Aurora Borealis

Mr. Tldz worked from home today because he isn’t feeling very well.  Well, at least he put in a few hours.  He has some sort of cold/sinus thing going on which started yesterday.  And today I’m starting to feel like I’m getting a cold.  So I’m taking Airborne to try to keep it away.  Hopefully Agent Murphy won’t get it.  He - knock on wood - hasn’t been sick yet.  I know it will happen eventually, but it doesn’t need to be now, does it?

Though I’m sorry Mr. Tldz isn’t feeling well, it was nice to have him home again - like “old times.”

Agent Murphy had a doctor’s appointment today.  Once again, he freaked out immediately upon being put on the crinkly paper on the table.  Shrieked afterwards while I was getting him dressed.  They must wonder what I’m doing to him.  He doesn’t cry that hard during the exam.  Really, it’s just the crinkly paper.  So I tried getting him dressed on my lap, but he was already worked up and just a wiggling mess, so I gave up and went back to the dreaded table and went as fast as I could.

Anyway, our big guy is indeed big.  21 pounds 12 ounces (75th percentile), and 30.75″ (”off the charts” - above 97th).  Everything seems a-okay with him.

Poor Agent Murphy is starting to understand that he’s at the doctor’s office and what happens there.  Today he screamed when they put him on the scale to weigh him (18 pounds, 8 ounces; 28.5″).  He used to love the scale, but now he knows what’s coming next.  This time it was 4 needle sticks and 1 oral vaccine.  They tell me next time, at 9 months, there’s only one needle stick.

He used to love the paper on the exam table, too.  He’d wiggle around and make it crinkle, all smiles and happy.  Then he got his first batch of needle sticks.  Now he screams as soon as he’s put on the table.  Poor guy screamed when I put him back on the table to get dressed and go home.  I wish he could understand when I say it’s all over and we’re just getting ready to go home.

Doctor’s office should be in a new, larger location when we go in at 9 months, just 1 mile from (and closer to us!) the current location.

Agent Murphy had his post-op appointment with the surgeon’s nurse practitioner.  Happy to report his toe is healing nicely.  But the whole thing was an exercise in frustration.  We arrived at 11:00 for our 11:15 appointment.  At 11:50, we still hadn’t been called back to an exam room so I said something.  We were taken to a room a few minutes later and were finally seen at about 12:05.  And the “seeing” involved literally about a minute of her looking at his toe.  She could have done what she did in the waiting room for heaven’s sake!

Agent Murphy was a very good boy, but he was reaching the limits of his patience…

We go back in 6 months so they can check for any bone remnant.

…and the sad state of “customer service” and health insurance.

While I’m washing baby bottles, phone rings and I answer promptly only to be greeted by a recorded message from the billing office at the hospital where Agent Murphy was born, telling me they need to discuss an important matter with me and giving a number for me to call back.  Are you kidding me?!?  But I call back, and wait on hold for 5 minutes or so, hearing a friendly voice every 30 seconds or so tell me to “Stay on the line for an important call.”  Finally a live human picks up and says they’re trying to resolve the matter of a small balance on Agent Murphy’s account.  I rattle off the amount we sent in for my care, and the amount we sent in for his.  The man says, “Did you send in a payment or the whole balance?”  I again stated the amount we paid and that it was the balance due.  He then notices that the payment has been posted, but hadn’t posted to the system that places the calls.  I told him he might want to pass on to customer service that I found that system offensive.  I answered my phone, and if the call was so important, someone should have talked to me about whatever the issue was rather than making me call back only to wait on hold.  He said the system is used by many places other than hospitals.  I reiterated that I find it offensive and he should pass that on, because it makes me think about whether I want to do business with this hospital again.

This is the same place that sent us for our first post-service correspondence a letter saying we were late in paying, blah, blah, blah.  I called about that and said this was the first bill/request for payment we’d received.  “Oh,” the woman said, “does it say 115 in the lower left corner?  You should have received a 105, but our system has been having problems and sending the wrong letter.”  Whatever.  We then promptly sent in a payment.  That was for my services.   More time passed before we received a bill for Agent Murphy.  We could have/would have paid our balance right after Agent Murphy’s birth if they could have given us a bill.  Not our problem that they can’t get payment statements out for months and months.  I’m sure it’s at least in part an issue of how slowly the insurance company processes claims - more evidence of Mr. Tldz’s assertion that health insurance is the problem in healthcare.  But then there’s no reason to treat us like we have to be dunned for the money.  We pay promptly when we’re shown a statement of what we owe.

