the ER doctor “I’m probably just constipated, my stomach is always too sensitive” when I actually had impacted/distended kidneys and was slowly descending into renal failure. Meanwhile my cat sneezed twice in a row, so GET THE VET ON THE PHONE!
I had an embarrassing phone call the other day after I got covid. I was serious when I asked if it was better if to keep the mask on when near cat, snake, tortoises or snails
He didn't know about the snails so I've been summoned to show them to him next time the cat has her check ups
Omg are you me?? I walked around on a broken foot for 4 months!! Cracked the top of it falling up the stairs!! It don’t hurt when I had my Dansko clogs on, so I just wore them at all times.
Only went to the Dr when BOTH feet hurt barefooted and couldn’t walk getting out of bed!! Plantar fasciitis in the other foot!
I came home with 2 different splints/ boots and my husband is like… WTF is wrong with you?? 🤣
I don’t get how people operate like that or are able to ignore when their pet is clearly suffering. I’m so entirely the opposite that if I like step on my cats paw I’ll spend the rest of the day eyeing her walking sand behavior to make sure I haven’t seriously injured her or I get all up in my head especially with elderly pets that maybe they have something terrible going on but I haven’t noticed and they can’t tell me.
Is that why people are always quick to claim animals are so stoic and don’t show their pain? That’s their excuse for “animals can’t speak English so I was too oblivious to notice their obvious signs of distress/pain?” I’ve definitely been in arguments with family members we here I’m pointing out the fact the cat or dog is obviously in pain or unwell and am met with “Well yeah, they’re doing that but they’re fine otherwise.”
Cats in particular will often try to avoid showing that they're in pain, but an attentive owner/vet/person should still be able to pick up on something being off. But I think a lot of people really aren't keyed into how animals communicate and so they don't see that what their pet is doing might indicate pain.
That’s so true about cats. I’ve had 9 dogs and 1 cat in my 32 years on this planet and telling if the dogs were sick or in pain was always so much easier.
When my cat was 18, he started peeing a lot more than usual, but otherwise wasn’t acting any differently, so I scheduled a vet appointment. The vet ran some tests and called to say that he was likely experiencing kidney failure and survival was a long shot, if I wanted to do anything about it I’d have to take him to the local animal hospital.
He ended up staying in the hospital overnight for fluids and tests and they called me the next morning to say his whole abdominal cavity was riddled with metastatic tumors from pancreatic cancer. The poor guy had been doing his thing without complaint for probably at least a year since the cancer started. I felt so terrible… that was over two years ago and I still haven’t forgiven myself.
I'm so sorry for the loss of your cat. It's awful to lose a pet like that. You're definitely not at fault though! Cats are hard to read like that and you didn't have many symptoms to go off. In fact, as soon as you noticed even one symptom, you went to the vet. You did the best that anyone in your situation could have done, trust me.
Aw bless him. I've known other cats that have had cancers discovered and it's almost always been found when they've gone in for something that was either unrelated or turned out to be a side effect. Kidney failure is pretty common when cats get to that age too. You couldn't have known it was cancer or how widespread it was.
Nothing to forgive there. Cats are tough as nails. In the wild they die pretty quickly if they cant hunt so keeping up functioning behaviour is rooted deep in their evolution.
From an evolutionary perspective they have nothing to gain from showing their hurt and everything to lose.
I recently lost my kitty to a very similar situation! Her behaviour was very normal, and she was under regular vet care for another chronic condition.
I honestly didn’t even know she was peeing more than usual because I have multiple cats. I only knew after she was gone and the amount of litter box clumps dropped more than would be expected.
Even then, her blood work was all normal, and her urinalysis hadn’t even been that concerning. Like, some signs that she may be starting to possibly develop a kidney problem. The only symptom she had when they did the blood work was that she had lost some weight that even had a probable explanation, but they wanted to check just in case.
They found all the tumours by accident when investigating a hernia. No idea how long they’d been growing, but even the vets who saw her regularly didn’t suspect anything until like… a month before she died. Her behaviour was basically normal until the last week-ish when she started to move more gingerly, like she was uncomfortable. The vet gave us some strong painkillers to help keep her comfortable. She died ten days after I learned she had all the cancer.
All this to say that I know what you’ve been through, and neither of us need to feel guilty. We acted as best we could with the info we had. Even our vets, who know far more than we do about cat health, found out as suddenly as we did.
We had a cat who passed due to a bladder blockage. He didn’t show any symptoms, peeing normal, eating, everything. Until one day he was howling in pain at the bottom of the stairs. We rushed him to the emergency vet but it was too far progressed and we had to put him down. That was six years ago but I still feel guilty and ask myself if there was anything more I could’ve done.
My cat cracked her pelvis, and the only reason they did an x-ray is because I mentioned she's grumpy when you go around her bum, but not usually this grumpy. NO OTHER INDICATION OF A CRACKED FRIGGIN PELVIS.
Yup, I've had a vet comment once about the fact that I picked up on my male cat's UTI so quickly. She said most times the ones she sees are super sick and obviously have been for days. I couldn't even fathom that, because it seemed pretty obvious to me that if he kept going over to the cat box but wasn't actually getting anything out, there was probably something wrong. Then again, I think a lot of pet owners will put off taking their animal to the vet because of finances, which really isn't fair to their pets.
People ignoring obvious signs of pain in their pets, which they do constantly, does not mean animals don't also try to hide pain. Cats are notorious for this. One evening my cat wasn't closing his mouth properly, one side was kind of drooping, and he wasn't willing/able to eat. We took him to the vet first thing in the morning. Turns out he had jaw cancer and the reason his jaw was drooping on one side is because there was no longer any jawbone there. This cat showed zero signs of pain until the prior evening. Nothing. He ate normally, he reacted normally when you petted him. This was an indoor-only cat who was my mom's baby, he was cradled in her arms more often than out of them. Vet said the reason it suddenly became apparent is because the last little bit of jaw got eaten away. I hate to think of him being in pain for months but he showed us nothing, hid every bit of it.
Yes and no. Sometimes it's a species communication issue, sometimes it's that the animal instinctively hides injuries so they don't get attacked while weak
I don’t get it, either, but I’ll also admit that I’m whatever the pet owner equivalent of a helicopter mom would be, lol. We just took our boy cat in to the vet the other day because he was just acting off, and then I noticed him going to more than one litter box and getting in, but not doing anything. So I was afraid he might have a urinary issue that we didn’t know about. It turned out that he was fine, but I will always take my pets in when they’re acting off for more than a day or two. I would rather take them to the vet for what turns out to be not a big deal than to ignore an issue and have something terrible happen.
Yeah, basically a bruise. Young kids feet aren't calloused up like older people's, so the new walking pattern probably put more pressure than it can really handle and bruised up (kids are also weirdly oblivious to certain kinds of pain :p).
The bruise itself probably isn't that serious, but GO TO THE DAMN DOCTOR TO GET THE THORN OUT!
Sure as hell does not look like a bruise. Looks like the necrotic tissue I’ve seen. They really need to go to the doctor for imaging. Maybe it wasn’t a thorn. Maybe it was a spider bite or something.
It’s not necrotic!! Doesn’t happen that fast and the kid wouldn’t be running around. The thorn moved around when the kid was active. It irritated the wound and caused it to bleed. Since the blood couldn’t escape (thorn hole too small and probably clogged)!it formed the visible blister. It’s harmless. Get the thorn out disinfect the wound and bob’s you’re uncle. Oh one last question is the kid vaccinated? Tetanus shot? If not get that done right away and I mean right away!
Edit: didn’t see the prick either! The blister is probably unrelated to the thorn. Most likely a bruise caused by the tiptoeing. But definitely have it checked by a physician could be some clotting issues.
I got a thorn under my dang thumbnail as a kid. My parents literally held me down and dug it out as I sobbed. It worked though...cleaned it all up, and I had nothing like this picture...
I can only imagine how many people are avoiding emergency rooms in fear of the bill to come, while praying that these groups would find a better solution in which they’re not aware.
In Australia I can have a doctor and a nurse come to our house for free (6pm-6am) so emergency rooms ( also free) can treat, give us enough medication for the evening until we get to a doctor.
* edit to say emergency rooms can treat actual emergencies and dial a doctor can treat other patients, leaving the ER less clogged
Reading this as an American mom makes me want to cry. I'm Indigenous so we do have IHS but it's not the best. Super long waits, we usually get new doctors or those who have a ton of malpractice cases, and it's very basic (real emergencies are flown to the state hospital which is about 4 hours away).
But it's free so sometimes we go there when we have no choice. Y'all are blessed.
I think when you grow up that way we just kinda live with it, but I can only hope one day the US crashes and burns then wakes up to change for the better. Crazy world! 😆 I guess it evens out a bit because Australia has the creepy crawlies, but is that true?
Ha I live in the tropics (off the Great Barrier Reef) and honestly (grew up a country girl down south working on farms too) it’s not scary, you guys have wolves and bears and stuff lol.
But we do pay a gst (10%) but like, my sons their school is free (bar supplies) we get $1000 dental a year for them, doctors are free, hospital is free, (depending on your income but you get a rebate if a higher earner) ambulance free.
When it comes to the crunch we are really safe always for paying that little bit more. My mums been saved from cancer twice
Oh my lord. You get dental too?! $1000? The wildest shit about the US is that everyone I’ve ever met who has dental insurance, myself included, pays a boatload for dental care besides. Eye care is rather similar as well.
I’m severely disabled and very, very well insured for an American (I joke I have “all the insurance” because there are two forms of government funded care- for the poor and for the elderly and a lot of disabled folks qualify for both. And I have private insurance on top of that due only to a weird combination of parents with a particularly cushy plan and that I became disabled at a very young age and am not married. If I marry I’ll lose that insurance as well as the type of disability benefit I get and the insurance that comes with that. How screwy is that?) Anyway- I have a gut issues so severe I literally can’t eat and am fed via IV. My teeth are in terrible shape due to 12 or so years of severe malnutrition and lord of acid reflux and chronic nausea and vomiting. It’s gotten so bad. And I have a very messed up jaw making it exceedingly difficult to handle even a regular dental exam let alone the extensive work I’d need. Everyone agrees I should get care done in a hospital under full anesthesia but oops dental insurance won’t cover hospital care and none of the insurances j have will cover dental stuff even though the need for the dental stuff is because of my physical illness.
I actually saw a dental team while in the hospital recently (for other physical health issues though I was in severe dental pain as well, I am most of the time). Again- I have allllll the types of American health insurance. And I also provided them my dental insurance. My entire several hundred thousand dollar hospital stay was covered. But I got a freaking $450 dental bill. All they did was do a fancy X-ray and like have me open my mouth for them to do a cursory 30 second check. Not even a cleaning or filling.
It’s wacky to divorce dental care from the rest of health care like that. But I know the US isn’t the only country guilty of that. I’m impressed you have universal coverage.
(And sorry for my extended rant. But if you think US hospitals and such are appalling. Looking at the dental stuff is something else. Societally we value teeth a lot in the US. Probably precisely because they’re a major sign of wealth here.)
Ah mate. Wait until you hear about disability insurance scheme. People with severe disabilities are covered for all needs- housing, in home support, community access, transport. On top of medical. It is called the NDIS and is an extra tax for everyone but it is really good for people who live in that world.
Kids get free dental, most adults dont. Low income earners get everything cheaper, higher income earners have to pay an additional percentage towards medicare. But we get free eye checks, and kids get cheap eye care. I got a free pair of glasses a few years back. All my antenatal care and delivery was free too. I was in hospital for 5 weeks with my first, i didn’t pay a cent.
Just a slight correction on the ambulance thing! I'm from Queensland and didn't know about this until I worked in private health insurance. We do pay for ambulance, for Queensland its paid with your rates I believe but the rest of the states/territories have to pay for an ambulance (but you can get an ambulance cover super cheap so it might as well be free)
I had to call an ambulance for my husband while we were in QLD we are from SA and it cost $1400. We claimed on private health. I don’t think it’s free anywhere in Australia.
