With doctors it's the 'look at this list and take a shot in the dark' method that usually wins out. I do get references from the local folk but it's always a matter of if the doctors they use and recommend are with our insurance and all that fun stuff. And of course you get to wait a good long time to get in. You never quite know what you are going to get until the first "establish patient" visit. All the while knowing you have to go to the emergency room for any care you need before that because you have not been "established as a patient yet". Then there is the simple fact that I have 5 of these appointments to try and fit in. Trudging to the doctor 5 times with four kids in tow is not my favorite chore. To my wonderful children's credit, the oldest three read the entire time and I just have to make sure Addie doesn't kill herself while climbing, jumping, and playing around like chairs and tables in the waiting room are a jungle gym - oh yeah, then there are all the drawers of stuff in the exam rooms - anyway, it's not my favorite.
With dentists it's still the same shot in the dark most of the time and then you wait almost 6 months to get in, which by that time you (and your ghastly amount of children) have missed an appointment. And again the whole not a patient thing means if you happen to need a dentist you find the first guy with a drill and a bit of whiskey. Anyhoo, what does this have to do with a dragon?
Today was the first of our new appointments (why can't they just book all the appointments in a row you ask? I wish I knew, I always try, it hasn't worked yet) and it was all going well. Boys reading quietly, Ellie petrified quiet as could be and by my side as the boys had been teasing her since last night that her couple of scrapes were chicken pox so she was going to need a chicken pox shot at the doctor, and Addie was being somewhat mild and hadn't broken or damaged anything or herself yet. And then ... the doctor walks in ... big smile nice "Hello" then her eyes bug out of her head as she gazes into the corner where Addie, Jake, and Zack are sitting while they read. "Hi", I say and explain that it's Ellie's appointment today (the one sitting on the exam table) and that she'll be seeing Addie tomorrow and the boys around the middle of the month. All the while she is not looking at me but staring with the same big bug eyes at my other children. I am somewhat baffled by the response and wondering if this doctor patient relationship is going to work out or if we are back to the drawing board. Suddenly, a glimmer of hope, she turns to face me. Glimmer gone, she says, "Well, this is all of them right? I mean you don't have any more? It's just that it's a lot of children these days and they are all so close together." Honestly? She truly looked concerned for all of our welfare.
I wish I could say that I couldn't believe it but it actually happened with another doctor when I was pregnant with Addie. The comment then was from a nurse giggling in the hall, "Is she really going to have another one? Does she know that will be four." Seems unreal? It felt unreal. I actually spoke to the doctor about it at my next appointment, okay I'll be honest, I cried about it to my doctor at my next appointment (let's blame the prego hormones) and she let me know that she had heard the comment and had let that nurse go because of it. She had also spoken to the other nurse participating in the conversation, about me and my enormous brood, and let her know that patients were not to be made fun of for any reason. A small victory for families of terrible size everywhere!
Still you are wondering about the dragon? Okay, okay, as I am telling Sam about the experience I say, "I mean she looked as though I was bringing a dragon in to see her rather than 4 extremely cute children!" Hence the title and a belly busting laugh from my husband. Let's see if she remembers us the next 3 times and then when mine finally rolls around at the end of the month.
2 comments:
Which is worse, comments that your family is too big or that it is too small and you are being selfish because your child is an only child and has no siblings to play with?
I say borrow a few neighborhood kids for the next appointment, and see if her eyes really do come all the way out! ...that or bring her a chin strap, so her jaw stays closer to her head than the floor. HOW RUDE!
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