Cade's Croup Catastrophe

Poor baby Cade has spent the last week being one sick little boy. Rad was sick first, he spent last week out of school and on the couch with a fever and a nasty cough. Cade started out with the same fever and cough but the cough just kept getting worse. On Tuesday he had 3 cough attacks before we left to take Rad to school. At the end of every cough attack it took him a bit to breathe again. It scared him to tears, which scared me, which scared Rad. So I decided to take him in. I scheduled an appointment with a local pediatrics office. We got to the appointment, and explained that without my job, I do not have health insurance anymore. They wanted me to pay cash. I did not have the cash. They sent me away. All the while Cade is hacking up both lungs and from the sound of it... could have been a rib for goodness sake. On the way out of the office they told me to take him to the ER as they are more likely to bill later. I was a bit embarassed. I have a nasty cold/cough myself and was a bit emotional. Cade has to be seen. So I drive to the hospital in tears. Some of those are sad tears and some of those are the darned tears that seems to be constant when I have a cold like this. I take him in to ER and explain that it's not an emergency, just a scary cough, and that I tried the Pediatrics first and they sent me there. The receptionist smiled and handed me paperwork and closed the window. I looked up from my paperwork to see the ER doc throwing a hissy about having to see a "kid with a cough". Which got me upset. My "kid" is sick, and nobody wants to see him. It's not like a was wanting someone to look at his runny nose or a scraped knee for goodness sake. He was having trouble breathing! When the receptionist opened the window I looked at her and said (with sinus tears a flowing) that if it was that big of a deal to see a "kid with a cough" in the ER then I would take him elsewhere. Then I handed her the papers and left. With Cade sacked out on my shoulder and coughing up his other rib and possibly his belly button at that point. I get out to the lawn of the hospital and the hissy throwing doc comes out to chase me down. He's standing there in his scrubs and his stethescope a swinging and yells "Lady! If you're kid is sick we will see him!" I replied (with the dang nasal tears still a flowing) that I understand that he was a busy and didn't need to be bothered with a cough and that I would take him somewhere else. He responded with "There are people in the hospital, in the ICU, with actual emergencies, your kid is not a priority and it will be a few hours, but we will see your kid if he is sick". Hack, Hack, Hack and out comes Cade's knee cap. "Nope" I say. If nobody else can see him then I will come back to you. Then I turn to walk away. He yells something else but I just keep going. Because now I am crying real tears too. I'm still sick, embarassed and worried. I take him to the the third doctor. An urgent care. I start to explain my predicament to the receptionist, lose it and she pats my hand and says "we will see him". Thank goodness. He was diagnosed with a bad case of croup. A bacterial infection that caused a nasty ear infection. Some swelling around his breathing parts and some bruising around his ribs from all the dang coughing. The doctor wanted to know why I took so long to get him in. Um... you are the third doc today that I have tried to see. Anyway, the gave him Tylenol with Codein and a steroid and sent us on our way. Ugh. Stupid day. But so thankful to have something to make him more comfortable. He is still coughing but it doesn't interrupt his breathing as much.
As for the ER doc, I understand that there are people with actual emergencies and I appreciate what doctors do. I never asked for anyone to stop CPR to see Cade or to move Cade to some priority list. I wouldn't have mind waiting. Just don't be a meany.