A post by Andrew Barna

Yesterday I introduced Baby Thomas and the Bickle's on Healthcare Tomorrow. Today I would like to post the rest of my interview with Sarah Bickle.

For those that haven't read my first post on the Bickle's. Baby Thomas is a 6 month old from Dallas, Texas that was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Baby Thomas's mother, Sarah Bickle was kind enough to share their hospital experience with me. You can read more about Baby Thomas at their website, The Official Thomas Bickle Blog.

Has there been any situation in which you wanted to stop what was going on?

A nurse in the ER busted 4 of Thomas's little access veins in his wrists and feet. He was bruised at every spot, and Scott [Sarah's husband] told the nurse to stop and get someone else. She gave a kind of sarcastic remark, and Scott kind of flipped out and told her to leave the room ...with swearing. That was probably the most awful thing that happened.

What is one thing you would change about Thomas's care?

It's weird to me that our neurosurgeon was and our oncologist is the person who's in charge of communicating the overall plan of Thomas's care to us. We're very impressed with them, and I suppose the advantage is that they have the expertise to answer all our questions immediately, but I would think some people-person would be in charge of walking us through the logistical questions.

What are you very pleased with?

The nurses and therapists and doctors and even housekeepers genuinely love kids. It's totally clear. ...and it sounds petty, but I am so relieved to have sunlight in every room. It would be so hard to go through this in a dark place. Really, the only bad thing is the unhealthy food, but that's really it!

Is there anything else that you would like to share?

You know, my insurance company was so unhelpful at first, but now I've been put in contact with a real person with a real phone number who's going to manage our case. I'm curious to see how it works out, but having a real person who knows enough to answer more than one question at a time is making a huge difference in my stress level already. Thank goodness.