Medical Monday Mumblings . . .

Today was 'bloodwork' day for Banshee. Although this is a 'typical' run of the mill blood test; one that she's had a million times before; I'm still kind of nervous about it. She's been sick with a cold, which for you and I is no big deal, but she just can't seem to shake it. Any 'little' or minor illness almost always equates to some major issue with her. It's been more than a week (10 days to be exact), and her wet, buttery cough is still just that - wet and buttery. Wet and buttery isn't her style . . . with the asthma, she's usually more of a dry/hacky cougher, so wet and buttery concerns me. A LOT. Add to that, the fact that she's super pale (even more than normal - seriously . . . she'd put vampires to shame); worn right out and and just unwell in general (her eyes tell SO much about her . . . and her little eyes are glassy and sad looking). Because of the cold, she needs to take hydrocortisone. She takes this medication when she's unwell because it is supposed to 'help' her fight off illness - it's basically the synthetic replacement for the naturally occuring cortisol that her adrenal gland is supposed to create; except it doesn't because she's got adrenal suppression.

SO . . . back to her bloodwork today . . . what was it for? To measure her cortisol levels . . . to see if stopping the "suspected" offending medication (that she stopped/changed back at the end of November) has made a difference. We are DESPERATELY looking for a dramatic increase in her naturally occurring cortisol . . . or else I'm afraid we're looking at yet another very serious medical hurdle. However, she's been taking the 'synthetic' stuff since last Monday . . . 6 full days . . . I'm afraid that she may get a 'false' reading indicating that it has improved, when in fact, it hasn't.

Anyway, we get up and head out to the lab for when it opens this morning. This is a test that needs to be done in the 'early' am and the patient must fast. We were registered and sitting in the lab waiting room by 7:40am. YAY us for getting up and ready that quickly!

Except we got called in at 10:15am.

No shitting you here. We sat for more than 2.5 hours waiting for blood work. During that time they called back about 9 patients. EVERYONE was upset and impatient - there were about 50 people sitting in that lab - waiting. I have to give Banshee A LOT of credit where credit is due . . . she sat there and did a FANTASTIC job waiting - only complaining quietly to me a few times. After 2 hours of waiting, I'm getting really aggravated. Suddenly people who hadn't been there even 20mins were going up and pleading their case about why *THEY* needed to be seen right away. Finally, after they remained on the same number for more than 35mins, another woman goes up and starts to plead her case - stating that she needed to 'meet up' with someone out of town. I had the "pleasure" of listening to her on her phone just a few moments before and knew that her 'meeting' was with a friend in the city. For lunch. And Shopping. I freakin' LOST it. You all need to realize that I'm aggravated with the wait we've had; I'm tired; I'm worried sick about my baby girl; I'm aggravated with the medical system we have; and there's annoying TV on, although it somewhat helped to mask the sounds that others were making (horking; coughing; etc). I stood up and interrupted her conversation with the lab lady, and told her that with all due respect, I understood that her time was precious and that she had places to go, but that the other 50 people in the room did as well, and that her time was not any more important than any of the rest of us. Then I proceeded to point out that a 6yo kid had been sitting for more than 2 hours already - a kid that hadn't eaten anything since dinner last night because she needed an EARLY MORNING blood draw - and it was 10:00am - and that she needed to put her in 2 hours of wait time like the rest of us. She mouthed off to me, and continued to plead her case to the tech. It was then I said "your LUNCH and shopping date is a priority?! WOW. You ARE shallow". At that she looked me square in the face (and for a fleeting moment I wasn't sure if I was about to lose all my front teeth) and told me in a hushed, but definitely audible tone "FUCK YOU" and she stormed out the door; dropping her little number tag; which another woman flew over and grabbed, leaving her number that was about 30 later in it's place. A few people clapped; a few patted me on the back; a few voiced their agreement; a few just pretended that they hadn't seen/heard anything; and a few others just sat as though they hadn't noticed anything. A few mins later, the number dinged and changed. Banshee and I FLEW into that room. As we're getting ready, the lab tech has the gall to say "Ma'am . . . this is supposed to be an early morning blood draw".

Really?! She had the nerve to actually say that out loud?! I was PISSED, but beyond looking at her and blinking, I didn't say a word. She said it again and I turned to help Banshee get up on the chair. I think my body language probably told her how I REALLY felt.

*I* removed the EMLA patches (at the last minute Banshee decided she wanted them).

*I* cleaned her arms up from the EMLA

She took the blood - easy peasy. Banshee is SO co-operative and sits SO still through it all (and really, I'd be shocked if she even has any feeling in that arm NOW - she had those patches on for nearly 3 hours!!! We were in and out in less than 2 mins.

SO . . . this leads me to question what the hell goes on 'back there'. I mean, c'mon, we get that things are busy, but these people are ONLY taking the blood . . . we register elsewhere so there isn't any of the healthcard or billing going on. We had a similar experience back in the fall . . . but I put it down to 'growing' pains within the hospital. They were in the midst of a HUGE change in how things are run, so I let it go. SEVERAL times I let it go - we've had numerous wait times in excess of an hour. Now it's almost 6 months later, there really isn't any excuse. NONE. Either they're REALLY slow at what they do, or they're the most unefficient work team EVER!!!

We waited 2.5 hours for 2 mins of their time. Seems like a bunch of BS to me. As I was driving home (after a quick run through the Drive-Thru at Tim's for a bagel for my starving child), I figured out that I could have driven to the pediatric hospital almost an hour away to have the bloodwork done and would have been there and back in LESS time than it took at the hospital 5 mins away. OYE!!

Now we wait for the results. Chances are it WON'T get back to our requesting ped (more often than not she has to chase down the results); and we won't have any answers at our upcoming appointment. Have I ever mentioned that I *HATE* our healthcare system sometimes?! I'm afraid something BAD is going to happen before we get any concrete answers.

Can you tell that I'm frustrated?!

Because I am. A LOT.

GRRRR!

Oh - and to top off the 'excitement' of the day I had the paint guy come to quote us on painting our house. H-O-L-Y S-H-I-T!! CHA-CHING!!!! I get that he's doing A LOT of work - he's repairing any cracks, popped nails, nail holes, painting 2 coats on every wall; painting the ceilings in EVERY room in this house (except a bathroom). He'll provide the paint - I just pick the colours, and he does the rest. He'll paint the trim, the doors - EVERYTHING, but WOW - it comes at a price. A very, very, VERY hefty price. YIKES!!! Oh well . . . it NEEDS to be done, and it's going to be done RIGHT - and that is important to us. I just hope my other half sees it my way - lol!

Did I mention that it was expensive?! EEKS!!