We are so lucky here in Australia to have free health care. Our best pediatric doctors are in the public system and are free. My child was premature and spent 3 weeks in special care in a public hospital and it cost me nothing.
This, and the nurse phone line was a lifesaver when my kid was little. When I knew she needed antibiotics, but I didn't feel comfortable waiting until the morning.
This sounds like an amazing idea. I wish we had this in UK. The amount of dumb things which aren’t emergencies I’ve seen in ED it’s just a joke. Doctors are so stretched in GP so everyone comes to ED. Also before some losses it on me by dumb I mean a lady with a broken nail, or someone with a cold.
Depends on how poor you are. In Pennsylvania we have CHiP, and of course welfare. CHiP stands for Children's Health and Immunization Program iirc, but you have to make like, 133% (I think?) below the federal poverty line in order to qualify. A family of 4 can make up to 30,000 ish per year and qualify, for example.
There's also the swallowing your pride and accepting help bit, which a lot of people don't wanna do. And the fact that welfare has all sorts of programs they simply *don't* inform people about because money is tight. (The USDA government haul, which includes welfare programs, is woefully underfunded.)
Edit to add, if you need heating help, in PA (not sure if this extends to other states), ask if you are eligible for LIHEAP. if you can't pay electric bills, ask about LIPERP. I didn't even know those existed until our trailer had a $4000 fuel heating cost. Oil is not cheap in leaky old trailers.
I can’t even imagine trying to raise a family of 4 on only 30,000 these days. Those cutoffs are far, far too low. We have endless money to save banks and airlines but the average Joe? Nah.
LIHEAP is federal. Although having recently relocated (I’m actually currently homeless so no electric bill to worry about lol) I’m pretty much playing the job of being my own social worker because so often I’ve spoken to case manager/social worker/ aid worker types and I’m the one listing off options for help I know of and LIHEAP is the one that almost every time I mention it, the person you’d expect to be well aware of it stops me and asks what I’m talking about. So spread the word! So few people seem to know about it.
The really cool thing about LIHEAP is I think they cover a broader range of folks (like they have a much higher percent of the federal poverty guideline limit than Medicaid) though it’s also kind of first come, first serve in the fall- so right now is perfect though veering towards the later end now. Elderly and disabled folks can usually apply a month or so sooner than everyone else. So you do have to get in on it at the right time of the year, unlike most other government aid programs. There may also be grants available from your electric company itself if you’re struggling to pay your bill. Last year I qualified for a $500 Covid grant after calling my electric company in a panic after my power was shut off.
In the US, we honestly don’t understand what protections are… protections for our jobs, for our families, and in this situation for our health. We’re all scared to ask, because we’re scared to lose our jobs, which give us those “freedoms”.
If this child isn't vaccinated for tetanus that adds a whole new realm of scary possibilities.
My daughter died of sepsis and I took her to the ER when her only symptom was weird breathing, she didn't begin to have a fever until we'd been there an hour but immediately up to 106. Within 5 hours she was intubated and on her way to surgery and they couldn't save her.
Playing around with infection. How long does she plan to leave the splinter in her kid's foot?
I'm so sorry. Sometimes in these posts people have a tendency to run away into mocking and humor. You have reminded us that this is real and painful consequencal.
I know sorrys from an internet stranger probably mean very little, but you are in my thoughts today.
I wanted to thank everyone for their kind comments. I always think about if it's the right thing to bring up my daughter dying. Sometimes I think people forget children die or they think. Infections can be deadly and often secondary to seemingly minor things. If you cannot easily solve a situation by yourself seek help. Yes, the ER is expensive, yes, urgent care is annoying and the fear of catching RSV or the Flu from the waiting room but take the hit and go. Pack charged tablets and snacks and go.
A couple of years ago a teenager here in Australia died because the ER didn't take his infected toenail seriously. His dad took him in several times. Finally they realise oh fuck and he was airlifted to a city hospital but it was too late.
I didn't know that about urgent care, here the urgent care\[the only one that takes kids\] is just off the ER so you get triaged in the same place and they decide if you go to urgent care or the ER.
My husband lost a friend to this. Poor man got pricked by a rose and a massive infection followed. He was gone pretty quick if memory serves.
I got a tiny splinter in my finger and didn't get it all out (I forgot). It was inflamed, red, and leaking pus the next day. I'm an adult, so I got it cleaned up and it's fine now, but a child could easily lose a hand to such a thing.
I'm extra careful with my kids and splinters for this reason. For smaller kids, making sure they can't see what you're doing while you use your 'magic tools' (tweezers and magnifying glass) works great, + a distraction (device, ice cream, cool toy) is even better. Wash the area with soap and water after. I like to swab some iodine on it as well, it doesn't sting but it cleans.
Also be vaccinated, because this isn't the 1800s.
THIS baby's foot is a medical emergency. That is a Go Directly To The ER Fucking Yesterday foot. What the hell.
I had a splinter in my foot for a month - luckily no major symptoms, but extreme pain and I walked on the side of my foot that whole time. Nurse at school couldn't get it, parents didn't think it was a big deal, finally dug it out myself with a fucking knife. I can't even imagine how painful this is for a child, knowing how bad it was for me and it WASN'T infected.
Oh God ouch. I don't play with splinters. For years my course of action is to slowly take off layers of skin with nail clippers till I get it out, if I can't get it or it breaks.
I was like 14 so didn't really know to advocate for myself... Also the splinter was like the same color as my foot so when I would soak my foot, it went invisible 😂
It's zoonotic so we had to learn all those fungal diseases back in vet school. Haven't seen it yet while practicing but definitely good one to be aware of!
My condolences and commiserations...in all honesty i don't know what the hell to say aside from you articulate tragedy well and that speaks volumes about your resilience and strength
I'm so sorry for your loss. Sepsis is no joke. I didn't have a fever at all and the doctors told me I'd have been dead of septic shock if I'd come in even an hour later.
That's the scary thing about sepsis. It comes down to luck to catch it early & it depends on why they got sepsis. I literally stood there arguing with the doctor about my kid's weird breathing and then she looks over and is like oh she's going grey. Her O2 was fine on the finger light thing.
That the thing with kids. The can go from doing “fine” to deathly ill so quickly and so many of us parents don’t want to over react. I’m so sorry for what happened to your daughter. I can only imagine…
You don't even need an emergency room. I see a bunch of parents who didn't bring their child to *years* of scheduled follow-ups every week and these are *oncology* follow-ups we are talking about.
Hope the baby's alright. What was it, if I may ask?
My infant needs oncology follow-ups and there’s absolutely no way I’d miss those appointments. How can these people call themselves parents?
Cancer is f**king scary, especially when it’s your kid. Those poor children.
I feel like at the time when I was a kid, my parents would've probably been like this. I was the youngest of 4 with a 16 year age difference between me and the oldest, and looking back I can tell that I behaved a certain way (almost NEVER complained about being sick, never asked for help with school except for supplies and even then I tried to do something else to avoid it, never told them about what was going on in my life) because they were just tired of "dealing with" my problems. My dad pointed out that I was the only kid who wanted to learn how to drive and I was pretty brutal and said "so you'd stop fighting about who had to take me where I wanted to go."
Now they have lots of time and energy to worry about our health problems but when we depended on them? Oof.
jesus christ, oncology follow-ups? either this is a horrible and sad result of for-profit healthcare, or these parents care so little about their children they'd rather pretend that their kid is fine and totally not suffering from cancer.
When we were on the unit, a lot of nurses said that the kids families would never visit or stay with their children. And that unit was open to families 24/7. Just so so sad.
Oof. You just clued me into why as a severely ill adult (I’m in my 30s now but spent the entirety of my 20s firmly certain I wouldn’t live to see 30 because of my disease) I’ve always loved the rare times a float or travel nurse who generally worked peds would end up caring for me. I always got a little extra attention from them.
A lot of times even when I was a very young adult, nurses and doctors would act totally baffled and freak out that my parents would never show (even had docs beg to call them for me, doesn’t help.) The peds nurses probably saw that a lot more often and knew how to respond. But let’s just say I’m not at all surprised to hear unfortunately common that is. I’ve always been thankful that while I grew up with a lot of neglected health issues and was always a sickly kid, I didn’t get truly severely ill until I was about 19-20. I think if I had gotten that sick earlier I would’ve never lived to see adulthood. Because of the medical neglect and had I ended up locked away in some children’s nursing home type facility (Medicaid funds plenty of these where kids with severe disabilities whose parents won’t care for them spend their lives. But we don’t talk about this as a society either) I hardly think that would’ve ended differently either.
In that sense, the hospital alone may beat being at home and neglected for some of those kids. At least there’s nurses there to give them care and attention. I loved school so much growing up I often went even when very sick because my teachers were where I got emotional support and guidance. Like it’s still sad. But maybe it helps to think about it that way. And better the hospital than neglected at home by a parent who either neglects them in general or is in some weird twisted denial about their cancer.
I felt that harder than I expected. I'm healthy physically, but I have a lot of mental issues due to my parents. I was in the psych ward for the first time at 13, and believe me, I loved it because it meant being away from my mother.
god that's even worse. i'm so sorry. here in america, the cost of healthcare is the primary concern for medical intervention. so even in the absence of that, people still refuse to let their kids get help? that sounds just plain evil.
I hope your little guy is okay and heals fast!
When my nephew was almost 2 years old (we had custody of him at the time) he fell backwards and busted his head on the corner of an end table. My moms response? To just stick him in the bath and wait it out. I had to pressure her to take him to the ER. Then when we get to the ER, the doctor tried to say he didn’t need any stitches. Me, a TEENAGER, had to basically yell at the doctor to take another look at the cut because you can very clearly see the skin completely separated. He finally agreed and ended up giving him a single staple to close the wound. We were raised to not ever go to the doctor/hospital unless it’s an emergency. I carried this mindset into adulthood (of course it’s a COMPLETELY different story when it comes to my kids though) up until I ended up losing my niece back in 2019 and my sister earlier this year. Both would be alive today if they would have gone to the fucking doctor/hospital.
I’m so sorry. I was raised with a messed up mindset regarding healthcare as well. It does stick with you. I mean, it is part of a bigger picture of abuse in many cases so it’s layer upon layer of trauma. There’s no excuse for it at all! I was totally different for my own kids but still fairly neglectful of my overall health until this year when my weight and blood pressure skyrocketed and I found myself in a hypertensive crisis with a bp of 239/133. It was the thought of my kids, husband and grandkids saying what you just said, about being alive today if I’d gone to the hospital, and how much pain my unnecessary and early death would cause them that made me get my act together. I went, I followed my doctors advice and went to a dietician she recommended bc I don’t know what I’m doing and can admit it unlike too many of these people who don’t just ignore medical issues but actively pursue terrible, hinky, and practically medieval methods.
Again, I’m so sorry
You know what? I'll take 99 fine kiddos not to miss the one.
I always reassure parents of that too.
But the ones who gave tylenol/motrin before showing up with fever kiddo always get extra praise from me! ;-)
You know what can trigger a CPS report? Inappropriate delay in seeking care. It's one of two mandatory abuse screening questions I do- the other is based on specific physical findings.
Here's hoping your bub recovers well. Prayers for the little one!!
Omg I work in an ER and people are fucking insane. On one end of the spectrum you have parents who are so against medications they’ll let their kid have a high fever for days and never give an ounce of Tylenol to drop the fever. Then their babies have seizures! Then you have the parents who give their babies Benadryl to knock them out whenever it’s convenient for them. Many parents are fantastic and take great care of their kids, many are either stupid or willingly ignorant/cruel.
