Hospitals in Hanoi, Vietnam

Visiting a foreign hospital is never ideal and you never know what you're going to get or which hospital you should go to. This is my experience taking my two-year-old and my baby who is 5 months old to a Vietnamese Hospital.

With so many people touching the boys it's hard to know where this infection started, however, we are going to be more careful in the future.

 Atticus started running a low fever last week and it only lasted 24 hours. Then he had some drainage which we didn't know about cuz it wasn't coming out of his nose but he started coughing up stuff. His cough progressed so much that he was vomiting up the mucus. I was thinking about taking him to the hospital but then his cough got much better and thought that he was doing okay. At the same time Odin's nose was running and we couldn't keep it clean. He's runny nose was his first symptom and two days later he started running a fever of 101 he ran that temperature for 4 days. The night before we went to the hospital Atticus was screaming on and off for 4 hours straight at bedtime until 2:30 in the morning. That same morning was Odin's fourth day of running a high fever so I finally decided to take them to the hospital. The question was which one. Nick went to work and I prepared a bag. As I was getting ready to go I came down with a lot of anxiety over the whole situation and realize that I couldn't do this by myself, so I asked Nick to come home and come with us.

We decided to visit the Vietnamese international hospital because the cost was significantly lower and a friend had visited there with their son and had a good experience. The moment that we walked through the door we were greeted by an English interpreter. We told her what was wrong and she started the process of getting us checked in. Both boys took a covid test which was negative, and then we headed upstairs to see the doctor. We didn't wait very long to see the doctor. It was very interesting because the doctor and the nurse stayed in the rooms and the patients came in and out of the rooms much different than in America. The doctor examined both boys and told us that Atticus was much worse off than Odin and she wanted him to see an ophthalmologist, dermatologist, x-ray  and both boys had to visit the ENT and get blood drawn and a flu test.

Luckily all those doctors were all on the same floor and right next to each other. There were no lines to wait in and it was pretty easy especially with our amazing interpreter. First up was blood draw and flu test both boys did that. Their flu test came back negative. Then we visited the ophthalmologist and she examined Atticus’ eyes and told us that he had conjunctivitis. She massaged his eyes and taught me how to do it and gave me instructions to do it once every day.

After that, we went to the dermatologist and had a long conversation about Atticus' skin. She believes that he has eczema and gave me all the creams and ointments to treat it and I'm supposed to go back in 2 weeks.

Next up was x-ray and that took 2 seconds. I held Atticus down and they quickly took an X-ray of his chest. And not even 5 minutes later they handed us his X-ray and we went to lunch.

After lunch we went to the ENT and both boys had their ears, nose and throat scoped. Atticus was up first and he had a lot of wax so they had to clean out his ears and then they quickly discovered that he had two severe middle ear infections with pus and they were very worried about it erupting.

Odin was up next and it was a huge struggle to hold him down, it took me and a male nurse to hold him still. He had an ear infection on one side but it was not severe. They prescribed both boys antibiotics.

After the ENT we went back to the doctor who reviewed all of the results with us. The boys had a very high white blood count which meant they had an infection so they both were going to be put on antibiotics. Atticus also has bronchitis and she told me he needed to stay in the hospital for 5 to 7 days because he's so young and he has a lot of things going on right now. However, they didn't have any room to accommodate him there and asked me to go to a different hospital and have him admitted. Our interpreter helped us call three other hospitals and none of them had room. We finally called the French hospital that was recommended to us by another friend and they happen to have room. Nick and I decided to divide and conquer. He would take the scooter home and pack up a bag for Atticus and I and then come to the hospital and grab Odin.

When I got to the emergency room of the French hospital I gave them all my paperwork and they told me that I had to go through and see the doctor again so that she could verify the information and make the decision on if we needed to be admitted or not. They quickly took us back, checked out Atticus and we met with the doctor all within 15 minutes. She examined him and noticed how happy he was and although he had two extreme ear infections, overall he was okay. She asked me if I would prefer the hospital or to be at home. I told her because I had an older son who also needed medicine and attention that it would be better for me to be at home with both of my boys. She agreed and told me she would give me 3 days and if anything happened or changed that I would come back before then. I was so happy by this news because I was having some serious PTSD. I did not want to experience  Hospital time with Atticus in a different country. 

Both boys were champs during this whole crazy and hectic day. Odin was held down several times while they forced things up his nose. in his ears, down his throat, and drew blood from his arm. After the first time he learned very quickly that he did not want to enter any new room and would fight us to go in, luckily most of the appointments were for Atticus. Now one of his new sentences is, “Atticus' turn!”  It's pretty cute.

Giving them medicine before meals after meals in between hours blah blah blah it's so hard and it wears on you. I'm exhausted just from being a mom nurse.

So far meds are not going well. I have to hold Odin down and use a syringe to get the meds in his mouth. Atticus throws up his meds less than a minute after taking them. Overall we have been changing clothes and diapers about 5 times a day due to throw up or diarrhea, so it is just NO FUN!