In all of my bitching about mine and my family's crappy day yesterday I forgot to mention an interesting little tid-bit that I noticed at the hospital.
Every year around the holidays Mary Lane Hospital near where I live sets up a lovely little table dedicated to cultural/ spiritual diversity. It is quite nice to see that there are some who really care about equality and inclusiveness. On this table there is a plaque and display set up to recognize Hanuka with a traditional Menorah, there is a manger and plaque set up to recognize Christmas and the birth of Jesus and there is a plaque to recognize Kwanzaa that talks about the 7 principals and has some harvest symbols displayed.
Something you may have noticed is that there is no mention of the Solstice. The pagan community is growing and not only do pagans celebrate the solstice but there are many Atheists who also recognize the Solstice as the reason for the season. One would think they wouldn't want to leave such a large group of people out.
I don't like being the type of person who lets something bother them without doing anything about it, so I've decided to try and contact them and perhaps make a display myself to share and educate the community at large about our faith.
If anyone else lives in central MA and knows which display I'm talking about, CONTACT ME! I would love to make this a group effort. If anyone knows how I can contact the makers of this holiday display and/or would like to participate let me know.
This concept of getting involved is really quite scary to me. If you've read my About Me tab you probably already know I live my spiritual life mostly in the broom closet. So I've been racking my brain about a way to possibly do this anonymously. If I make any progress in this venture I'll be sure to let you know!
Showing posts with label hospitals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hospitals. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011
Crappy Day!
We got up this morning planning on going to the bank and McD's for a little breakfast (I know how unhealthy they are but damnit I'm addicted to the frappes). We ended up at the hospital for 2 hours.
About five days ago I noticed a small discolored bump on Adrian's but, I figured he must have fallen and gotten a bruise or something, nothing major. Then two days ago I noticed that it had gotten bigger and he was starting to say that it hurt. So just to get an idea of what it might be I jumped on WebMD just to do a little research with their symptom checker. Eventually what I came up with was that it was an abscess and that it's more common in people that are on regular steroid treatment (which my son is) or in people that have blood disorders (which my son has). It didn't seem too scary and they said as long as it was small it just needed a hot compress and a little time.
Well as of this morning he wouldn't even sit and after a little examination it had doubled in size. So I called the pediatrician and they had an open appointment at 11:40. Perfect! It was still early so we ran our errands grabbed some food and headed to the doctors office. We even got their ten minutes early. Unfortunately it would seem that in hospital language 11:40 really means 12:00. Fine whatever, it's no big deal, I understand. hospitals are busy places and we aren't the only family in the universe whose child needs to be seen. So I read on my Kindle (that thing is really a sanity saver).
Now normally I'm a friendly person, I smile at strangers and have no problem striking up conversations with anyone at any time. However I seem to have a large sign on my forehead that screams "BE MY FRIEND" It's probably because I'm just too polite to ignore people, but still everyone seems to be extra chatty the second I'm around, and have this innate urge to tell me EVERYTHING about themselves and their loved ones. A particularly chatty older lady told me about every electronic in her and her daughters home as soon as she noticed my little device (as if seeing it in my hand meant she had to assure me they weren't technologically behind). This was of course after asking me if it really held books. I felt like saying "no, the commercials lied to you, it's really nothing more than a fancy paperweight and I'm looking at it to continue the illusion." In reality I just nodded, I like to be polite.
Of course I had to go through the same conversation I go through with anyone who's ever even come close to a child in their lifetime. "How old is he?" "Three" "He's tiny/small/petite/a peanut." "Yup" (because as his mother I couldn't have possibly known this) "Oh, well my child/grandchild/niece/nephew/neighbor/etc.. is 2 and they're twice his size" and then I get this look like what's your answer to that of course there are the people that say "Oh well my child/grandchild/niece/nephew/neighbor/etc.. was small too." As if this somehow makes me less guilty. Did I mention I did this twice today. Both sides of the conversation, and for some reason it's always the older people that look at me as if I'm to blame for him being tiny, and the younger people that try to find an out for me by coming up with someone that they know who was small too. I know they're just trying to make conversation but it gets old.
Finally we see the doctor only to be told yes it's an abscess and he's putting him on antibiotics and it needs to be drained today. Wonderful. So over to the ER where apparently they're doing construction and some elderly lady in a pink smock keeps ushering us back and forth as if we can't read signs or notice large white pieces of fabric covering half of the office. Finally in triage they take his info, get him registered and after an uncomfortable but short visit in the waiting room (uncomfortable because we had to watch Jerry Springer with our three year old) we were in the procedure room. We waited there for about half an hour to forty-five minutes until the doctor finally came in with the nurse (who kept calling my son Aiden, and I've noticed that apparently all nurses think Adrian is a weird name because they all call him that).