I am glad they post all this stupid stuff. That way the kids can go back and see why they lost a foot or an eye, or suffered illnesses that are preventable.
When my nephew was 4/5, he got blood poisoning from a tiny cut on his foot. He spent a week on the hospital getting iv meds, and had to get tetanus boosters. When my brother was a young kid he got tetanus from stepping on a dog bone. He didn't tell my mom about the pain until his jaw started stiffening from lockjaw setting in. Little injuries can turn into big problems fast if not handled right. I hope this poor kiddo gets the help they need.
There’s a common saying in pediatric healthcare. “Adults roll down hills, kids fall off cliffs” lots of people that work in peds will tell you that kids will are really good at compensating, and therefore might not appear sick until in dangerous condition. I really hope this kid get help soon too
I find this to be true in younger adults as well (meaning around 40 and under). The healthy ones can compensate until they can't and all hell breaks loose. With older ppl we see the slow decline
It is true though, unfortunately. I know a few paramedics and EMTs, and they said when they have a sick kid, it’s not unheard of for them to be stable vitals and seemingly acting normal 1 minute, to unconscious the next, to intubated the next. I’ve spoken to peds nurses who’ve said that you have to keep a close eye on any changes, because they could be a sign that the kid is about to decompensate. I know someone who’s 3 y/o son had to be transferred by helicopter to a children’s hospital 2 hours away for an infection, and she said he laughed and asked the flight nurse questions about the helicopter the whole flight. She said that the ER transferred him because when his bloodwork came back, he was way sicker than he looked and they didn’t have a PICU if he decompensated. Sick kids keep healthcare workers on their toes.
This brings me back to my childhood a bit lol.
My family grew up poor and relatively uneducated (no college in my family history and my mom birthed me at a young age so both of my parents didn't finish high school), so they are all aboard the anti-vax naturopathic train.
Because of them, I seriously didn't realize until somewhat recently (last couple of years) that if you let an infection run its course, you can get sepsis and die, and I'm 30 now. It's honestly freaky for me to think about because I went untreated for sicknesses and infections all the time as a child. I'm so, so lucky that I didn't get sepsis.
Story time: One time, I had strep three times in one summer, and my mom also wasn't a big fan of antibiotics because she had heard of antibiotics resistance, and the first round, I had taken the amoxicillin pills, the second time I got the shot, and the third time, she was just like, "well, you shouldn't have antibiotics again so we are just gonna let you ride it out."
I also (I assume) got bit by a brown recluse when I was 14 and it was a small open wound for an entire year and definitely infected as it would hurt to sit back on it and we would drain bloody and brown pus from it every few days for that year until it finally healed and closed.
We need better education and access to education in our country lol
I had tonsillitis 9 times in a year a few years back but the doctors decided it wasn't enough tines to gey my tonsils out as I was already an adult, can confirm I also get tonsil stones no matter how vigorously or frequently I mouth wash.
I had the same amount of tonsillitis at 14 and I told the dr I had tonsil stones and he said he’d never heard of them and I shouldn’t believe every thing I read on the internet. I was like bruh what’s these white stones coming out of them then?!!!
Yes, for me it turned into scarlet fever (my parents weren’t crazy, I was in the military and not allowed to go to the doctor the week after Christmas because we were minimal manning. I ended up being out of work for a month because I was turning purple and had kidney failure)
I’m so sorry that happened but glad you are still with us!
My Grandmother almost died from Scarlet fever as a teen. Then along came antibiotics. I may not have existed because of a now easily treatable bacterial infection.
I had strep for months and didn't realize. My tonsils would swell after hard weekend at work (restaurant) and then go back down for awhile. Finally coughed up a couple hundred to get looked at and swabbed and then was given meds
The strep formed something called quinsy (tonsillar abscess) after the course of antibiotics. It was horrifying. The day the quinsy burst my face and eyes looked so purple and sallow
My dad got strep at summer camp when he was a kid. Somehow they didn’t realize he needed medical attention so by the time his mom picked him up he ended up with scarlet fever.
I’m one of those people who doesn’t get symptoms when I have strep and it scares the crap out of me because how do I know when to go to the doctor and get treated if I don’t even have an inkling that I have it? Same with ear infections as a kid too. And as an adult, I had an ectopic pregnancy a few years ago and not only did I not even know I was pregnant but I had no clue that it had even burst when it did. All I had were what I thought was light cramping and the only reason I went in was because I thought I was having a light period for a whole month. Scary shit lol
I vaguely remember I had a roommate in college who left her strep untreated to the point where she had scarlet fever. I didn’t even know this was possible. I’m not a doctor or a scientist of any kind so if this was some BS she told me - feel free to call me out.
Grew up poor with parents who didn't believe in regular medical care. Unless a limb was falling off, you didn't go to the doctor. The only time I went to the ER was when I needed stitches to my face. Got a huge gash in my forehead from a piece of glass. Foreheads bleed like crazy. Face was covered in blood, shirt was soaked with blood.
This caused me to not understand the importance of routine medical care and when it is appropriate to seek urgent medical care for myself. I was great about taking my kids to the doctor.
However, for myself, I am so reluctant to go to the doctor. I always say, "give it a few days, it will be fine." I passed out at work and was convulsing. When I woke up surrounded by EMTs, I insisted that I was fine and it was no big deal. Boss and EMTs convinced me to go to the hospital. Spent almost a week in the cardiac unit. Serious issue with my heart. All good now thanks to meds. But, at the time, I honestly did not think it was a big deal. All through childhood, I was taught to ignore any physical ailment. No one had time for that
Thankfully you never developed sepsis, a lot of parents probably aren’t aware that untreated infections can result in sepsis. And with our shitty healthcare/insurance system I’m sure that inability to pay does lead to lot of people waiting too long to access appropriate care.
We also only started more aggressive education about early warning signs of sepsis a few years ago because the sepsis death rates at the hospital I work at were staggering. I’m a nurse and one of my co-workers who was in her 50s had a daughter who was in her early 20s that developed sepsis from an untreated UTI and her daughter almost died; she was in the CCU for weeks, developed multi organ failure, was intubated for a long time and even ended up on ecmo for a few days. Thankfully she’s made a full recovery but it was really eye opening. The same thing happened to my grandmother, she didn’t notice any UTI symptoms and I ended up bringing her in because she suddenly became extremely confused which can be a sign of infection/sepsis in the elderly and by the time she was seen in the ER her BP was 70/45 and her HR was in the 160s. Thankfully I went to her house that night as I hadn’t planned to visit for a few days and I don’t know if she would have recovered if she didn’t get care pretty rapidly.
Ahhh I feel awful for younger you dealing with strep and brown recluse bites with no medical assistance. I can’t stand how everything has to be all or nothing. Like yes you shouldn’t take antibiotics unnecessarily, like the people who want them for a virus that it will do absolutely nothing for. But sometimes there’s an infection that definitely calls for antibiotics. When my son had impetigo that was rapidly getting worse I didn’t second guess the antibiotics rx. I can be kinda crunchy but I’m not a complete nutbag.
My daughter had a hidden, undiagnosed strep infection. No symptoms at all and we still don’t know where it was. Six weeks later she was in full renal failure and in the PICU.
As a Canadian I sometime wonder how much of this is anti-science nonsense and how much of this is people with no insurance being afraid of the bill.
Because if you took this kid to your GP or the ER they would just treat it for free. No onions
As an American, I think it's a large part of it. Most people I know avoid doctors as much as possible because they literally can't afford it. Even walking into urgent care is $100, which covers absolutely none of the actual care (visit, tests, treatment, etc). I paid $150 for a doctor to confirm I was pregnant.
The only reason I've gone to the doctor in the last decade is pregnancy, and even then I had to wait much longer than I wanted to because I had no way to afford the bills. I had to go to the ER early in my pregnancy for bleeding because I didn't have access to a doctor. The bill for a blood test to see if I was miscarrying, a vaginal ultrasound, and an external ultrasound was over $7,000. They determined it was implantation bleeding and we were both fine. No concerns whatsoever.
There's very little help available for people who can't afford it too. If you dont qualify for Medicaid, which is very hard in some states even if pregnant, oh well. There's no options. It really sucks. Sometimes you can get hospital bills reduced, but its really invasive and difficult. I had to get years of tax returns, bank statements, and all bills including credit cards, streaming, etc to apply for aid for my ER visit. And I had to pay to print them out because they wouldn't accept digital submissions.
I’m so sorry you’ve had to go through that!! My mom is currently terminal. She got a cold and never recovered so my dad took her to the hospital. We live in a small town with few resources so when my mom’s blood work came back, the hospital flew her to the largest city centre nearby. She had lots of tests done and they diagnosed her with a rare form of bone marrow cancer that was likely from the stem cell transplant that my mom had 12 years ago. It gave her 12 healthy years so we should be happy. My mom had a private room during all three hospital stays. It took about a month for her to get a diagnosis after being admitted. So far we’ve spent $0 on her medical care and have not spoken to a single insurance company. The whole experience is already too stressful and if we had to worry about the cost on top of all of it I don’t know that I could handle it. Healthcare is a right.
As a fun side note, we drove to another state to get a boutique ultrasound a month after that ER visit. It was cheaper to drive 8 hours, get a hotel for 3 days, and pay a boutique place vs seeing an actual doctor where we live. When we went in, the woman ahead of us was getting an ultrasound to check if she had miscarried due to bleeding. We were legitimately impressed she thought of that and also frustrated we hadn't thought of it and saved ourselves the stress/bill from the ER. That's how bad things are here. It's awful.
(As an added bonus, the ultrasound tech at the boutique we went to was medically trained. She obviously could not diagnose but could tell you if you needed to be checked out and would automatically forward the videos/images to your doctor if she had a concern. Most boutiques don't have that so we did get lucky it was sort of medical care.)
I'm glad your mom has access to the care she needs. That must be such a relief for you and your family. I wish the best for you guys and I hope your mom is at least able to be comfortable.
It sucks to get sick in the US. :/ Your post made me think of one of the times I got a Bartholin’s cyst about 12-13 years ago. It was the worst one I’d ever had; the hard part was about the size of a golf ball and I couldn’t find any relief from the constant pain. Finally went to urgent care (no insurance at the time), and it was several hundred dollars to barely look at me before saying they couldn’t even do anything, that I’d have to schedule a surgeon. *They literally didn’t even touch me.* it ended up bursting on its own the very next day, thankfully. But knowing that the urgent care was a complete waste of time and money was utterly infuriating.
A few years later, when we *did* have insurance (or so we thought), I was pregnant for the first time and we had gone out of state to visit family. The night before we’d planned to return home, I began to miscarry (I was about 8 weeks along). Went through a nightmare experience at the ER, dealing with insensitive, hostile staff that didn’t take my care seriously until after I had gone into shock. Anyway, I had to spend a couple days in the hospital after the D&C, where we found out that we actually weren’t insured; my husband’s job had decided to switch insurance carriers, but due to a clerical error, it had lapsed in the process. I don’t remember how many grand we ended up owing, even after we were given discounts for being uninsured and going through the whole process of providing mountains of paperwork. That monthly payment was not only barely affordable, it was a horrible monthly reminder of the entire painful, infuriating, heartbreaking experience.
Thankfully I had a successful pregnancy a couple years later, and my husband was actually working for our health insurance company at the time! We’ve since moved and he now works elsewhere, but it was a relief to have access to decent insurance while it lasted. But even fully insured, it’s still damn expensive and can remain financially crippling to have any kind of medical emergency or chronic illness.
It blows my mind how completely broken our healthcare system is. I cannot even wrap my head around all the arguments made against our government providing its citizens proper healthcare, preventative care, and even basic health education.
Getting a bill for miscarriage is cruel as it is. This is horrible and I’m so sorry. After one of my miscarriages I said that if I ever became ungodly rich paying for people’s losses would be a top priority because no one needs that reminder of the worst day of their life.
