Tuesday, November 11, 2008

I think I chose the wrong profession

In the last month I have seen quite a bit of the inside of the pasty white walls of a doctor's office.
It started when I went for a derma appointment that I have been waiting on for the last 7 months. Went to see Dr. Bob, a highly recommended derma doc in our area. In fact if you're local and you ever watch TV18, you see his smiley face on 60second house call. While very thorough, he's a very touchy- feely kinda guy, which made me a tad uncomfortable.. anyway, while he mapped me out, my poor baby girl sat in the corner and screamed her head off. She was doing fine until he turned the blow dryer on to check my scalp. It was all over. It did not phase the doc.
So he quickly told me that 5 spots needed to come off.. or left on , "it could be really bad". He was joking that I'd be all upset that this fat man just made me get all cut up.
Really, I could care less. I had one spot taken off a year ago, and its like no big deal. I was ready for 5 more spots of ' no big deal' to come off.
However he couldn't do it, so I scheduled for the following week to go to a surgeon.
Boy, this is some high tech stuff, if a surgeon is going to spend his time on something like this. So off I went, to a friend's husband's office. The procedure was quick and painless.
Two weeks later, I go in to get the stitches out. Quick and painless.
*Meanwhile I have gone in for the second time in a month to another Dr. to have blood drawn to check some particular hormone levels.*
The kids are getting real comfortable and know which nurse will hand out which kind of sticker!
So back up to 4 hours after the stitches come out. I go to sit on the couch, and BAM! The spot on my leg, busts open.. there is a gaping hole and blood starts gushing out.(ok the gaping hole is about the size of a nickel, but its still gaping, none the less.)
I call Andrew. He rushes home(only because I am sure I made it sound like it was the end of the world) and we head to Urgent care. The self remedy of a Thomas band aid is not sufficient and the blood is seeping down my leg.
As we enter the UC, the waiting room has one other person in it. I think this is going to be a quick and easy visit. Um, THREE hours later, I am not thinking it was so quick. Not to mention I now have frost bite, from the pseudo surgery room, being like an arctic closet.
After an hour and 45 minutes, the UC DR. comes in, and it happens to be one of Brigham's preschool friends' mom! I hadn't seen her for several months, and then I see her for all of 3 minutes, for her to tell me that my wound popped opened due to a probable infection. Though she couldn't see one. SO it wasn't treated.After another long wait, a nurse comes in to fix the hole.
I had steri strips put on to close it up.
So from Wednesday until Sunday, I hadn't been showering.. (ok, I had been showering with a big trashbag rubberbanded to my left leg!)but it sure wasn't a relaxing time for getting clean.. more like a Matrix kind of song and dance to avoid getting the trash bag and its contents wet!
So on to Sunday , which was Andrew's birthday.. I have pictures and will post later all about the fun we had celebrating with him. That evening I noticed that my leg was pretty red and puffy. Ahhh. this was a sign from the pamphlet that the wound could be infected. So I call a nurse. And because its Sunday, they have to find someone on call.. and then I had to wait for a return phone call and explain the whole situation again.
The nurse advices me that I need to go in right away. Andrew and I stock our bag with snacks and magazines and head off to the urgent care again. ( luckily my mom had the kids).
Thankfully, the visit was only about 30 minutes, and the nice doctor came in for a mere 30 seconds to tell me that it was in fact infected , and he was calling me in a prescription.

Started that, and I have yet to see any results yet.. but hoping that the pain will stop soon. Andrew is convinced that I have grain green and that they will have to chop my leg off. Although he sat for hours with me at UC, his verbal encouragement is lacking... lol
(kidding. )
Monday morning, we head off to Tatum's 18 month check up. We get there 10 minutes later, so that means they bumped us, and we have to be 'fit' in.
Andrew stayed out in the play area with Brigham and I went in with Tate. We waited. and Waited. The nurse came in for about 10 minutes. and then we waited and waited.
and then the Dr. came in for about 5 minutes. and then we waited and waited. And then the nurse came in do to her shots.
Tatum's 18 month Stats:
weight 24 lbs
height 32 inch
and she still has a small head. that's fine with me. she's a dainty princess. I have seen some kids with these big ol' noggins, and frankly, they are a bit disturbing. So I'll take my kid with a small head( and its been progressing normally, just on the smaller side since birth)any day. She'll have no problems wearing head accessories =)
and from her appt. we headed to see my Dr. we all went into the room, and Brigham was very excited to see Dr. Shinn. He came to all appts. while we were prepping Tatum.
So after we saw Shinn, for about 15 minutes, we were all hungry and ready to get out of this stark environment.
So we went to Little Mexico Two. Its our fave. We go there once a week. Its a nice hole in the wall, family run, totally authentic Mexican place. YUM-O.
And then we were planning to head to the mall to spend some of Andrew's birthday money, but Tatum was melting due to her shots.
So my assessment is that I should have suffered thru extra years of school to become a dr. or at least a nurse.
though my aversion to blood, vomit and poop might have hindered a promising career.
So now I get to endure blood, vomit, and poop with out the $250/hr pay check.. my reward is only the snotty grins of two little people.
which I have to say is the best reward in the world.

6 comments:

Heather said...

Geez, what an ordeal...! Hope you heal up soon!

and you think the wait is long now? just wait until Obama takes over and makes medicine basically socialized..you may as well bring your tent to the waiting room then..sorry, had to get that jab in there..lol...

did you get your smile tile yet?

Ann said...

Little Mexico I is our favorite! Sorry you've had too much time in drs offices...hope your leg s better soon.

Emily said...

I assume you are expecting and "prepping" for another?!?! Congrats if that is the case! When are you due?

Kim said...

I hope ALL your doctors appointments turned out well. It sounds like it's been quite a week!!

Nicole said...

Oh my gosh... What an ordeal. I thought I was reading "If you give a mouse a cookie" part of the time. I hope your leg is healing and that you are all doing well. Waiting at a Dr.'s office is NEVER fun - with or without kids. Well, sometimes without kids is nice if you have a good magazine - like People - you know a high-quality one - to read - ALONE! :-)

Janette said...

MMMM mexican food is the best. I'm so jealous.
Sorry to hear of your long waits. You really need to move to Canada for health care! =)
I'm glad you got stuff to help clear up the infection. You don't want to mess around with stuff like that. Hope you are all healed up in no time. Hugs!

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