Yesterday, Mommy woke me up really early and tried to give me milk. I didn’t want much of it. It was too early. I was sleepy, not hungry. But then I was awake. And Daddy tried to give me some stuff that wasn’t milk. It was icky and I didn’t want it. They said I should eat because I couldn’t eat later, but that didn’t make sense. I eat when I’m hungry.

We went out while it was still dark. To someplace I haven’t been before. There were lots of people who like kids, but they measured and did stuff to me. Then they put me on a bed that had bars, not like my crib, but sort of. And the whole bed rolled! And they took me away from Mommy and Daddy and I went to sleep. I woke up back by Mommy and Daddy, but there was strange stuff on me. And I was still sleepy. But I was hungry, too, so I drank milk.

One of the ladies who likes kids took a long time getting one of the tube things off my hand, but finally we got to go home. My foot with the extra toe is all wrapped up. Mommy and Daddy say I don’t have my extra toe anymore, but it’s all wrapped up so I can’t tell.

It was a strange day. I hope today is normal.

Agent Murphy came through his surgery with flying colors.  We are very relieved.  The procedure was quick enough that by the time I pumped milk for his post-surgery meal, I only got half a rosary in before the surgeon came to tell us he was finished.

Agent Murphy hardly fussed at all.  He’s such a good boy!  He’ll like getting back to his regular schedule tomorrow, though.

We get to take the bandage off his foot on Monday, but we have to keep his foot dry until next Friday.

We heard from the day surgery folks at Eggleston today. Agent Murphy is scheduled to have his extra little toe removed on Friday at 10:15. We have to get there at 7:00 a.m. It will be an early morning, as he can’t have any milk after 5:00 a.m. and no Pedialite after 6:00 a.m. So I’ll get up around 4:00 to get some milk into him, and Mr. Tldz will give him some Pedialite around 5:30. And that will have to hold him until he’s awake enough after surgery to eat. He’s supposed to be back from recovery by about 11:15, and hopefully, if all is well, we’ll only have to stay at the hospital for another 1-2 hours after that.

The general anesthesia makes me nervous, but we have to assume everything will be okay. We caught up with our pastor after Mass this weekend and Agent Murphy duly received the sacrament of annointing of the sick.

Posted to IHM Moms group:

I would LOVE to tell you about our new dentist.

A few months ago another mom asked about a pediatric dentist and I went ahead and wrote down the info that others shared. We had a great dentist but it was TOO far away.

Any way, All 3 of my kids (ages 3,5,6) have recently been seen by Dr. Eaton at Northlake Pediatric Dentistry and they all came out smiling!

When the kids get there they watch a video about a dinosaur who goes to the dentist and then they look into the “magic” mirror too see the tooth fairy. Then the VERY nice ladies take them away to get their cleanings. The kids return with a bag full of goodies (not candy) and a photo of them and Dr. Eaton. They give all the other kids with me a treat as well.

Dr. Eaton is very nice and the kids liked him alot.

If you can’t tell….I am also VERY happy to have found him!

Northlake Pediatric Dentistry, P.C.
2191 Northlake Parkway
Building 11, Suite 20
Tucker, Ga. 30084
770-934-3506

Good luck, Annette Lowe

More from IHM Mom’s Group:

My daughter, Lilly, (who is 4)  goes to Dr. Powell right by Northlake Mall.  She tells me she is in love with him if that helps.  They are wonderful there too.  She comes home with a bunch of stuff and they have movies playing in the waiting room as well as the room for their check up The practice is called Dentistry for children and teens and the phone number is 770-934-5900.

Julianna

Kids need:

Birth - 2 months 10.5 - 18 hours

2-12 months 14-15 hours

1-3 years 12-14 hours

3-5 years 11-12 hours

5-12 years 10-11 hours