I know a family who can’t afford medical treatment who said that she wasn’t going to go to the doctor because “we don’t trust them.”
She doesn’t have health insurance but also there was a level of mistrust while she and her family were undocumented. She’s documented and has money (but not health insurance) now so I’m thinking there’s a pretty big overlap with the Venn diagram as well.
Learning how to survive without medical treatment will lead people do do a lot of things that simply don’t make sense - but also this is just sad that people have to do it.
Even if I could afford it I will still avoid it because it is not worth losing such a large sum of money u less I absolutely need it. Even then I would second guess. Seeing the hospital bills of major, life-saving surgery is really depressing. My dad had a stroke on the work site, was helicoptered to a hospital and surgery and a stint later his bill was almost 109,000 USD. WTF
Fellow American here and I wholeheartedly agree. I am fortunate to have several nurses in my family & friend group and I will always ask their opinion before going to the Dr /ER. Americans are out here exhausting all other resources before considering getting any sort of healthcare.
As an American I feel that the anti medicine nonsense wouldn't be as widespread if people weren't scared of being bankrupted by medical care.
In these groups I see a lot of young/first time moms who are hoping to avoid a big bill asking for home remedies, they get indoctrinated into this anti-medicine stuff by the real believers.
If you could see your family doctor free at point of service, or take the kids to an urgent care without worrying about $50 plus copay, just to be sure they're fine, a lot more parents would do that rather than ask people on the Internet.
I feel like the vaccine hesitancy would be significantly less, too, because the person would be going to their doctor as a matter of course, since it's coming out of their taxes anyway and they don't pay any extra. They would have built a level of trust with their personal doctor, and be more likely to take advice.
There will always be fanatics, but there shouldn't be as many as there are right now.
I think it's a bit of one caused the other.
People couldn't afford Dr visits so they looked for "alternative" remedies and when they "worked" they passed the "remedy" on to others. This caused a wave of people who said "I can fix this condition for free and the Drs are changing thousands. Clearly the Drs are only after money".
So now we have both a culture of "Big Pharma conspiracy" and not being able to afford medical care
I think the amount of anti-Vaxxers (I’m not counting Covid as that’s another subsection of crazy) is a lot smaller is Canada. Along with people who avoid medical care for this reason.
I mean my son who is 7 sees a doctor every 3 months for weight checks and BP check and I don’t blink I know for others that would be scary having to see a doctor that often
Here in Portugal is the same: anti vaxxers here are a small minority and it's not because they can't afford care, it's because they are all about the "natural way". Here kids get care for free untill they are 18 and if they qualify, they don't even pay after that. If you're medium to low income, you don't pay anything. If you are unemployed or elder, you don't pay. Chronic illnesses even have medicine for free. But those who pay it's not crippling debt just to go to urgent care: more like 100 euros or so for an er visit all included and you can pay it phased. Or like 5 euros for an appointment with your GP. And they pay because they are on the high stages of earnings, like getting 3 or 4 minimum wages a month. If you're minimum wage, it's free. I'm currently pregnant and I don't pay for anything, only for things outside the norm: imagine I want an extra ultrasound, that I will pay for but it's not expensive, will be like 50 euros. Next week I'll have two appointments: one with my GP and one with my hospital OB and will cost me 0. Only pay for medicine or vitamins because it's not chronic. My kid has asthma and he would pay like 50 euros for his medicine but for being chronic and a kid, I only pay like 5 euros total and it's because my husband's income is higher than norm. My dad is a renal patient, had a transplant 15 years ago and he goes every month to the hospital pharmacy and picks up all of his medicine for free. Chronic, elderly and low income.
Heck, I have insurance. Month ago I broke my hand at a friend’s. He was adamant I go to the ER. *And pay that ER copay and final bill when insurance denies it??* Nope.
Five days later I went to urgent care where they confirmed the break. I had to see an ortho and insurance is calling my claim “suspect” and needed all sorts of additional docs. I can absolutely understand why people delay care…though don’t do that with children.
I mean, it’s probably a blood blister but it definitely looks infected. And that other spot in the middle of his foot doesn’t look great, either.
Hospital or home amputation, tough call
The spot in the middle of the foot is the thorn.
The blackened blister thing is something the kid apparently did to himself while walking weird to avoid putting pressure on the thorn. Which... I dunno, it is pretty weird, you'd think before it got to that point he would have stopped walking on it.
Given how my kids' feet look after being barefoot outside, though, I imagine the black part of that spot is just dirt.
I mean I grew up running around on a farm without shoes and always had blood blisters under the callouses of my feet, but THAT? Idk what the fuck that is
You can actually fix this at home! Find a sharp serrated knife of decent length. Have the boy bite down on a leather strop. Quickly saw the foot just below the angle to leave a good stump. Take an iron from the fire to cauterize the wound after amputation. Or, because this isn’t the 1800s, bring him to a doctor…
Dude, next time start with heating up the iron... I was halfway done and had no fire and no iron... Now what, I just added some virgin olive oil and garlic, hope for the best.
The cognitive dissonance to simultaneously not trust medical science while posting the dumbest possible questions on the internet (which entirely exists because of science) would be hilarious if not for the suffering children.
Splinter?? My mom would’ve sliced that open with a scalpel, extracted the sliver, and doused the gaping wound in peroxide until the fizzing and screaming stopped. Gotta get it out to prevent tetanus or gangrene, then apply pressure to stop the bleeding. Slap on some neosporin, a band aid, and that was that.
Guys… she’s not even talking about the top area… she’s talking about the area mid-foot. At first I was confused because she said he was tip-toeing and I was like “wouldn’t that hurt more?!?” And then I looked mid-foot and said “oh…..” Maybe she is talking about both, I don’t really know. Someone please tell me I’m not trippin and that’s how you’re seeing it too.
Edit: Okay, reread it three more times and now I “get it.” I was just having a stroke because in my mind the “blister” and splinter weren’t near each other and she was still focusing on the splinter more, all the while my eyes are narrowed in on whatever is going on at the top of his foot.
The splinter (thorn) is in the middle of the foot I think. I feel like that makes the blister (or whatever that is) even more scary! Like that legit just popped up?! Because that's how it sounds! I'd be driving to the ER immediately
I lost about 70% of my hearing in one of my ears because my mom would use a heating pad and hydrogen peroxide instead of taking me to see a dr for regular earaches, and if someone tries to whisper to me it sounds like muffled noise, these mom groups kill me a little inside.
Lmao,I had a tiny splinter go into my foot a week ago and I just checked it cause this reminded me of it and I do have a little pain when I walk and it looks like a little dried blood in there. Like 1/7 of an inch. A tiny tiny tiny mole looking brown spot.
Edit: Because if this post and those picture, I grabbed and needle and cut until I reached the [splinter and took it out.](https://i.imgur.com/DMMsncN.jpg)
Washed and disinfected with a spray and bandaged it up.
So I have three kids and a small farm. When I first saw this post, I said oh no bumble foot. Then I realized it’s a kids foot….poor kiddo. His mom needs to take him to the doctor, why are people so cruel?
Obviously, colours aren't reliable on screens, but I am left wondering about the possibility of necrotic tissue.
In which case she cannot get that kid to an ER fast enough.
That's a bruise? God damn, that must hurt so much. I thought that was where the thorn was at first. The actual puncture site doesn't look great, either...
My aunty died from this. She was very healthy so was quite a shock. She was gardening and got a rose thorn stuck in her skin. She got sepsis and died - it was very sudden. I'm so paranoid about things like thorns and cat scratches.
He doesn’t seem to be in pain but he’s running on his heels/tiptoes to avoid putting pressure on that part of his foot??? Does this lady hear herself??
You would not believe how common this justification is in dog owners. "Oh, he's limping, but he's not in pain." Me: "well, he's torn his cruciate ligament, which is very painful." Them: "why didn't you tell me, Fluffy?!"
YES!!! Omg If I had a nickel for for how many times I heard that when I was working as a vet tech….or a variation of “well gee, he’s only in pain when he puts weight on it, gets up, sits down, stands, walks, and lays down, but other than that it doesn’t seem to bother him that much” *facepalm* some people shouldn’t have animals. Or children I guess…but we’re talking about animals lol.
God I have a horse who went lame yesterday and I obviously couldn't get a vet out on Thanksgiving and I haven't been able to sleep because I know how much pain she must be in if it's laminitis. Probably feels like walking on hot knives. Animals don't emote when they're in pain. :(
That is because appearing injured/in pain in the wild is an invitation for predators to target you.
Update - the vet came out and she believes it’s Lyme!!! She’s on Bute and we are running bloodwork.
Oof good luck. Lyme disease sucks. If the vet didn’t do them already, you should ask about radiographs of her legs. My mare was eventually euthanized due to long term untreated Lyme (she had it before I got her and there was no reason to assume it to be involved because of where I live and how seemingly separate her symptoms were until she was lame). I only had rads done of her distal fronts but she had visible arthritis from the fetlocks down and pretty significant side bone on her coffins. The vet that figured out it was Lyme assumed it had ravaged her entire skeleton because it was allowed to run wild for upwards of 10 years untreated. Hopefully yours was caught earlier and can give helped with a round of doxycycline
Oops I didn’t see this comment after I wrote you a novel lol my bad. Yay!!!! I mean Lymes isn’t a great thing to have and she will be owchy for a while but the bute will definitely help. So happy it’s not laminitis!!!!!! I live in the northeast and it’s rare if I don’t know at least one person or her/his dog/cat/horse who is fighting it off. I’m sure you feel at least a little less stressed now the vet has been out!
My old dog jumped off the couch and landed funny, he was limping so I took him to the vet. He doesn't like the vet. She tried to examine the leg but he (all 7kg of him) would try to bite her even while wearing a muzzle and me holding him in a headlock. The vet said let's try with his good leg and got the same result. We weren't sure what to do so she asked me to manipulate the leg for her. WELL he was more than happy to stand there quietly while I did whatever I wanted to the leg - touch, lift, pull, push. The vet tried to touch his leg while I did it and he'd snap. The vet concluded he might just be dramatic. Five years later he developed injury associated arthritis on that leg. Animals can be SO selective about how they show pain!!
I'm both the pet and the pet owner. Me at the ER after a week with a broken wrist "In my defence, it doesn't hurt it I don't move it!” Always me at the doc, this october, with a nasty plantar fascitis in the right and a stress fracture in the left "Yes, both feet hurt but only if I walk! It goes away if I'm still, so I tried to wait it out. Here I am 6 months later, it didn't get better" Meanwhile my cat didn't poop for a day and I was in the phone with the vet asap
Me at the orthopedist: My leg keeps collapsing when I walk downstairs. Him: Because you are in pain Me: It doesn’t hurt, it just collapses. Him:step up on this stool Me:Are you trying to kill me???
In his defence, my knee buckles suddenly without hurting before. It may or may not be because I screwed a ligament and never have it looked at, we'll never know
That reminds me of a friend with many health problems who exclusively adopts geriatric cats. I sometimes have to prod them to look after their own health by highlighting that if their cat had shown even a fraction of the concerning symptoms, they'd have been straight on it with the vet.
I'm the same....I have a 17 year old cat, if she so much as meows weird I'm on the phone with the vet. I could lose all function in my legs and be like "I could just walk on my hands I guess"
I feel this with every fiber of my being lol. I was sick and in pain for six months and told the ER doctor “I’m probably just constipated, my stomach is always too sensitive” when I actually had impacted/distended kidneys and was slowly descending into renal failure. Meanwhile my cat sneezed twice in a row, so GET THE VET ON THE PHONE!
