The past post is from today. I am spanking new and do not know how to change the date. This morning Jack is going to get a tube that will be inserted down his nose, through his stomach to his colin. This will allow us to give him the nutrients he so desperately needs. Prior to this Jack had a picc line. Every night I would prepare a bag and feed him through that line. However, Jack developed life threatening infection and the picc line had to be removed.
This was after a 48 hour stay at Columbia's ER. Because of the lack of available health care to the uninsured and the poor, these families have no choice but to go to their local ER. Columbia Pres. is one of the top Hospitals in the country. However it is located in Washington heights. During our 48 hour stay, jack slept mostly. I sat in chair with the following companions.. a 15 year old girl, clearly a gang member, holding her hand with huge puncture wounds. She had been bitten. No not by a dog, by another 15 year old girl. There were three of four teens who had overdosed. Two 17 year old boys, clearly felons, under 24 hour police watch and numerous screaming babies with pnemonia. Ten different doctors came in to talk to me about Jacks infection, they had ten different recommendations on how best to treat. John, my nurse who has seen me through many of Jack's struggles once told me when I complained that no one seemed to have an answer to Jack. "Liz thats why they call it practicing medicine."
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