So Mad!!!

So I was going to give Anna some baby food this morning and see if she could keep it down (key word: going to). She was back to being more fussy and then had a huge, huge bought of diarrhea (sorry if this qualifies as TMI). So I called the Dr.'s office. They already annoy me with their process of when you call in to talk with a nurse, the receptionist takes a message and has the nurse call you back (which can take anywhere from 30 minutes to hours). I called today around 9 am. The nurse called me back around 11 am. She proceeded to ask a bunch of questions and then said she needed to talk to the Dr. This pretty much never happens, as the nurse usually gives advice on their own. So this lead me to think (as it should) that 8 days of this is too long! So we end our conversation and then the waiting begins........

At 1:15 I call back b/c I haven't heard and I'm thinking if they want her to be seen, we need to be getting an appt. before they all fill up. No luck. The very un-helpful receptionist lets me know that they haven't gotten to it yet and that sometimes it takes a little while. Ok, I think. While frustrated, I try to be understanding....its only been 2 hours since talking with the nurse which included lunch.

2 hours go by and nothing, so I call again. Now if you think I'm being pushy, I may have been....but I'm wanting to know how to care for Anna and if and what they think I should try and feed her. The receptionist again informs me that I will have to continue to wait. Now I'm getting mad..... To my credit though, I am still being polite at this point.

At 4:45 I am fuming. I call back as I know once the clock strikes 5:00, the phones will go to their automated message and I will no longer be able to reach them. When I get mad, I tend to cry (embarrassing, yes I know). So, while talking with the receptionist I am trying to not cry, but still let them know how unhappy I am (with Dave's permission to get mad!). I tell her, "I first called here at 9 o'clock this morning. The nurse is suppose to call me back after talking with the Dr. and I haven't heard from her. My daughter has been sick for 8 days and I just want to make sure I get advice on what to do before 5 when you close." The nurse says she will go check and see where they are with talking with the Dr.

The following is where the anger sets in full force. She comes back and lets me know that Dr. So-and-So is the Dr. on call and she has yet to see my daughter's chart. Once she does, the nurse will call me and not to worry, nurses make calls past 5 o'clock. Now a little FYI, Dr. So-and-So is not our Dr. Our Dr. is a mom and only works 2-3 days per week. While that is a bit annoying sometime, I like her b/c she is a mom and she has an attitude and perception of child caring like mine. Our Dr. that I like so much that I put up with her being gone 2-3 days per week is there on Mondays. So......

IF SOMEONE HAD DONE THEIR JOB AND CARED THAT MY BABY HAS BEEN SICK FOR 8 DAYS AND GOTTEN THE REPORT TO OUR DR SOMETIME DURING THE DAY, SHE COULD HAVE BEEN THE ONE TO CARE FOR US.

I don't know if you think I'm not being understanding enough at this point, well let me assure you....it gets worse.....

Finally, at 5:50 the phone rings. I answer it to find a different nurse on the other line. She proceeds to ask me some more questions (questions that I already answered much earlier) and then says well I think maybe we need to have her checked out again and make sure nothing else is going on and weigh her. She says this in a way that makes me think she decided this just now and probably never even talked with any Dr. So she tells me to bring her in to walk-in tomorrow morning.

So basically I waited almost 9 hours to find out that Anna needs to be seen 50 minutes after they have stopped seeing patients. So now a whole day has gone by without progress and Anna continues to only get breastmilk.

On the bright side, maybe this will be just enough time to allow her stomach to completely settle and tomorrow will be wonderful with no vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss, and lots of wet diapers!

Also, tomorrow will bring a meeting with the office manager at our lovely pediatricians' office to notify them that we DO not like the level of care we are receiving and we are considering switching to the other office here in town.

Well sorry, to fill this with my angry words. But it was a long frustrating day of waiting while taking care of my sick baby for day number 8! So basically, I needed to vent!

Any moms out there that read this, help me out. If you have time, comment on here and tell me what your nurse contact policies are like at the pediatrician you take your kids too. I'm curious if this one is really as bad as I feel it is, or if most are the same way. I worked at an office in Lafayette while finishing nursing school and you got to talk to a nurse that was specifically a phone nurse right away. Shout out to Arnett Pediatrics and especially my fav Jamie!!!

Thanks enough for caring to read all this! :) I'll let you know how things go! Oh and good luck voting!

PS If you are wondering why I didn't just make an appt. in the first place. I was trying to be a conscientious health care consumer and use the nurses (which is why they have them) and I was told to call the nurse each morning and let them know how she was doing so they could inform me on how to progress. See what I get for following the rules?!?!?! Geesh!