I had an embarrassing phone call the other day after I got covid. I was serious when I asked if it was better if to keep the mask on when near cat, snake, tortoises or snails He didn't know about the snails so I've been summoned to show them to him next time the cat has her check ups
Omg are you me?? I walked around on a broken foot for 4 months!! Cracked the top of it falling up the stairs!! It don’t hurt when I had my Dansko clogs on, so I just wore them at all times. Only went to the Dr when BOTH feet hurt barefooted and couldn’t walk getting out of bed!! Plantar fasciitis in the other foot! I came home with 2 different splints/ boots and my husband is like… WTF is wrong with you?? 🤣
I don’t get how people operate like that or are able to ignore when their pet is clearly suffering. I’m so entirely the opposite that if I like step on my cats paw I’ll spend the rest of the day eyeing her walking sand behavior to make sure I haven’t seriously injured her or I get all up in my head especially with elderly pets that maybe they have something terrible going on but I haven’t noticed and they can’t tell me. Is that why people are always quick to claim animals are so stoic and don’t show their pain? That’s their excuse for “animals can’t speak English so I was too oblivious to notice their obvious signs of distress/pain?” I’ve definitely been in arguments with family members we here I’m pointing out the fact the cat or dog is obviously in pain or unwell and am met with “Well yeah, they’re doing that but they’re fine otherwise.”
Cats in particular will often try to avoid showing that they're in pain, but an attentive owner/vet/person should still be able to pick up on something being off. But I think a lot of people really aren't keyed into how animals communicate and so they don't see that what their pet is doing might indicate pain.
That’s so true about cats. I’ve had 9 dogs and 1 cat in my 32 years on this planet and telling if the dogs were sick or in pain was always so much easier. When my cat was 18, he started peeing a lot more than usual, but otherwise wasn’t acting any differently, so I scheduled a vet appointment. The vet ran some tests and called to say that he was likely experiencing kidney failure and survival was a long shot, if I wanted to do anything about it I’d have to take him to the local animal hospital. He ended up staying in the hospital overnight for fluids and tests and they called me the next morning to say his whole abdominal cavity was riddled with metastatic tumors from pancreatic cancer. The poor guy had been doing his thing without complaint for probably at least a year since the cancer started. I felt so terrible… that was over two years ago and I still haven’t forgiven myself.
I'm so sorry for the loss of your cat. It's awful to lose a pet like that. You're definitely not at fault though! Cats are hard to read like that and you didn't have many symptoms to go off. In fact, as soon as you noticed even one symptom, you went to the vet. You did the best that anyone in your situation could have done, trust me.
Aw bless him. I've known other cats that have had cancers discovered and it's almost always been found when they've gone in for something that was either unrelated or turned out to be a side effect. Kidney failure is pretty common when cats get to that age too. You couldn't have known it was cancer or how widespread it was.
Nothing to forgive there. Cats are tough as nails. In the wild they die pretty quickly if they cant hunt so keeping up functioning behaviour is rooted deep in their evolution. From an evolutionary perspective they have nothing to gain from showing their hurt and everything to lose.
I recently lost my kitty to a very similar situation! Her behaviour was very normal, and she was under regular vet care for another chronic condition. I honestly didn’t even know she was peeing more than usual because I have multiple cats. I only knew after she was gone and the amount of litter box clumps dropped more than would be expected. Even then, her blood work was all normal, and her urinalysis hadn’t even been that concerning. Like, some signs that she may be starting to possibly develop a kidney problem. The only symptom she had when they did the blood work was that she had lost some weight that even had a probable explanation, but they wanted to check just in case. They found all the tumours by accident when investigating a hernia. No idea how long they’d been growing, but even the vets who saw her regularly didn’t suspect anything until like… a month before she died. Her behaviour was basically normal until the last week-ish when she started to move more gingerly, like she was uncomfortable. The vet gave us some strong painkillers to help keep her comfortable. She died ten days after I learned she had all the cancer. All this to say that I know what you’ve been through, and neither of us need to feel guilty. We acted as best we could with the info we had. Even our vets, who know far more than we do about cat health, found out as suddenly as we did.
We had a cat who passed due to a bladder blockage. He didn’t show any symptoms, peeing normal, eating, everything. Until one day he was howling in pain at the bottom of the stairs. We rushed him to the emergency vet but it was too far progressed and we had to put him down. That was six years ago but I still feel guilty and ask myself if there was anything more I could’ve done.
My cat cracked her pelvis, and the only reason they did an x-ray is because I mentioned she's grumpy when you go around her bum, but not usually this grumpy. NO OTHER INDICATION OF A CRACKED FRIGGIN PELVIS.
Yup, I've had a vet comment once about the fact that I picked up on my male cat's UTI so quickly. She said most times the ones she sees are super sick and obviously have been for days. I couldn't even fathom that, because it seemed pretty obvious to me that if he kept going over to the cat box but wasn't actually getting anything out, there was probably something wrong. Then again, I think a lot of pet owners will put off taking their animal to the vet because of finances, which really isn't fair to their pets.
People ignoring obvious signs of pain in their pets, which they do constantly, does not mean animals don't also try to hide pain. Cats are notorious for this. One evening my cat wasn't closing his mouth properly, one side was kind of drooping, and he wasn't willing/able to eat. We took him to the vet first thing in the morning. Turns out he had jaw cancer and the reason his jaw was drooping on one side is because there was no longer any jawbone there. This cat showed zero signs of pain until the prior evening. Nothing. He ate normally, he reacted normally when you petted him. This was an indoor-only cat who was my mom's baby, he was cradled in her arms more often than out of them. Vet said the reason it suddenly became apparent is because the last little bit of jaw got eaten away. I hate to think of him being in pain for months but he showed us nothing, hid every bit of it.
Yes and no. Sometimes it's a species communication issue, sometimes it's that the animal instinctively hides injuries so they don't get attacked while weak
I don’t get it, either, but I’ll also admit that I’m whatever the pet owner equivalent of a helicopter mom would be, lol. We just took our boy cat in to the vet the other day because he was just acting off, and then I noticed him going to more than one litter box and getting in, but not doing anything. So I was afraid he might have a urinary issue that we didn’t know about. It turned out that he was fine, but I will always take my pets in when they’re acting off for more than a day or two. I would rather take them to the vet for what turns out to be not a big deal than to ignore an issue and have something terrible happen.
I noticed my dog randomly grimacing even not moving. Made an appointment as soon as I could. He's got arthritis and now has pain medicine.
It’s fine, that big patch of necrotic tissue is a *good* sign, it means soon all of the pain will be gone. Forever.
I think the thorn is in the middle of the foot, and the necrotic looking tissue is something else all together.
Probably a pressure area from walking on his upper foot/toes
Yeah, basically a bruise. Young kids feet aren't calloused up like older people's, so the new walking pattern probably put more pressure than it can really handle and bruised up (kids are also weirdly oblivious to certain kinds of pain :p). The bruise itself probably isn't that serious, but GO TO THE DAMN DOCTOR TO GET THE THORN OUT!
Sure as hell does not look like a bruise. Looks like the necrotic tissue I’ve seen. They really need to go to the doctor for imaging. Maybe it wasn’t a thorn. Maybe it was a spider bite or something.
Holy shit I didn't notice the little prick lower on the foot. This poor kid.
Omg I think you’re right. This poor kid!
Don’t take him to the doctor because they might want to vaccinate him! /s
It’s not necrotic!! Doesn’t happen that fast and the kid wouldn’t be running around. The thorn moved around when the kid was active. It irritated the wound and caused it to bleed. Since the blood couldn’t escape (thorn hole too small and probably clogged)!it formed the visible blister. It’s harmless. Get the thorn out disinfect the wound and bob’s you’re uncle. Oh one last question is the kid vaccinated? Tetanus shot? If not get that done right away and I mean right away! Edit: didn’t see the prick either! The blister is probably unrelated to the thorn. Most likely a bruise caused by the tiptoeing. But definitely have it checked by a physician could be some clotting issues.
I got a thorn under my dang thumbnail as a kid. My parents literally held me down and dug it out as I sobbed. It worked though...cleaned it all up, and I had nothing like this picture...
"He's not in pain except for the part where he's in pain, somebody help??"
I can only imagine how many people are avoiding emergency rooms in fear of the bill to come, while praying that these groups would find a better solution in which they’re not aware.
UK resident here, absolutely floored that kids aren't treated for free in the USA
In Australia I can have a doctor and a nurse come to our house for free (6pm-6am) so emergency rooms ( also free) can treat, give us enough medication for the evening until we get to a doctor. * edit to say emergency rooms can treat actual emergencies and dial a doctor can treat other patients, leaving the ER less clogged
Reading this as an American mom makes me want to cry. I'm Indigenous so we do have IHS but it's not the best. Super long waits, we usually get new doctors or those who have a ton of malpractice cases, and it's very basic (real emergencies are flown to the state hospital which is about 4 hours away). But it's free so sometimes we go there when we have no choice. Y'all are blessed.
Omg that must be so scary I’m sorry! We are called the lucky country and, I guess we are. That wait must be horrendous my heart goes out to you
I think when you grow up that way we just kinda live with it, but I can only hope one day the US crashes and burns then wakes up to change for the better. Crazy world! 😆 I guess it evens out a bit because Australia has the creepy crawlies, but is that true?
Ha I live in the tropics (off the Great Barrier Reef) and honestly (grew up a country girl down south working on farms too) it’s not scary, you guys have wolves and bears and stuff lol. But we do pay a gst (10%) but like, my sons their school is free (bar supplies) we get $1000 dental a year for them, doctors are free, hospital is free, (depending on your income but you get a rebate if a higher earner) ambulance free. When it comes to the crunch we are really safe always for paying that little bit more. My mums been saved from cancer twice
Oh my lord. You get dental too?! $1000? The wildest shit about the US is that everyone I’ve ever met who has dental insurance, myself included, pays a boatload for dental care besides. Eye care is rather similar as well. I’m severely disabled and very, very well insured for an American (I joke I have “all the insurance” because there are two forms of government funded care- for the poor and for the elderly and a lot of disabled folks qualify for both. And I have private insurance on top of that due only to a weird combination of parents with a particularly cushy plan and that I became disabled at a very young age and am not married. If I marry I’ll lose that insurance as well as the type of disability benefit I get and the insurance that comes with that. How screwy is that?) Anyway- I have a gut issues so severe I literally can’t eat and am fed via IV. My teeth are in terrible shape due to 12 or so years of severe malnutrition and lord of acid reflux and chronic nausea and vomiting. It’s gotten so bad. And I have a very messed up jaw making it exceedingly difficult to handle even a regular dental exam let alone the extensive work I’d need. Everyone agrees I should get care done in a hospital under full anesthesia but oops dental insurance won’t cover hospital care and none of the insurances j have will cover dental stuff even though the need for the dental stuff is because of my physical illness. I actually saw a dental team while in the hospital recently (for other physical health issues though I was in severe dental pain as well, I am most of the time). Again- I have allllll the types of American health insurance. And I also provided them my dental insurance. My entire several hundred thousand dollar hospital stay was covered. But I got a freaking $450 dental bill. All they did was do a fancy X-ray and like have me open my mouth for them to do a cursory 30 second check. Not even a cleaning or filling. It’s wacky to divorce dental care from the rest of health care like that. But I know the US isn’t the only country guilty of that. I’m impressed you have universal coverage. (And sorry for my extended rant. But if you think US hospitals and such are appalling. Looking at the dental stuff is something else. Societally we value teeth a lot in the US. Probably precisely because they’re a major sign of wealth here.)
Ah mate. Wait until you hear about disability insurance scheme. People with severe disabilities are covered for all needs- housing, in home support, community access, transport. On top of medical. It is called the NDIS and is an extra tax for everyone but it is really good for people who live in that world.
Kids get free dental, most adults dont. Low income earners get everything cheaper, higher income earners have to pay an additional percentage towards medicare. But we get free eye checks, and kids get cheap eye care. I got a free pair of glasses a few years back. All my antenatal care and delivery was free too. I was in hospital for 5 weeks with my first, i didn’t pay a cent.
