First trip to the Emergency Room

Tonight is the first night that I had to take a sick child to the emergency room.  This afternoon Simon started having outbursts of screaming in pain.  It seemed that the pain was in his diaper area and also every time he peed.  I called our family doctor who said to give him lots of fluids.  Then as Simon continued to wail in agony with blood curdling screams every half hour or so, I called Grandpa to get his opinion.  He thought it definitely sounded like a UTI and that he needed treatment.  Since it was Saturday evening, our choices for medical care were limited.  We went to the urgent care about five minutes from our house, only to arrive about one minute after they closed and they told us to go to the emergency room.  So off to CMC-Pineville we went.  It took about an hour to get called back.  We saw many faces for about 30 seconds each and all-in-all were there three hours.  (99% of that was waiting.)  Fortunately I brought a urine sample with us which I collected from Simon's potty and they were quickly able to diagnose a bladder infection.  He'll have to be on antibiotics for 10 days and they also prescribed a medicine for pain (Lortab!).  He is sleeping soundly for the time being, now that he is on drugs.

I don't know much about these things, although apparently bladder infections in boys/little boys are rather uncommon.  Who knows how Simon got it?  I guess it's just one of those things...  We are to follow up with our doctor and (/or?) a urologist in a few days. 

Please keep Simon in your prayers that he recovers swiftly and does not experience much more pain.  It was absolutely breaking my heart to see him in such agony.

ETA (Edited to Add):  I don't want any of my above comments to sound like complaints about the ER.  They are just observations.  On the contrary, I am very grateful that we live in a time and a place where we have access to 24 hour healthcare.   Although I often imagine what life was like for mothers many centuries ago when I want to inspire myself to keep things simple, imagining what it would be like to have a sick child and no where or no one to turn to for help makes me feel all the more blessed to be where I am today.