Medical Rant

Thursday, Aiden got sick at school and I had to go pick him up. Fortunately, we live like right across the street from the school and I was there pretty quick. When we got back to the house, I called Dr. Pediatrician's office and made an appointment for 2pm on Friday. Aiden spent the day Thursday with things coming out of both ends. Friday was better, but we went to our appointment regardless.

Now, keep in mind, we live 45 minutes away from the office and traffic is horrendous on Friday...

We get to the office and go up to the check in desk. "I don't see an appointment for Aiden. Go up to the second floor and talk to them."

Okay....

Get up to the second floor and...

Receptionist: "Well, he doesn't have an appointment. Can you come back at 6:15 tonight to be seen in the after hours clinic?"

Me: Ummm, no. We have a 2 pm appointment. I didn't drive all this way due to a figment of my imagination. We want to be seen today."

Receptionist: We can get him in to nurse triage today and he can see a doctor on Monday.

Me: No, he has a 2pm appointment today. Not on Monday.

Receptionist: I can double book him, but you'll have to wait a few hours.

Me: No, he has a 2pm appointment with any doctor, I don't care who. If I wanted to wait a few hours to be seen, I'd take him to the emergency room.

At this point, Dr. Pediatrician's nurse comes out and says that Dr. L has a 2pm opening and he will be seeing Aiden. See, she knows.

Out comes Dr. L's nurse to retrieve Aiden. She sees that Aiden is 3 and wants him to stand on the scales. That won't be happening. He doesn't stand independent for longer than 2.5 seconds. So into the room to strip Aiden down, go over his ENTIRE history which is, by the way, ALREADY in the system located on the laptops all the doctors carry around. (This is why I HATE going to new doctors!)

The nurse and Aiden compare "zippers" and she asked which stomach surgeries Aiden has had. I didn't mention any stomach surgeries did I? Nope, those scars are all from heart surgery. She had to try 10 times to get Aiden's pulse ox. Aiden doesn't know her, so he isn't about to cooperate either.

In comes Dr. L.

"So this is the world famous Aiden? I went over his history and he has a lot of history for a short time."

Yep.

He checks Aiden over, listens to his chest, looks in his ears, attempts to look in the mouth.

Dr. L goes to get Dr. T.

Dr. T comes in asked about the bald spots, tells Dr. L about children with alopecia, checks out Aiden and diagnosed Aiden with a cold (ear pulling) and the stomach virus that is going around (oh yay me!). Asked about Aiden's allergies and how is the Benadryl working. Works really good at night, but not so great during the day. Prescribes Children's Zyrtec for the time being and if that doesn't work, Aiden gets to try out nasal steroids.

Take the prescription and leave. By this time, school is out and the one road I HAVE to go down to purchase carpet shampoo at a specialty store is down to one lane of extremely slow moving traffic. Spend an hour in Friday rush hour traffic to get to the pharmacy in the town in which we live...

Aiden's pharmacy is located down town. Now the town in which we live isn't big. It's small. Downtown consists of 1 stop light and about 50 businesses. The pharmacy is located next to City Hall. Since it's the first of the month, the city utility bills are due. Those who don't auto pay or mail in their checks go downtown to pay. There are no parking lots, just parking spaces in front of the businesses. There is no available parking spot for me to park in, so fine I'll drop it off Saturday morning and wait the 15 minutes to get the Zyrtec filled.

However, Saturday morning, the pharmacy was open but there was no pharmacist. Okay fine, I'll come back before 5pm when the pharmacy closes.

I got back to the pharmacy at 3:30pm and the pharmacy was already closed!

Huh? But the sign says "Saturday 9am - 5pm"?

I'll pick up his Zyrtec Monday morning.