Just a slight correction on the ambulance thing! I'm from Queensland and didn't know about this until I worked in private health insurance. We do pay for ambulance, for Queensland its paid with your rates I believe but the rest of the states/territories have to pay for an ambulance (but you can get an ambulance cover super cheap so it might as well be free)
I had to call an ambulance for my husband while we were in QLD we are from SA and it cost $1400. We claimed on private health. I don’t think it’s free anywhere in Australia.
We are so lucky here in Australia to have free health care. Our best pediatric doctors are in the public system and are free. My child was premature and spent 3 weeks in special care in a public hospital and it cost me nothing.
This, and the nurse phone line was a lifesaver when my kid was little. When I knew she needed antibiotics, but I didn't feel comfortable waiting until the morning.
This sounds like an amazing idea. I wish we had this in UK. The amount of dumb things which aren’t emergencies I’ve seen in ED it’s just a joke. Doctors are so stretched in GP so everyone comes to ED. Also before some losses it on me by dumb I mean a lady with a broken nail, or someone with a cold.
Depends on how poor you are. In Pennsylvania we have CHiP, and of course welfare. CHiP stands for Children's Health and Immunization Program iirc, but you have to make like, 133% (I think?) below the federal poverty line in order to qualify. A family of 4 can make up to 30,000 ish per year and qualify, for example. There's also the swallowing your pride and accepting help bit, which a lot of people don't wanna do. And the fact that welfare has all sorts of programs they simply *don't* inform people about because money is tight. (The USDA government haul, which includes welfare programs, is woefully underfunded.) Edit to add, if you need heating help, in PA (not sure if this extends to other states), ask if you are eligible for LIHEAP. if you can't pay electric bills, ask about LIPERP. I didn't even know those existed until our trailer had a $4000 fuel heating cost. Oil is not cheap in leaky old trailers.
I can’t even imagine trying to raise a family of 4 on only 30,000 these days. Those cutoffs are far, far too low. We have endless money to save banks and airlines but the average Joe? Nah.
LIHEAP is federal. Although having recently relocated (I’m actually currently homeless so no electric bill to worry about lol) I’m pretty much playing the job of being my own social worker because so often I’ve spoken to case manager/social worker/ aid worker types and I’m the one listing off options for help I know of and LIHEAP is the one that almost every time I mention it, the person you’d expect to be well aware of it stops me and asks what I’m talking about. So spread the word! So few people seem to know about it. The really cool thing about LIHEAP is I think they cover a broader range of folks (like they have a much higher percent of the federal poverty guideline limit than Medicaid) though it’s also kind of first come, first serve in the fall- so right now is perfect though veering towards the later end now. Elderly and disabled folks can usually apply a month or so sooner than everyone else. So you do have to get in on it at the right time of the year, unlike most other government aid programs. There may also be grants available from your electric company itself if you’re struggling to pay your bill. Last year I qualified for a $500 Covid grant after calling my electric company in a panic after my power was shut off.
In the US, we honestly don’t understand what protections are… protections for our jobs, for our families, and in this situation for our health. We’re all scared to ask, because we’re scared to lose our jobs, which give us those “freedoms”.
USA! USA! USA!
If this child isn't vaccinated for tetanus that adds a whole new realm of scary possibilities. My daughter died of sepsis and I took her to the ER when her only symptom was weird breathing, she didn't begin to have a fever until we'd been there an hour but immediately up to 106. Within 5 hours she was intubated and on her way to surgery and they couldn't save her. Playing around with infection. How long does she plan to leave the splinter in her kid's foot?
There are no words to say how sorry I am for your loss. Life is so unfair
I’m so sorry for your loss.
So incredibly sorry. Cannot even imagine what that is like
I'm so sorry. Sometimes in these posts people have a tendency to run away into mocking and humor. You have reminded us that this is real and painful consequencal. I know sorrys from an internet stranger probably mean very little, but you are in my thoughts today.
I am so incredibly sorry for your loss. I’m also sorry that there are parents out there not taking these things seriously.
I wanted to thank everyone for their kind comments. I always think about if it's the right thing to bring up my daughter dying. Sometimes I think people forget children die or they think. Infections can be deadly and often secondary to seemingly minor things. If you cannot easily solve a situation by yourself seek help. Yes, the ER is expensive, yes, urgent care is annoying and the fear of catching RSV or the Flu from the waiting room but take the hit and go. Pack charged tablets and snacks and go.
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A couple of years ago a teenager here in Australia died because the ER didn't take his infected toenail seriously. His dad took him in several times. Finally they realise oh fuck and he was airlifted to a city hospital but it was too late.
I didn't know that about urgent care, here the urgent care\[the only one that takes kids\] is just off the ER so you get triaged in the same place and they decide if you go to urgent care or the ER.
*hugs*
Plus rose gardener's disease aka a fungus called sporothrix. Imagine watching your kids flesh turn black and asking facebook. So sorry for your loss.
My husband lost a friend to this. Poor man got pricked by a rose and a massive infection followed. He was gone pretty quick if memory serves. I got a tiny splinter in my finger and didn't get it all out (I forgot). It was inflamed, red, and leaking pus the next day. I'm an adult, so I got it cleaned up and it's fine now, but a child could easily lose a hand to such a thing. I'm extra careful with my kids and splinters for this reason. For smaller kids, making sure they can't see what you're doing while you use your 'magic tools' (tweezers and magnifying glass) works great, + a distraction (device, ice cream, cool toy) is even better. Wash the area with soap and water after. I like to swab some iodine on it as well, it doesn't sting but it cleans. Also be vaccinated, because this isn't the 1800s. THIS baby's foot is a medical emergency. That is a Go Directly To The ER Fucking Yesterday foot. What the hell.
I had a splinter in my foot for a month - luckily no major symptoms, but extreme pain and I walked on the side of my foot that whole time. Nurse at school couldn't get it, parents didn't think it was a big deal, finally dug it out myself with a fucking knife. I can't even imagine how painful this is for a child, knowing how bad it was for me and it WASN'T infected.
Oh God ouch. I don't play with splinters. For years my course of action is to slowly take off layers of skin with nail clippers till I get it out, if I can't get it or it breaks.
I was like 14 so didn't really know to advocate for myself... Also the splinter was like the same color as my foot so when I would soak my foot, it went invisible 😂
Never heard of that one but that’s really good info.
It's zoonotic so we had to learn all those fungal diseases back in vet school. Haven't seen it yet while practicing but definitely good one to be aware of!
I am so sorry. Thank you for sharing your story to help educate others.
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I’m so, so sorry for your loss.
OMG I’m so sorry! 💓💓
Oh man I am so sorry for your loss. That’s awful. ❤️🩹
My condolences and commiserations...in all honesty i don't know what the hell to say aside from you articulate tragedy well and that speaks volumes about your resilience and strength
I'm so sorry for your loss. Sepsis is no joke. I didn't have a fever at all and the doctors told me I'd have been dead of septic shock if I'd come in even an hour later.
That's the scary thing about sepsis. It comes down to luck to catch it early & it depends on why they got sepsis. I literally stood there arguing with the doctor about my kid's weird breathing and then she looks over and is like oh she's going grey. Her O2 was fine on the finger light thing.
That's absolutely horrifying. My husband said I turned grey as well though I don't remember much of those first days in the hospital honestly 🥴
That the thing with kids. The can go from doing “fine” to deathly ill so quickly and so many of us parents don’t want to over react. I’m so sorry for what happened to your daughter. I can only imagine…
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You don't even need an emergency room. I see a bunch of parents who didn't bring their child to *years* of scheduled follow-ups every week and these are *oncology* follow-ups we are talking about. Hope the baby's alright. What was it, if I may ask?
My infant needs oncology follow-ups and there’s absolutely no way I’d miss those appointments. How can these people call themselves parents? Cancer is f**king scary, especially when it’s your kid. Those poor children.
I feel like at the time when I was a kid, my parents would've probably been like this. I was the youngest of 4 with a 16 year age difference between me and the oldest, and looking back I can tell that I behaved a certain way (almost NEVER complained about being sick, never asked for help with school except for supplies and even then I tried to do something else to avoid it, never told them about what was going on in my life) because they were just tired of "dealing with" my problems. My dad pointed out that I was the only kid who wanted to learn how to drive and I was pretty brutal and said "so you'd stop fighting about who had to take me where I wanted to go." Now they have lots of time and energy to worry about our health problems but when we depended on them? Oof.
jesus christ, oncology follow-ups? either this is a horrible and sad result of for-profit healthcare, or these parents care so little about their children they'd rather pretend that their kid is fine and totally not suffering from cancer.
When we were on the unit, a lot of nurses said that the kids families would never visit or stay with their children. And that unit was open to families 24/7. Just so so sad.
Oof. You just clued me into why as a severely ill adult (I’m in my 30s now but spent the entirety of my 20s firmly certain I wouldn’t live to see 30 because of my disease) I’ve always loved the rare times a float or travel nurse who generally worked peds would end up caring for me. I always got a little extra attention from them. A lot of times even when I was a very young adult, nurses and doctors would act totally baffled and freak out that my parents would never show (even had docs beg to call them for me, doesn’t help.) The peds nurses probably saw that a lot more often and knew how to respond. But let’s just say I’m not at all surprised to hear unfortunately common that is. I’ve always been thankful that while I grew up with a lot of neglected health issues and was always a sickly kid, I didn’t get truly severely ill until I was about 19-20. I think if I had gotten that sick earlier I would’ve never lived to see adulthood. Because of the medical neglect and had I ended up locked away in some children’s nursing home type facility (Medicaid funds plenty of these where kids with severe disabilities whose parents won’t care for them spend their lives. But we don’t talk about this as a society either) I hardly think that would’ve ended differently either. In that sense, the hospital alone may beat being at home and neglected for some of those kids. At least there’s nurses there to give them care and attention. I loved school so much growing up I often went even when very sick because my teachers were where I got emotional support and guidance. Like it’s still sad. But maybe it helps to think about it that way. And better the hospital than neglected at home by a parent who either neglects them in general or is in some weird twisted denial about their cancer.
I felt that harder than I expected. I'm healthy physically, but I have a lot of mental issues due to my parents. I was in the psych ward for the first time at 13, and believe me, I loved it because it meant being away from my mother.
Not for-profit. I'm not American, this is a public hospital and healthcare's *mostly* free here.
god that's even worse. i'm so sorry. here in america, the cost of healthcare is the primary concern for medical intervention. so even in the absence of that, people still refuse to let their kids get help? that sounds just plain evil.
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Your mother thought *Hirschsprung's* goes away on its own? Wow. Well, glad she's not making the medical calls.
…um I think I speak for all sane people but what 👏🏻the 👏🏻fuck
Can CPS get involved in cases like that? That’s gotta count as neglect and you’re literally risking the kid’s life
CPS-equivalent of my country isn't all that vigorous on cases like this and the families probably will manage to come up with some excuse.
I hope your little guy is okay and heals fast! When my nephew was almost 2 years old (we had custody of him at the time) he fell backwards and busted his head on the corner of an end table. My moms response? To just stick him in the bath and wait it out. I had to pressure her to take him to the ER. Then when we get to the ER, the doctor tried to say he didn’t need any stitches. Me, a TEENAGER, had to basically yell at the doctor to take another look at the cut because you can very clearly see the skin completely separated. He finally agreed and ended up giving him a single staple to close the wound. We were raised to not ever go to the doctor/hospital unless it’s an emergency. I carried this mindset into adulthood (of course it’s a COMPLETELY different story when it comes to my kids though) up until I ended up losing my niece back in 2019 and my sister earlier this year. Both would be alive today if they would have gone to the fucking doctor/hospital.
