Frustration, aggrivation....and a sick kid

Have I mentioned that I don't like to be frustrated & confused & mixed up in a lot of chaos?  I'm an order person.  I plan things.  I make lists & cross them off.  Most of my co-workers would laugh & classify me as OCD.  I MUST organize things...it's just who I am.  (Now, mind you...this doesn't necessarily roll over into my HOME...although I really wish it would!)

This morning, Samuel woke up screaming, holding his right ear & saying it HURTS.  Going on his history of thousands of ear infections, I assume this must be the case, however, he hasn't had a cough, the sniffles...nothing.  So for this to pop up out of the blue is weird.  But then again, weirder things have happened.  His lymph nodes on that side of his neck are swollen, too, so it sure looks like he probably has an infection.  I can usually look into his ear with our powerfulest flashlight (yes, it's a word....LOL) & see whether or not he's got fluid or pus on his eardrum, but I couldn't tell today.  Oh boy.  I gave him some Ibuprofen & sent him to school w/ a promise that I'd call the pediatrician & get him in this afternoon.  Just to be sure, ya know...

I took everyone to school, came home, got dressed & then called the pedi's office.  That's where my frustration begins.  Grrrrrr

First off, my phone line died in the middle of scheduling the appointment.  It came back on after a minute & I called back, only be to told that our pediatrician is out this afternoon.  Only one doc is seeing patients this afternoon & she has put a freeze on our account (meaning we can't schedule an appointment) til we pay off the bill from an appointment several months ago.  You see...they charged $100 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) to dig earwax out of Samuel's ear that day.  Seriously.  Give me Qtip.  I could've done that.  When the insurance co got that bill, they decided that THAT procedure fell into the "surgical procedures" category which is covered differently than a pediatrician digging earwax out of an ear in the office.  And so, for a couple of months, the doc's office & insurance co have argued about what happened.  Not to mention that we haven't had a spare $100 lying around to pay that bill.  Oy!  The schedule lady said I'd have to speak to the billing folks before she could schedule an appointment.  She transferred me over to talk to them, but all I got was VOICE MAIL!

I hung up & called Larry.  PLEASE deal with this.  By this point, it's 8:25.  I leave for work at 8:30-8:40 and I really didn't have time to sit & go back & forth with someone about this stuff.  Hooray!  My hero.  He called, talked to someone & got an appointment with our pediatrician this morning at 9:45.

Now that's great & all, but then the race was on for me to call & find a sub for my class.  There was none.  They were all already working for someone else or were busy today.  Yikes!  My class of 3 year olds will be divided up today, filling spaces in other classrooms for the day.  I feel awful about that, but there's nothing else I can do.  I'm stumped.  I emailed all the parents to let them know, so hopefully the ones that would be terrified of that will stay home instead of going to school & freaking out all day.

sigh....time to go get Samuel.