A Little Better

The past couple of nights have been much better. Last night she had what looked like an anxiety attack. I have started working with her on calming techniques. It seems to have helped so far.

Thank you for all the supportive comments I've received. And you wouldn't believe the doctors in this area. For a specialist we have to drive to another town that is smaller than ours but has more advanced medical care than we do. There is one therapist in this area that will take children, that is the one that I have an appointment for in April. I'm keeping that one but looking for one in Durango Colorado, it's about an hour drive and the town is gorgeous so I really don't mind at all.

The hospital care is minimal. If you are in ICU you receive wonderful care. The rest of the hospital, not so much. You can take someone in to the emergency room, and I know they are busy and there are things that go on behind the scenes that have to be done that the regular person doesn't see, but if you have a very ill child that is vomiting everywhere and you can tell just by looking at the poor baby they have a high fever (then the mom tells you that her fever was 107 the last time she took it) then they should be taken back right away. That family sat in the waiting room for almost 3 hours before being seen. The poor little girl, probably around Harley's age, became more and more lethargic and wouldn't even take small sips of water by the time they called her back. Again I understand certain things need to be done but with a child that sick get them back to care right away.

The staff at our hospital is just down right rude. When I had Harley half the nurses seemed incompetent and the other half that knew what they were doing ignored you. Our hospital lets the baby room in with the mother and I asked the nursery to take Harley one time during my 3 day stay there. I was finally allowed to shower and was going to just take a quick shower and get dressed and then go get him. Before I even had a chance to get in the shower the nursery was calling me asking if I was ready for him yet, after maybe 10 minutes. So I didn't get to shower until my last day there, 1 hour before I got to go home. So I made them all nervous and refused to let them wheel me down in a wheel chair. I told them I really didn't care about hospital policy because they didn't really care about their patients. Oh, the thing that really set me off was that someone from accounting came to see me about paying for my hospital stay less than an hour after coming out of anesthesia from my C-section. They couldn't wait for one day to go by.

When Scott was in 1 1/2 years ago because his diabetes was so bad he shared a room with a very old man that was having a hip replacement. The nurses ignored the poor old man when he buzzed their station, they ignored Scott when he buzzed for the little old man. When the nurses came to take the old man to prep him for surgery other nurses came in to change his very soiled sheets. The nurses tossed the very soiled (as in poopy!!), nasty sheets on Scott's bed, with him still in it. He kicked them off and complained about it and one nurse picked the sheets up, placed them back on Scott's bed, and told him to just be patient. Scott got out of bed and took the nasty sheets and threw them in the middle of the hall.

The only reason my granny got such good care was because my mom is on the hospital board, with a badge to prove it, and she wore it every time she was in there with granny.

I've had a friend tell me he had to take his mom in when she was having a break down and they let them sit in the waiting room for 2 hours, she cried the whole time. I've had others tell me the various times they have had to go in the wait can be up to 4 hours, even when there is no one else in the waiting room.

There just aren't many good stories from our hospital. If it comes to that I will take Emma, I would call 911 though, to come get her, and I would deal with the wait as long as it meant she would be given the help I'm not able to. I've also decided I would become the biggest bitch in the world if the doctors or nurses blow me off if that happens. I'm normally a pretty quiet person but given the chance I can be extremely mean, I'd be the momma grizzly protecting her cubs. Nice comparison huh?

But as I've said, the past couple nights have been better. She's finished homework without melt downs, hasn't kicked or hit anyone, she's even helped Ethan with part of his homework (NICELY!). I'm hoping it's not what I think it is and that she just doesn't know how to deal with the stress of losing Muffin and Granny within a few days of each other, that she's just not dealing with the loss at all. I'm also wondering if the whole fiasco between myself, Scott and the OutLaws has affected her. That could be a possibility too.

I'm off to make some more calls, one of the doctor's in Durango comes highly recommended from Ethan's Special Ed teacher and he is relatively new so I'm hoping that will be promising.

Chocolatism: Chocolate covered raisins are a fruit and a great source of fiber. Fiber is an important part of your daily nutritional requirements!