It’s Just Part of Life These Days

Being sick-that is.
Last Thursday Thomas was sent home from school with a fever and sore throat. (This was after he had just gotten over a bout of fifth disease.) We came home and I fixed him something to drink, gave him some ibuprofen, and went to the bathroom. I came out and couldn’t find him. After looking in the usual places, I went upstairs to find him already snuggled up in the bed and practically asleep. Poor little guy. Between him feeling so worn out and the impending stormy weather, we decided to take him in to the doctor Friday morning.
Friday morning they discovered that Thomas had strep throat. The doctor assured me that the babies weren’t likely to get it and prescribed amoxicillan for him. His fever was gone Friday and he just rested until his father came to pick him up that evening.
Sunday mornng little Gloria woke up with a fever so Michael stayed home from church with her and Daniel while I went to teach Sunday school. About 15 minutes after I got home, Valerie arrived for a visit and we went to eat brunch at “Wakhle House.” Gloria ate very well in spite of her illness and took a pretty good nap afterwards. She seemed pretty good as long as we kept ibuprofen in her. It was always very obvious when the medicine was wearing off.
Meanwhile, Thomas came home with an allergic reaction (rash) to his antibiotic. His fever had been gone since Friday and he had been off of his medicine since Saturday.
We all went to bed Sunday night and brought Gloria in to sleep with us so that she and Valerie didn’t disturb each other. Gloria slept in the crib until she woke up and demanded to sleep on TOP of her daddy. This method was very effective in helping her father determine exactly when she needed another dose of medicine.
Monday morning I sent Thomas off to school and I got busy on the phone calling the doctor about the allergic reaction and the sick toddler.
I must share with you that when we first started going to the practice, it was great. I could call in first thing in the morning on the way to school and if I wasn’t fast, the nurse would call me at home before I could get there. They would always have an appointment before 9 on that day. Now when I call them, it takes at least an hour for the nurse to get back to me and the earliest appointments for that day are after 11! The wait time has gone from 30 minutes (the combined time in the waiting room and exam room) to over an hour. I’m really considering switching practices as I see no reason to drive for 20 minutes just to wait for another hour or two and then drive back for 20 minutes. That takes up my entire morning or afternoon-with a SICK kid! But I digress…
After calling the doctor’s office for the second time, I got a return phone call where she took all of the information about both Thomas, Gloria, and a number for the pharmacy we use so that the doctor can call in an alternate prescription. I was informed that they would want to see Gloria and swab her throat for strep if we came in. I said no thank you and chose to wait it out. (She was fine by Tuesday morning!)
All morning long, Gloria sat on Valerie and snuggled. Every time it was time to get in or out of the car, she wanted her aunt to carry her and put her in and out. It was so sweet. I’m very happy that Gloria warmed up to Valerie so quickly. They were two peas in a pod. If Valerie suggested it, Gloria was more than willing.
On my way out the door to pick up Thomas I called the pharmacy to confirm that his new prescription was ready. No prescription had been called in! Here it was at 2:30 in the afternoon and I had STARTED trying to get it all straightened out before 8. Ugh! I called the nurse and she called me back on my cell phone to tell me that I needed to bring Thomas in so that the doctor could see his rash. Keep in mind that the last time he had had his antibiotics was 48 hours ago and he had had some benedryl since then as well so his rash was pretty nonexistant. But we went in anyway.
I have NEVER seen the waiting room so packed. Practically every chair was filled and it’s a pretty big area. We waited there for about 50 minutes and then went back to the exam room to wait for another 50. At one point in time Daniel got loud and fussy so I opened the door thinking I might walk the hall with him, but a nurse fussed at me to, “Please, keep the door closed.” I informed her that the baby had been there for an hour and a half and had taken about as much as he could take. Thankfully, Thomas kept himself busy with his homework and Gloria was enjoying Valerie’s company.
So after all that waiting, the doctor comes in, looks at Thomas and says that he can’t see the rash. Duh! We already explained to the nurse twice that he hadn’t had any amoxicillan since Saturday. But the doctor was reluctant to prescribe something else because he hadn’t seen firsthand the classic hives rash. His advice was to give him the amoxicillan again with a dose of benedryl. By this point I was getting seriously irritated at the way the entire situation was being handled, so I offered the doctor my cell phone and told him he needed to explain it to Thomas’ father who had some training as a nurse. The doctor’s response was, “You have him this week, don’t you?” as though I would completely dismiss his father’s concerns or outright lie to him about what was going on. The last thing I needed was to have something happen to Thomas and then have his dad all up in arms over it. After telling us that he was short on time and he had “jumped ahead just to get to us,” he wrote out a prescription for zythromax.
So we left and got home just in time for Valerie to load up to head back home and for me to eat dinner before zipping off to a girl scout meeting where I did a presentation on sewing and helped the girls make purses out of placemats and ribbon. On the way I dropped of the presciption thinking I would pick it up on the way home. I got back at five minutes to closing time only to be informed that his insurance coverage has expired.” What?!? I called Chris to find out that their prescription insurance had changed at the beginning of this year and got all of the information necessary for the pharmacist to fill it. Since it was so late, I told them I would come back the next morning to pick it up.
Tuesday morning (remember this all started Thursday!) I got everyone ready early, walked into the pharmacy and saw that it didn’t open until 9. I had misremembered and dragged the kids out early. I felt so bad. I decided to get them some muffins as a treat so that they wouldn’t feel like the entire trip was a waste.
Since Daniel was so off schedule that I was unable to get there during the school day, we went to pick up the prescription after I picked up Thomas. Finally! Yay! Nope. They hadn’t filled the prescription yet because after insurance, the balance was over $50 and wanted to make sure I still wanted it. At this point I had had enough and decided to take my chances and forget it. I was soooooooooo done with it by this time.
Everyone is healthy. No one is coughing, sniffing, aching, or running a fever.
I don’t mind taking the kids into the doctor if they need to go, but I really resent them moving very slowly as though it’s no big deal and then asking us to drop everything just to come hang out in their office for hours on end with other sick kids just to do something they should have done in the first place!
Feel free to tell me I am over-reacting, but I am seriously thinking of going to a different practice.