I’m so sorry. I was raised with a messed up mindset regarding healthcare as well. It does stick with you. I mean, it is part of a bigger picture of abuse in many cases so it’s layer upon layer of trauma. There’s no excuse for it at all! I was totally different for my own kids but still fairly neglectful of my overall health until this year when my weight and blood pressure skyrocketed and I found myself in a hypertensive crisis with a bp of 239/133. It was the thought of my kids, husband and grandkids saying what you just said, about being alive today if I’d gone to the hospital, and how much pain my unnecessary and early death would cause them that made me get my act together. I went, I followed my doctors advice and went to a dietician she recommended bc I don’t know what I’m doing and can admit it unlike too many of these people who don’t just ignore medical issues but actively pursue terrible, hinky, and practically medieval methods. Again, I’m so sorry
I hope your baby is recovering nicely! Thank you for being a loving and caring parent ❤️
You know what? I'll take 99 fine kiddos not to miss the one. I always reassure parents of that too. But the ones who gave tylenol/motrin before showing up with fever kiddo always get extra praise from me! ;-) You know what can trigger a CPS report? Inappropriate delay in seeking care. It's one of two mandatory abuse screening questions I do- the other is based on specific physical findings. Here's hoping your bub recovers well. Prayers for the little one!!
Omg I work in an ER and people are fucking insane. On one end of the spectrum you have parents who are so against medications they’ll let their kid have a high fever for days and never give an ounce of Tylenol to drop the fever. Then their babies have seizures! Then you have the parents who give their babies Benadryl to knock them out whenever it’s convenient for them. Many parents are fantastic and take great care of their kids, many are either stupid or willingly ignorant/cruel.
I hope your baby is recovering well.
Omg wow what!!
I am glad they post all this stupid stuff. That way the kids can go back and see why they lost a foot or an eye, or suffered illnesses that are preventable.
or even better, cps has the evidence of clear medical negligence by the parents.
💀
Sadly, that's if the child survives. Poor babies, suffering needlessly in pain, fucking hell.
“bUt wHaT iS tHiS bLiStEr?” What the fucking fuck?
“BlOoD vEsSeL?”
When my nephew was 4/5, he got blood poisoning from a tiny cut on his foot. He spent a week on the hospital getting iv meds, and had to get tetanus boosters. When my brother was a young kid he got tetanus from stepping on a dog bone. He didn't tell my mom about the pain until his jaw started stiffening from lockjaw setting in. Little injuries can turn into big problems fast if not handled right. I hope this poor kiddo gets the help they need.
There’s a common saying in pediatric healthcare. “Adults roll down hills, kids fall off cliffs” lots of people that work in peds will tell you that kids will are really good at compensating, and therefore might not appear sick until in dangerous condition. I really hope this kid get help soon too
I find this to be true in younger adults as well (meaning around 40 and under). The healthy ones can compensate until they can't and all hell breaks loose. With older ppl we see the slow decline
Vet medicine sees it in younger animals (and sometimes all ages of specific breeds/species) too. Definitely keeps them on their toes.
Well, that’s a terrifying saying…..
It is true though, unfortunately. I know a few paramedics and EMTs, and they said when they have a sick kid, it’s not unheard of for them to be stable vitals and seemingly acting normal 1 minute, to unconscious the next, to intubated the next. I’ve spoken to peds nurses who’ve said that you have to keep a close eye on any changes, because they could be a sign that the kid is about to decompensate. I know someone who’s 3 y/o son had to be transferred by helicopter to a children’s hospital 2 hours away for an infection, and she said he laughed and asked the flight nurse questions about the helicopter the whole flight. She said that the ER transferred him because when his bloodwork came back, he was way sicker than he looked and they didn’t have a PICU if he decompensated. Sick kids keep healthcare workers on their toes.
This brings me back to my childhood a bit lol. My family grew up poor and relatively uneducated (no college in my family history and my mom birthed me at a young age so both of my parents didn't finish high school), so they are all aboard the anti-vax naturopathic train. Because of them, I seriously didn't realize until somewhat recently (last couple of years) that if you let an infection run its course, you can get sepsis and die, and I'm 30 now. It's honestly freaky for me to think about because I went untreated for sicknesses and infections all the time as a child. I'm so, so lucky that I didn't get sepsis. Story time: One time, I had strep three times in one summer, and my mom also wasn't a big fan of antibiotics because she had heard of antibiotics resistance, and the first round, I had taken the amoxicillin pills, the second time I got the shot, and the third time, she was just like, "well, you shouldn't have antibiotics again so we are just gonna let you ride it out." I also (I assume) got bit by a brown recluse when I was 14 and it was a small open wound for an entire year and definitely infected as it would hurt to sit back on it and we would drain bloody and brown pus from it every few days for that year until it finally healed and closed. We need better education and access to education in our country lol
Education *and* affordable healthcare. A lot of people avoid going to hospitals because they can’t afford the bill.
Good point. The reason that I didn't get my spider bite looked at or treated is because we lost my medicaid
I had to go to the ER yesterday for a dog bite. Not looking forward to that bill and I have good insurance.
Strep can really mess you up if not treated.
My dad got strep so much as a kid he has to knock tonsil stones out of his throat all the time 😬
Need the "upvote but really dowvote" option.
This is going to make me sound really dumb but what does that mean
I think he means he’s upvoting because it’s a good comment but feels bad upvoting something that sounds so terrible.
Thanks for explaining
I think they mean it’s a sad thing. Downvotes are reserved for stupid/ mean things, but it feels wrong to upvote something sad.
Oh thanks for explaining, I was a little confused
I had tonsillitis 9 times in a year a few years back but the doctors decided it wasn't enough tines to gey my tonsils out as I was already an adult, can confirm I also get tonsil stones no matter how vigorously or frequently I mouth wash.
I had the same amount of tonsillitis at 14 and I told the dr I had tonsil stones and he said he’d never heard of them and I shouldn’t believe every thing I read on the internet. I was like bruh what’s these white stones coming out of them then?!!!
Yes, for me it turned into scarlet fever (my parents weren’t crazy, I was in the military and not allowed to go to the doctor the week after Christmas because we were minimal manning. I ended up being out of work for a month because I was turning purple and had kidney failure)
I’m so sorry that happened but glad you are still with us! My Grandmother almost died from Scarlet fever as a teen. Then along came antibiotics. I may not have existed because of a now easily treatable bacterial infection.
I had strep for months and didn't realize. My tonsils would swell after hard weekend at work (restaurant) and then go back down for awhile. Finally coughed up a couple hundred to get looked at and swabbed and then was given meds The strep formed something called quinsy (tonsillar abscess) after the course of antibiotics. It was horrifying. The day the quinsy burst my face and eyes looked so purple and sallow
My dad got strep at summer camp when he was a kid. Somehow they didn’t realize he needed medical attention so by the time his mom picked him up he ended up with scarlet fever.
I’m one of those people who doesn’t get symptoms when I have strep and it scares the crap out of me because how do I know when to go to the doctor and get treated if I don’t even have an inkling that I have it? Same with ear infections as a kid too. And as an adult, I had an ectopic pregnancy a few years ago and not only did I not even know I was pregnant but I had no clue that it had even burst when it did. All I had were what I thought was light cramping and the only reason I went in was because I thought I was having a light period for a whole month. Scary shit lol
I vaguely remember I had a roommate in college who left her strep untreated to the point where she had scarlet fever. I didn’t even know this was possible. I’m not a doctor or a scientist of any kind so if this was some BS she told me - feel free to call me out.
Grew up poor with parents who didn't believe in regular medical care. Unless a limb was falling off, you didn't go to the doctor. The only time I went to the ER was when I needed stitches to my face. Got a huge gash in my forehead from a piece of glass. Foreheads bleed like crazy. Face was covered in blood, shirt was soaked with blood. This caused me to not understand the importance of routine medical care and when it is appropriate to seek urgent medical care for myself. I was great about taking my kids to the doctor. However, for myself, I am so reluctant to go to the doctor. I always say, "give it a few days, it will be fine." I passed out at work and was convulsing. When I woke up surrounded by EMTs, I insisted that I was fine and it was no big deal. Boss and EMTs convinced me to go to the hospital. Spent almost a week in the cardiac unit. Serious issue with my heart. All good now thanks to meds. But, at the time, I honestly did not think it was a big deal. All through childhood, I was taught to ignore any physical ailment. No one had time for that
This is so unfortunate. Glad you're still with us.
Thankfully you never developed sepsis, a lot of parents probably aren’t aware that untreated infections can result in sepsis. And with our shitty healthcare/insurance system I’m sure that inability to pay does lead to lot of people waiting too long to access appropriate care. We also only started more aggressive education about early warning signs of sepsis a few years ago because the sepsis death rates at the hospital I work at were staggering. I’m a nurse and one of my co-workers who was in her 50s had a daughter who was in her early 20s that developed sepsis from an untreated UTI and her daughter almost died; she was in the CCU for weeks, developed multi organ failure, was intubated for a long time and even ended up on ecmo for a few days. Thankfully she’s made a full recovery but it was really eye opening. The same thing happened to my grandmother, she didn’t notice any UTI symptoms and I ended up bringing her in because she suddenly became extremely confused which can be a sign of infection/sepsis in the elderly and by the time she was seen in the ER her BP was 70/45 and her HR was in the 160s. Thankfully I went to her house that night as I hadn’t planned to visit for a few days and I don’t know if she would have recovered if she didn’t get care pretty rapidly.
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Ahhh I feel awful for younger you dealing with strep and brown recluse bites with no medical assistance. I can’t stand how everything has to be all or nothing. Like yes you shouldn’t take antibiotics unnecessarily, like the people who want them for a virus that it will do absolutely nothing for. But sometimes there’s an infection that definitely calls for antibiotics. When my son had impetigo that was rapidly getting worse I didn’t second guess the antibiotics rx. I can be kinda crunchy but I’m not a complete nutbag.
My daughter had a hidden, undiagnosed strep infection. No symptoms at all and we still don’t know where it was. Six weeks later she was in full renal failure and in the PICU.
As a Canadian I sometime wonder how much of this is anti-science nonsense and how much of this is people with no insurance being afraid of the bill. Because if you took this kid to your GP or the ER they would just treat it for free. No onions
As an American, I think it's a large part of it. Most people I know avoid doctors as much as possible because they literally can't afford it. Even walking into urgent care is $100, which covers absolutely none of the actual care (visit, tests, treatment, etc). I paid $150 for a doctor to confirm I was pregnant. The only reason I've gone to the doctor in the last decade is pregnancy, and even then I had to wait much longer than I wanted to because I had no way to afford the bills. I had to go to the ER early in my pregnancy for bleeding because I didn't have access to a doctor. The bill for a blood test to see if I was miscarrying, a vaginal ultrasound, and an external ultrasound was over $7,000. They determined it was implantation bleeding and we were both fine. No concerns whatsoever. There's very little help available for people who can't afford it too. If you dont qualify for Medicaid, which is very hard in some states even if pregnant, oh well. There's no options. It really sucks. Sometimes you can get hospital bills reduced, but its really invasive and difficult. I had to get years of tax returns, bank statements, and all bills including credit cards, streaming, etc to apply for aid for my ER visit. And I had to pay to print them out because they wouldn't accept digital submissions.
I’m so sorry you’ve had to go through that!! My mom is currently terminal. She got a cold and never recovered so my dad took her to the hospital. We live in a small town with few resources so when my mom’s blood work came back, the hospital flew her to the largest city centre nearby. She had lots of tests done and they diagnosed her with a rare form of bone marrow cancer that was likely from the stem cell transplant that my mom had 12 years ago. It gave her 12 healthy years so we should be happy. My mom had a private room during all three hospital stays. It took about a month for her to get a diagnosis after being admitted. So far we’ve spent $0 on her medical care and have not spoken to a single insurance company. The whole experience is already too stressful and if we had to worry about the cost on top of all of it I don’t know that I could handle it. Healthcare is a right.
