Ellie - January and June

January 14th- pushed off a set of parallel bars at school. Total accident. Both bones broken.

June 12th - pushed off a backyard mini trampoline. Total accident. One bone broken, in the same exact place.

January - I drove her to the ER, where we were seen very quickly but spent three hours on a gurney in a corridor. She was x-rayed at her bed, and then they put a temporary splint on and sent us home with a prescription for pain medication.

June - Uncle Mark drove us to A&E, where it was quickly established that she was not resident in the UK and therefore not eligible for free NHS treatment, after which they proceeded to treat her anyway. She was seen really quickly, taken back to a room, given medication, walked over to x-ray (about ten feet away) and x-rayed, and a cast put on.

January - The ER doctor told me to follow up with an orthopaedic surgeon. I called the one he recommended and couldn't get an appointment. I had to find another orthopaedic surgeon in my network by myself, and when I called for an appointment they refused to give me one without a referral. I had to call my insurance company three times and the doctor's office at least three times before they would give me an appointment without a referral, when the type of insurance I have clearly states I don't need a referral for specialist treatment. It took me about four hours of phone calls to get an appointment for three days away.

June - As soon as the first cast was on, the orthopaedic surgeon (who we didn't see at this point) checked the x-rays. While we were still in her room we got a message saying he wasn't happy with it and he wanted a more specialist cast put on. We were taken upstairs to the plaster room where they whipped off the first cast and put on a more specific cast for the type of break she had. Once it was on, she was x-rayed again, within about twenty minutes. We went back downstairs and waited for the orthopaedic surgeon to sign off on the new cast; which he didn't. In fact at this point we were called in to see an orthopaedic registrar and she said that the new cast hadn't improved the bone position enough to a point where they were happy with it, and so we needed a manipulation under anaesthetic. They would have admitted her there and then, except I was playing for my nephew's wedding in two and a half hours and there was no way we could stay! Talk about stress. I have to say, I was a total basket case by this point, wondering if the bride would have to walk down the aisle to the congregation all humming the same tune! But if had not been for that, we would just have stayed in hospital and had it done the same day.

January - Not surprisingly, by the time we got to see the ortho three days later, he said it had been too long and that the bones would need to be reset under general anaesthetic. He wanted to do it that day, so a 9am appointment turned into a 12pm surgery. We drove over to a surgery centre in Huntington Beach and waited for the ortho to come over during his lunch hour. The most traumatizing part of the whole experience was getting the IV put in for the anaesthetic - the tourniquet around the arm was quite uncomfortable and she was not happy. The gown they gave her to wear during her surgery was tiny and barely fitted over her splint! They knocked her out and took her off. She was really distressed when she woke up; very weepy and in a lot of pain. There was nobody else in recovery with her, but as soon as she was calmed down (about half an hour after she woke up) we were getting her dressed and taking her home.

June - we were admitted to a pediatric ward at 7am on Saturday morning. They didn't have a bed yet, so they put us in a treatment room until a bed came available, which it did a couple of hours later. The first thing they did was put magic cream on her hand and elbow. I've no idea what it's really called, but it numbs the site where the IV goes in. So when it came time for the IV, she didn't feel a thing. It was amazing. When I said I was expecting them to do it with a tourniquet, they were horrified and said that they don't do that to kids! When it was her turn, about 11am, she was rolled off in her bed through the hospital corridors to the anaesthesia room, which was right next door to the OR. I could see the nurses watching the OR and waiting for it to be ready before they knocked her out. I'm sure there was a patient right behind her waiting their turn, too, like airplanes circling a runway! I waited about an hour until they called me down to see her, and then she was brought back to the ward. She was very groggy; she opened her eyes a couple of times and then just slept for two hours until she really woke up. She did astonishingly well, and didn't need any pain meds until it was time to go home. They told us we could go home when she had eaten, drunk, and used the bathroom. She said it was really nice being able to stay and sleep.

She also said the hospital food was delicious! To be fair, that's not often said about hospital food and she also thought the plane food was delicious, so we're clearly dealing with a very unsophisticated palate! I was quite surprised at how much she didn't understand on the supper menu: 'What's a bap? What's gammon? What's semolina pudding? What's trifle? What's mousse?' We were released later that night, at about 8pm. While we were still there, Nicholas managed to put his teeth through his lip at home, so one of the army of aunties that were looking after all the other kids texted a picture to Mark's phone, and I showed it to the staff nurse for his opinion on whether we needed to bring Nicholas in to A&E for stitches. Might as well get your money's worth!! If a second child had needed a trip to the hospital I would have totally lost it. We decided against it, based on advice. I think all my family were thinking I might actually self-combust. I've never felt quite so stressed. Ever.

January - Nobody does anything until you produce your insurance card.

June - Nobody did anything until she told them her name and her birth date. Everybody we interacted with made her confirm her name and birthdate. It must be an NHS policy. I thought it was a little odd...

January - so far I've seen bills from the ER, the ER doctor, and the orthopaedic surgeon. Still waiting for a bill from the anaesthesiologist and the surgery centre. But because they looked at her I'm sure they get to bill us. It's been astronomically expensive (we're talking several thousand dollars) even before all the final bills have come in. And that's with insurance.

June - there will be a bill I'm sure. But so far she has been treated on multiple occasions and follow-up appointments have been made with absolutely no mention of payment.

January - we had one follow up with the ortho at two weeks, where the splint was changed to a hard cast, and then the cast came off at six weeks.

June - they want to see her at one week, two weeks and four weeks to be re-xrayed to check on progress. At four weeks we can reduce the cast to below the elbow (except we'll be home by then and so it probably won't happen, because I'll have to pay for that!!).

It has been a very interesting experience (and one I could have done without) having the exact same operation under two different medical systems. I have to say, in my experience, the NHS won this hands down. About the only place that they did not totally outperform the American system was the quality of the sling!! ER - fancy adjustable black thingy. A&E - triangular piece of gauze tied around her neck!

I can't find much wrong with socialised medicine. In the UK the NHS gets knocked a lot for being underfunded and inefficient, and it probably is, but in an emergency there is no place better. In the US people seem to think that socialised medicine is about the worst thing that there is. I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say that they don't want the government involved in their medical care. I would rather the government was in charge than an insurance company, who are making decisions on care based purely on profitability. And I would far, far rather have medical care available and accessible to everyone. An emergency shouldn't have to be a crippling expense.

Absolutely everyone we saw was super friendly and nice to Ellie. She was extremely well taken care of, and I felt like there was more of a focus on making her feel comfortable. She was a person not just a patient. When you ask her, she says the experience was 'way better' over here, and I totally agree.