Mr Big Boy in the Hospital :(

        We got the "FULL" experience of Israel this week, including the health care system :( Miles has had a persistent cough since we came back from Switzerland, and even though we've been trying different medicines, he had gradually gotten worse. So, the night we came back from Ashkelon, in the middle of the night, we decided to take him into the emergency room at the Hadassah Hospital. He'd been vomiting everything Rachel tried to feed him, including medicine for 48 hours, and we were knew he was dehydrated. So, 3:30 in the morning, I was out on the streets looking for a taxi to take us there. It literally took walking down the middle of the street to get one to stop, apparently 3:30 is quitting time and no one wants to take another passenger.

        We zipped over there, about 15 minutes away, and when we got to the hospital, thankfully, there was no waiting an within an hour they had drawn blood for tests and had him hooked up to an IV. They noticed right away he was dehydrated and so we were glad he was in good hands! They suspected Pertussis (Whooping Cough) and tests later showed this is what he had picked it up in Switzerland. The first day, the doctors made it sound like if showed improvement, we might go home the next day. Not so, and they ended up keeping him in for 5 days! He was on an IV for 3 days, and then started nursing slowly. He was also on Oxygen because his oxygen saturation levels in his blood were very low and he just wasn't getting enough from breathing regular air. He ended up being on oxygen for 4 of the 5 days. When he showed good eating habit, no vomiting, and higher oxygen levels in his blood, they let us go home.

A visit to mom and Miles

The care in the hospital was good, we don't have much to compare it to, not often in hospitals in the US or elsewhere, but we ended up in a private room with a computer and internet and even a little fridge. Rachel stayed the whole time and I came and went during the days. The hospital didn't feed Rachel, so my trips included breakfast and getting her dinner before I left.


Miles is, of course, home now and is on the slow road to recovery. When he left the hospital, he was noticeably thinner, so now he can hopefully start gaining his weight back. He's now coughing at all now and looks much healthier.

The one good news in all this was we had just signed up for traveller's insurance in October, and here we were looking at a very large (not compared to US) hospital bill! It ended up for the 5 days stay, with Rachel staying by his bed the whole time, emergency room, tests, medication, IV and everything to be just over $5000 US. A fraction of what it would have cost in my own home country, I hate to say. So, we're now praying the insurance covers everything and should know soon.


So, another chapter in the "adventure," a little more than we bargained for. We're back in the apartment now, adjusting, again, and waiting 'til Spring when we can sail on......thinking warm thoughts ;)


~ Hems