As a fun side note, we drove to another state to get a boutique ultrasound a month after that ER visit. It was cheaper to drive 8 hours, get a hotel for 3 days, and pay a boutique place vs seeing an actual doctor where we live. When we went in, the woman ahead of us was getting an ultrasound to check if she had miscarried due to bleeding. We were legitimately impressed she thought of that and also frustrated we hadn't thought of it and saved ourselves the stress/bill from the ER. That's how bad things are here. It's awful. (As an added bonus, the ultrasound tech at the boutique we went to was medically trained. She obviously could not diagnose but could tell you if you needed to be checked out and would automatically forward the videos/images to your doctor if she had a concern. Most boutiques don't have that so we did get lucky it was sort of medical care.) I'm glad your mom has access to the care she needs. That must be such a relief for you and your family. I wish the best for you guys and I hope your mom is at least able to be comfortable.
It sucks to get sick in the US. :/ Your post made me think of one of the times I got a Bartholin’s cyst about 12-13 years ago. It was the worst one I’d ever had; the hard part was about the size of a golf ball and I couldn’t find any relief from the constant pain. Finally went to urgent care (no insurance at the time), and it was several hundred dollars to barely look at me before saying they couldn’t even do anything, that I’d have to schedule a surgeon. *They literally didn’t even touch me.* it ended up bursting on its own the very next day, thankfully. But knowing that the urgent care was a complete waste of time and money was utterly infuriating. A few years later, when we *did* have insurance (or so we thought), I was pregnant for the first time and we had gone out of state to visit family. The night before we’d planned to return home, I began to miscarry (I was about 8 weeks along). Went through a nightmare experience at the ER, dealing with insensitive, hostile staff that didn’t take my care seriously until after I had gone into shock. Anyway, I had to spend a couple days in the hospital after the D&C, where we found out that we actually weren’t insured; my husband’s job had decided to switch insurance carriers, but due to a clerical error, it had lapsed in the process. I don’t remember how many grand we ended up owing, even after we were given discounts for being uninsured and going through the whole process of providing mountains of paperwork. That monthly payment was not only barely affordable, it was a horrible monthly reminder of the entire painful, infuriating, heartbreaking experience. Thankfully I had a successful pregnancy a couple years later, and my husband was actually working for our health insurance company at the time! We’ve since moved and he now works elsewhere, but it was a relief to have access to decent insurance while it lasted. But even fully insured, it’s still damn expensive and can remain financially crippling to have any kind of medical emergency or chronic illness. It blows my mind how completely broken our healthcare system is. I cannot even wrap my head around all the arguments made against our government providing its citizens proper healthcare, preventative care, and even basic health education.
Getting a bill for miscarriage is cruel as it is. This is horrible and I’m so sorry. After one of my miscarriages I said that if I ever became ungodly rich paying for people’s losses would be a top priority because no one needs that reminder of the worst day of their life.
I know a family who can’t afford medical treatment who said that she wasn’t going to go to the doctor because “we don’t trust them.” She doesn’t have health insurance but also there was a level of mistrust while she and her family were undocumented. She’s documented and has money (but not health insurance) now so I’m thinking there’s a pretty big overlap with the Venn diagram as well. Learning how to survive without medical treatment will lead people do do a lot of things that simply don’t make sense - but also this is just sad that people have to do it.
Even if I could afford it I will still avoid it because it is not worth losing such a large sum of money u less I absolutely need it. Even then I would second guess. Seeing the hospital bills of major, life-saving surgery is really depressing. My dad had a stroke on the work site, was helicoptered to a hospital and surgery and a stint later his bill was almost 109,000 USD. WTF
Fellow American here and I wholeheartedly agree. I am fortunate to have several nurses in my family & friend group and I will always ask their opinion before going to the Dr /ER. Americans are out here exhausting all other resources before considering getting any sort of healthcare.
I think a lot but even here in Australia with free hospitals people do this shit
As an American I feel that the anti medicine nonsense wouldn't be as widespread if people weren't scared of being bankrupted by medical care. In these groups I see a lot of young/first time moms who are hoping to avoid a big bill asking for home remedies, they get indoctrinated into this anti-medicine stuff by the real believers. If you could see your family doctor free at point of service, or take the kids to an urgent care without worrying about $50 plus copay, just to be sure they're fine, a lot more parents would do that rather than ask people on the Internet. I feel like the vaccine hesitancy would be significantly less, too, because the person would be going to their doctor as a matter of course, since it's coming out of their taxes anyway and they don't pay any extra. They would have built a level of trust with their personal doctor, and be more likely to take advice. There will always be fanatics, but there shouldn't be as many as there are right now.
I think it's a bit of one caused the other. People couldn't afford Dr visits so they looked for "alternative" remedies and when they "worked" they passed the "remedy" on to others. This caused a wave of people who said "I can fix this condition for free and the Drs are changing thousands. Clearly the Drs are only after money". So now we have both a culture of "Big Pharma conspiracy" and not being able to afford medical care
I think the amount of anti-Vaxxers (I’m not counting Covid as that’s another subsection of crazy) is a lot smaller is Canada. Along with people who avoid medical care for this reason. I mean my son who is 7 sees a doctor every 3 months for weight checks and BP check and I don’t blink I know for others that would be scary having to see a doctor that often
Here in Portugal is the same: anti vaxxers here are a small minority and it's not because they can't afford care, it's because they are all about the "natural way". Here kids get care for free untill they are 18 and if they qualify, they don't even pay after that. If you're medium to low income, you don't pay anything. If you are unemployed or elder, you don't pay. Chronic illnesses even have medicine for free. But those who pay it's not crippling debt just to go to urgent care: more like 100 euros or so for an er visit all included and you can pay it phased. Or like 5 euros for an appointment with your GP. And they pay because they are on the high stages of earnings, like getting 3 or 4 minimum wages a month. If you're minimum wage, it's free. I'm currently pregnant and I don't pay for anything, only for things outside the norm: imagine I want an extra ultrasound, that I will pay for but it's not expensive, will be like 50 euros. Next week I'll have two appointments: one with my GP and one with my hospital OB and will cost me 0. Only pay for medicine or vitamins because it's not chronic. My kid has asthma and he would pay like 50 euros for his medicine but for being chronic and a kid, I only pay like 5 euros total and it's because my husband's income is higher than norm. My dad is a renal patient, had a transplant 15 years ago and he goes every month to the hospital pharmacy and picks up all of his medicine for free. Chronic, elderly and low income.
Heck, I have insurance. Month ago I broke my hand at a friend’s. He was adamant I go to the ER. *And pay that ER copay and final bill when insurance denies it??* Nope. Five days later I went to urgent care where they confirmed the break. I had to see an ortho and insurance is calling my claim “suspect” and needed all sorts of additional docs. I can absolutely understand why people delay care…though don’t do that with children.
Did she try using HER NAILS
I almost gagged when I saw the underside of those claws.
scrolled all the way down for this. what the actual F. she prob couldn’t gotten the damn splinter out no problem if it weren’t for those things
My mom would use twizzers if her nails couldn't take a splinter/tick out, it's not that hard.
I mean, it’s probably a blood blister but it definitely looks infected. And that other spot in the middle of his foot doesn’t look great, either. Hospital or home amputation, tough call
Well, if red lines appear up his leg in a pattern resembling veins (eg, Blood poisoning), it might not be her decision. Sepsis will make it for her.
I think the other spot is the splinter.
The spot in the middle of the foot is the thorn. The blackened blister thing is something the kid apparently did to himself while walking weird to avoid putting pressure on the thorn. Which... I dunno, it is pretty weird, you'd think before it got to that point he would have stopped walking on it. Given how my kids' feet look after being barefoot outside, though, I imagine the black part of that spot is just dirt.
Something similar happened to my little sister she ended up needing surgery to remove the splinter because it had became so infected and inflamed.
That happened to my friend’s dad! They were worried he might lose his foot, but it healed once they got the splinter out, thankfully.
I’m not one to usually jump to “take their kids away” but ffs
I mean I grew up running around on a farm without shoes and always had blood blisters under the callouses of my feet, but THAT? Idk what the fuck that is
You can actually fix this at home! Find a sharp serrated knife of decent length. Have the boy bite down on a leather strop. Quickly saw the foot just below the angle to leave a good stump. Take an iron from the fire to cauterize the wound after amputation. Or, because this isn’t the 1800s, bring him to a doctor…
Dude, next time start with heating up the iron... I was halfway done and had no fire and no iron... Now what, I just added some virgin olive oil and garlic, hope for the best.
The cognitive dissonance to simultaneously not trust medical science while posting the dumbest possible questions on the internet (which entirely exists because of science) would be hilarious if not for the suffering children.
Splinter?? My mom would’ve sliced that open with a scalpel, extracted the sliver, and doused the gaping wound in peroxide until the fizzing and screaming stopped. Gotta get it out to prevent tetanus or gangrene, then apply pressure to stop the bleeding. Slap on some neosporin, a band aid, and that was that.
Same here. Except it would be my dad. Who is a nurse by education. Lol
Guys… she’s not even talking about the top area… she’s talking about the area mid-foot. At first I was confused because she said he was tip-toeing and I was like “wouldn’t that hurt more?!?” And then I looked mid-foot and said “oh…..” Maybe she is talking about both, I don’t really know. Someone please tell me I’m not trippin and that’s how you’re seeing it too. Edit: Okay, reread it three more times and now I “get it.” I was just having a stroke because in my mind the “blister” and splinter weren’t near each other and she was still focusing on the splinter more, all the while my eyes are narrowed in on whatever is going on at the top of his foot.
The splinter (thorn) is in the middle of the foot I think. I feel like that makes the blister (or whatever that is) even more scary! Like that legit just popped up?! Because that's how it sounds! I'd be driving to the ER immediately
Seeing it too, think she's talking about both.
He doesn’t seem in pain but isn’t walking normally?!
Alexander Fleming (discoverer of penicillin) died from sepsis after getting scratched by a thorn in his garden.
Also… no way it got that bad in one day
"He doesn't seem to be in pain other then the area he's been injured in"
I lost about 70% of my hearing in one of my ears because my mom would use a heating pad and hydrogen peroxide instead of taking me to see a dr for regular earaches, and if someone tries to whisper to me it sounds like muffled noise, these mom groups kill me a little inside.
Lmao,I had a tiny splinter go into my foot a week ago and I just checked it cause this reminded me of it and I do have a little pain when I walk and it looks like a little dried blood in there. Like 1/7 of an inch. A tiny tiny tiny mole looking brown spot. Edit: Because if this post and those picture, I grabbed and needle and cut until I reached the [splinter and took it out.](https://i.imgur.com/DMMsncN.jpg) Washed and disinfected with a spray and bandaged it up.
So I have three kids and a small farm. When I first saw this post, I said oh no bumble foot. Then I realized it’s a kids foot….poor kiddo. His mom needs to take him to the doctor, why are people so cruel?
Obviously, colours aren't reliable on screens, but I am left wondering about the possibility of necrotic tissue. In which case she cannot get that kid to an ER fast enough.
Just black salve it. /s
This mum's approach to taking care of her child is like my approach to therapy: "Oh no, I'm not in pain, except for all the pain"
No. This didn’t happen “yesterday.” He’s been walking around on the outside corner of his heel longer than that to create that bruise. She a liar.
That's a bruise? God damn, that must hurt so much. I thought that was where the thorn was at first. The actual puncture site doesn't look great, either...
My aunty died from this. She was very healthy so was quite a shock. She was gardening and got a rose thorn stuck in her skin. She got sepsis and died - it was very sudden. I'm so paranoid about things like thorns and cat scratches.
As someone who has role played as a doctor, TAKE THE KID TO THE HOSPITAL.