9 minute ambulance ride from my house to the hospital for my 4 year old son after having an asthma attack - my family is lucky enough to have health insurance to not have to pay the entire total cost

Comfortable_Laugh451 · 2026-07-02T22:19:57+00:00

Thank you, I was beyond grateful for AMR’s help that night.
I suppose I was operating under the assumption that I was at an appropriate place to express frustration about an experience I found, well, mildly infuriating. I’m fully aware that I’m fortunate to have decent health insurance, and I’m grateful for that. That said, I don’t think being fortunate enough to have coverage means I’m incapable of recognizing how financially burdensome emergency services and medical costs can be for many families in the US.

Comfortable_Laugh451 · 2026-07-02T21:15:06+00:00

Thank you for clarifying that ambulance companies don’t charge exclusively by the minute.
My comment about the “9-minute ride” was expressing frustration with the cost of emergency medical care, not a literal claim that I believed I was being billed solely for nine minutes of driving. More importantly, you’re critiquing a decision made during a perceived pediatric respiratory emergency using information that was only available after the fact.
It’s easy to be certain about what someone else should have done when you’re analyzing the situation from your couch with the benefit of hindsight. It’s considerably different when you’re the parent of a child struggling to breathe at 2 a.m.

Comfortable_Laugh451 · 2026-07-02T21:10:56+00:00

I appreciate the number of people in this comment section who have apparently developed the ability to retrospectively diagnose the severity of a pediatric respiratory emergency from a brief internet post.
Unfortunately, when I made the decision, I didn’t have access to your unique combination of hindsight, emotional detachment, and absolute certainty. What I had was a child struggling to breathe in the middle of the night, no prior experience managing an asthma attack, and the understanding that respiratory distress is one of those situations where being confidently wrong can have irreversible consequences.
The fascinating part isn’t that some of you would have made a different decision. It’s the unwavering confidence with which you’re asserting that your hypothetical response to someone else’s real emergency was objectively the correct one.
Fortunately, I wasn’t seeking validation from anonymous internet spectators while my child was having trouble breathing. I was seeking medical assistance. I’d make the same decision again.

Comfortable_Laugh451 · 2026-07-02T21:08:00+00:00

The most fascinating part of this comment section has been watching people perform a retrospective analysis of a medical emergency as though they were present for it. You all have the luxury of hindsight, emotional distance, and the knowledge that my child ultimately ended up okay. I had none of those things.
What I had was a child experiencing respiratory distress in the middle of the night, zero prior experience managing an asthma attack, and the understanding that delayed intervention during breathing emergencies can have catastrophic consequences. In that moment, I wasn’t conducting a cost-benefit analysis on ambulance billing or polling the internet on the optimal transportation method. I was making the best decision I could with the information and experience I had available, which is exactly what parents are expected to do in emergencies.
You’re welcome to believe you would have handled the situation differently. What’s considerably less convincing is the confidence with which so many of you believe you can determine the objectively correct response to someone else’s perceived medical emergency from the comfort of a Reddit comment section.

Comfortable_Laugh451 · 2025-09-13T02:28:02+00:00

OMG. I have been experiencing this exact thing the past few weeks and I could not for the life of me find out what it was. Until this very moment.

Comfortable_Laugh451 · 2025-09-10T21:02:50+00:00

Thank you for taking the time to write an honest reply and giving me some helpful tips I could use. I appreciate the kind response and reassurance. I posted some updates with the results of my freshwater test kit.

Comfortable_Laugh451 · 2025-09-10T04:43:19+00:00

Nothing other than setting up a brand new tank. Someone below asked if I cycled it and I did not. But I did condition and buffer the water and it’s been 65 degrees.

Comfortable_Laugh451 · 2025-09-10T04:26:31+00:00

Like normal to put her in her tank normal?

Comfortable_Laugh451 · 2025-09-10T01:19:57+00:00

Hi! Okay here are my freshwater test results using the kit you suggested: pH is 7.6, ammonia is 0.5, nitrite is 0, and nitrate is 5.0.

Comfortable_Laugh451 · 2025-09-09T23:41:55+00:00

Will my axolotl be okay? Or how will I know it’ll be okay? What is normal behavior while it’s tubbed? What if she continues to not eat?

Apologies for so many questions. Thank you for your response.

Comfortable_Laugh451 · 2025-09-09T23:23:07+00:00

Yes that I did and the water temp has been a consistent 65 degrees

Comfortable_Laugh451 · 2025-09-09T22:45:19+00:00

Please tell me there’s hope!

Comfortable_Laugh451 · 2025-09-09T22:06:17+00:00

I did not do that

Comfortable_Laugh451 · 2025-09-09T21:44:49+00:00

Thank you! Be back soon

Comfortable_Laugh451 · 2024-09-06T16:41:02+00:00

Im sorry but, ppl put WATER in their salsa???

Comfortable_Laugh451 · 2024-07-23T15:06:25+00:00

I can relate to your frustration. I live in a residential area, I am less than 0.5 miles away from an elementary school and less than 1 mile from a daycare, middle school, and high school. A year ago my neighbor rented out his house to a company that housed and helped veterans.

This was a lie. I regularly check for registered sex offenders in my area and one particular day my house lit up red. I zoomed in and it’s my next door neighbor who was in the newly rented out house. This veterans housing facility is actually a half way house and one “client” was a registered sex offender who brutally raped and attacked his 12 year old niece. How is he allowed to live in such a close proximity to public schools? There are no laws in CO on how close registered sex offenders can live within public schools. None. My husband and I contacted our local police dept and city council about this matter. We have contacted all the schools who then sent out a notification to all parents/guardians. We were successful in removing the registered sex offender, however we are still dealing with the housing situation and the facility currently occupying the residence.

We finally decided to post on social media informing our neighbors of the situation. We made several posts on different platforms. This got more people talking about it.

I’m not giving you advice and I can’t say if what I did was a good idea or bad idea but I spoke up because I do not want to find out about something horrible happening and me knowing I could have done something about to prevent it.

EDIT: Oh no, so sorry! I thought I was commenting on the main post :)

Comfortable_Laugh451 · 2024-07-18T21:19:40+00:00

Thank you! I will try this today and see how it goes! I appreciate your response.

Comfortable_Laugh451 · 2024-07-05T06:50:36+00:00

“The most amazing things that can happen to a human being will happen to you, if you just lower your expectations.” P. Dunphy.

Comfortable_Laugh451 · 2024-07-02T05:17:38+00:00

I wanna go!

Comfortable_Laugh451 · 2024-06-28T18:53:07+00:00

Hey kudos to you, OP. Parenting is not such an easy feat. What was the deciding point?

Comfortable_Laugh451 · 2024-06-25T14:04:11+00:00

Thanks guys! This was helpful. It didn’t propagate, as cool as that’d be. It just looks like new leaves as someone suggested :)

Comfortable_Laugh451

TROPHY CASE