My poor baby had to lay face down with a nurse and my husband holding him down (he's a fighter) while he screamed. Before they started he even tried to talk them out of it he kept saying "Doctor, I need to talk to you a minute" He's a hustler, he's three and he thinks he can talk anyone out of anything if he just says "maybe tomorrow". So he wailed as they had to slice open the abscess with a scalpel, and then spread the hole open to insert a wick. According to the doctor the abscess was big, even for an adult. I have to say that was the most pus I have EVER seen in my life. For the next two days he needs to take four baths a day and for the next ten days he needs to be on 16 ML of antibiotics. Not to mention Adrian told me with big tears streaming down his face that he was mad at me for not saving him from the doctor which just about broke my heart.
I keep reminding myself that worse things have happened to better people but man did today SUCK!
About five days ago I noticed a small discolored bump on Adrian's but, I figured he must have fallen and gotten a bruise or something, nothing major. Then two days ago I noticed that it had gotten bigger and he was starting to say that it hurt. So just to get an idea of what it might be I jumped on WebMD just to do a little research with their symptom checker. Eventually what I came up with was that it was an abscess and that it's more common in people that are on regular steroid treatment (which my son is) or in people that have blood disorders (which my son has). It didn't seem too scary and they said as long as it was small it just needed a hot compress and a little time.
Well as of this morning he wouldn't even sit and after a little examination it had doubled in size. So I called the pediatrician and they had an open appointment at 11:40. Perfect! It was still early so we ran our errands grabbed some food and headed to the doctors office. We even got their ten minutes early. Unfortunately it would seem that in hospital language 11:40 really means 12:00. Fine whatever, it's no big deal, I understand. hospitals are busy places and we aren't the only family in the universe whose child needs to be seen. So I read on my Kindle (that thing is really a sanity saver).
Now normally I'm a friendly person, I smile at strangers and have no problem striking up conversations with anyone at any time. However I seem to have a large sign on my forehead that screams "BE MY FRIEND" It's probably because I'm just too polite to ignore people, but still everyone seems to be extra chatty the second I'm around, and have this innate urge to tell me EVERYTHING about themselves and their loved ones. A particularly chatty older lady told me about every electronic in her and her daughters home as soon as she noticed my little device (as if seeing it in my hand meant she had to assure me they weren't technologically behind). This was of course after asking me if it really held books. I felt like saying "no, the commercials lied to you, it's really nothing more than a fancy paperweight and I'm looking at it to continue the illusion." In reality I just nodded, I like to be polite.
Of course I had to go through the same conversation I go through with anyone who's ever even come close to a child in their lifetime. "How old is he?" "Three" "He's tiny/small/petite/a peanut." "Yup" (because as his mother I couldn't have possibly known this) "Oh, well my child/grandchild/niece/nephew/neighbor/etc.. is 2 and they're twice his size" and then I get this look like what's your answer to that of course there are the people that say "Oh well my child/grandchild/niece/nephew/neighbor/etc.. was small too." As if this somehow makes me less guilty. Did I mention I did this twice today. Both sides of the conversation, and for some reason it's always the older people that look at me as if I'm to blame for him being tiny, and the younger people that try to find an out for me by coming up with someone that they know who was small too. I know they're just trying to make conversation but it gets old.
Finally we see the doctor only to be told yes it's an abscess and he's putting him on antibiotics and it needs to be drained today. Wonderful. So over to the ER where apparently they're doing construction and some elderly lady in a pink smock keeps ushering us back and forth as if we can't read signs or notice large white pieces of fabric covering half of the office. Finally in triage they take his info, get him registered and after an uncomfortable but short visit in the waiting room (uncomfortable because we had to watch Jerry Springer with our three year old) we were in the procedure room. We waited there for about half an hour to forty-five minutes until the doctor finally came in with the nurse (who kept calling my son Aiden, and I've noticed that apparently all nurses think Adrian is a weird name because they all call him that).
My poor baby had to lay face down with a nurse and my husband holding him down (he's a fighter) while he screamed. Before they started he even tried to talk them out of it he kept saying "Doctor, I need to talk to you a minute" He's a hustler, he's three and he thinks he can talk anyone out of anything if he just says "maybe tomorrow". So he wailed as they had to slice open the abscess with a scalpel, and then spread the hole open to insert a wick. According to the doctor the abscess was big, even for an adult. I have to say that was the most pus I have EVER seen in my life. For the next two days he needs to take four baths a day and for the next ten days he needs to be on 16 ML of antibiotics. Not to mention Adrian told me with big tears streaming down his face that he was mad at me for not saving him from the doctor which just about broke my heart.
I keep reminding myself that worse things have happened to better people but man did today SUCK!
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