Yes, when I was in college, they were all asking about if you were pregnant and/or needed birth control. They weren’t helpful about much else.
I had S’s freshman room mate’s mom’s phone number and email. We traded a few emails but never chatted and I never asked her about S. I never have had any of D’s room mates’ contact info. They listed my friend who lives a 30 minute drive away as their emergency contact.
OP, so glad your D is doing better. It’s scary being so far away when they’re doing poorly. It’s such a helpless feeling and one I endure a lot with a D who has chronic health issues.
@Barbalot, I hope that all is better soon. I went through something similar with my daughter, and it was scary for a while. I was very concerned about all the school that she was missing, and she seemed to be barely functioning for a couple days. It made me feel better (I don’t know about her) to send an overnight box with gatorade, instant oatmeal, OTC anti-nausea medication, etc. It all worked out eventually, so hang in there.
Back in the dark ages…we had one phone in our suite of six. Hanging in that little alcove were the names and phone numbers of all of our parents. Honestly I don’t recall ever using those numbers…but they were there…just in case.
When my DD had her gall bladder issue, her roommate called me from my daughter’s cell phone. I have to say…it was reassuring to me that she didn’t go to the ER by herself.
@lookingforward , my oldest daughter went to a private Catholic school for her freshman year of high school , and the girls always joked about the nurse asking the same question , no matter what they went to see her for and it was delivered so dryly, you couldn’t help but laugh…her friend wanted to go into the nurse and tell her that her water just broke , to throw her off her script
OP, glad your D is feeling better. I know how hard it is to be far away when your kids are sick. My S has chronic health problems and he’s had to learn how to handle it himself. Not always successfully. More than anything I just would like to be there to comfort when they’re poorly.
Regarding contacting friends/roommates: I happen to be facebook friends with S’s roommates! Not in a creepy way. They have all stayed with us and hung out with our family. They invited me to friend them. So, at least I have no problem contacting them if I need to. I’ve also given one of his girl roommates permission to “mother” him - nag him about picking up his clothes and doing dishes, make sure he’s eating correctly. It’s like he’s never left home! haha
I got a good taste of this issue this weekend. DH and were driving for a planned trip to see D2. For one, we had a flat tire out in the middle of nowhere. We pulled over, but the shoulder was so narrow, and 18 wheelers were whizzing by so fast. No way to change the tire under those circumstances. So lucky for us, two young state troopers got us off the road and over to a side street. Then they proceeded to change our tire!
We arrived a couple of hours late, only to find our daughter lying on the floor in her room, vomiting, crying, and curled up in severe pain. She said she was about to call 911. She was burning up and shaking. We took her to the ER, waited a couple of hours (Friday night in a college town, grrr), and finally saw the ER doc, who promptly ordered a CT scan. He came back and told us she had acute pancreatitis. You could have knocked me over with a feather; it was the farthest thing from my mind.
Long story short, between a nasty virus and adverse effects of her routine medications, she ended up in this condition. She got aggressive fluid replacement, strong pain and anti nausea medication, and the best nursing care I’ve ever observed. Some of you may know I’m an RN, and have come across thousands of nurses in my career, so I don’t state that lightly.
I haven’t really slept since Thursday night when I was home, so I feel dazed and in a fog, but I just got D home and put to bed. I’m really thankful we arrived when we did. Otherwise, I would have received a phone call from EMS or the hospital…and probably had a heart attack.
I don’t know what the moral of this story is…other than consider the quality and accessibility of health care in the college town where you are sending your kids.
One thing I did, and re-evaluate each year, is to figure out where my kid’s insurance is taken near campus – urgent cares and hospitals. I made sure my kid knows which cards to take to a visit (there are mutiples, for health insurance, pharmacy, and dental). I also checked out dentists near campus. Can’t tell about the quality of care, but at least I have where to send her at my fingertips if she texts me.
@Nrdsb4 Sorry to hear about your daughter and happy to hear she was diagnosed and is now doing better - and that you were there to help her! Must have been scary to find her in that condition.
Sounds like you deserve some wine, chocolate - or both!
Agree with @Nrdsb4 - younger child got very sick at school, high fever, vomiting for over 12 hours. Thankfully a friends was from a nearby city and knew where the nearest urgent care was located. D received IV meds and fluids. I am grateful she had a friend with knowledge and a car to help her! Knowing where local services are and how to access them is good information when going off to school.
At my daughter’s school all of the college PD officers are trained EMTs as well. They can be called at any time and will evaluate a medical condition (check vitals and if need be - arrange hospital transport by ambulance.) The school does include on their health center website the names of the nearest ER and urgent care facilities. They will also drive you home from the ER back to campus. Your students should also know that they can call their RA, who are trained to deal with health issues and can contact the PD or know of the nearest health care facilities.
My daughter has had to avail herself of a few of these services - the health center to test for mono, etc., the college PD to evaluate her during an allergic reaction (was fine after Benadryl), the nearest ER for a bad virus, a nearby urgent care at a hospital for a tetanus shot (thankfully didn’t need stitches). Thankfully, for each of these incidents she had friend(s) with her to help her.
@Nrdsb4, the greatest compliment a nurse can receive is praise from a colleague. When my son was in college, I got a text asking me what general surgeons were on our medical plan! :-t Didn’t want to “bother” us, “only appendicitis”.
@ECmotherx2, that sounds like something D1 would do. D2 gets needy and really wants Mom when she’s sick. Sometimes I’m not sure which reaction is preferable, lol.
Yes, campus security does medical evaluations at most colleges. I made D2 call them at midnight once to evaluate what turned out to be a broken arm. They are on campus in the summer, too – at a lot of colleges the health service closes for the summer, which is useful to know if your kid is on campus for the summer.
I’m also glad @Nrdsb4’s D is getting better. I’m the OP and don’t think my D was anywhere near that sick, although with a fever of 103 she was texting me how she couldn’t stop shaking, which was difficult enough to hear about from afar.
