Thread: At least the DOG is still smiling . . .

It's been an interesting couple of days here. Yesterday was election day so the kids were out. Teachers worked. On part of my down time I called my mom to tell her that the assistant principal had volunteered to bring home my bookshelf so Dad didn't have to come after it as planned.

She sounded funny. She then tells me that she's running a fever, her burns are red & puffy, and the doctor's office worker had hurt her feelings. She called to tell them that she needed an antibiotic because her burns were infected. She was told that the DOCTOR did the prescribing, not the patients, and if she wanted medicine she had to come in for an appointment . . . but they didn't have anything until the next day. She explained that she does not drive, she'd already been there for the burns, and he told her she didn't need an antibiotic but she could call back for one if they started showing signs of infection. The worker continued to be snippy, but said that she'd talk to the doctor anyway. Mom told her not to bother.

I tell her to have Dad take her to my doctor . . . who she used to go to, by the way. Then she tells me that Dad has been admitted to the hospital!

He had an infected spot on his arm near his fistula, so when he went for dialysis they wouldn't do it. He had to go to the hospital where they drained the infected spot and planned to put in a port to do his dialysis while the other place healed.

I leave work early, call my doctor, go get Mom, and take her to the clinic. My doctor can't believe he didn't give her antibiotics the first visit, so he gave them to her and gave a tetanus shot as well. He thinks she might need a skin graft on one of the burns.

He also told her she could NOT go to the hospital due to the staph infection danger. DH and I went to the hospital to visit Dad and bring his truck back home. (He wasn't supposed to drive after having the port put in, and we'd rather take the HUGE truck home at night than during rush hour.)

We return to town around 10:00 where I pick up DH from dropping off Dad's truck. I call the sub line and write lesson plans for today. I fall into bed after midnight. I leave the house at 6AM to run by and give the dog his insulin shot, then on to school to leave my sub stuff, and the back to see if Mom needs help with her burn dressings. I head home, return phone calls, and change clothes/apply makeup before heading to the hospital again.

They decided NOT to give Dad his port, but keep treating the infection and use the upper portion of his fistula. They tell him he's going home at 1:00, which is good because he has an appointment at 3:30 with another doctor. At 3:30 he's just getting his discharge papers, and he still has to go claim his wallet . . . which they wouldn't give to me even though I had all his information AND he was in the building where they could have called him. Then he finds out that they've taken his money from his wallet--$370--and "deposited" it for him . . . and they don't have that much money unless he wants it in $10's.

Takes a lot to get my dad mad, but the whole idea that they took the money from his wallet, deposited it, and then don't have the money to replace it unless he takes all $10 bills or a check--which takes 15 minutes to process--was too much. And then he had to go to two places . . . one with the money and one with the wallet. At least they called and told the other people he was on his way so they didn't cancel his appointment.

Once we got home, he took a nap. Mom is running a fever, so she took one, too. I gave the dog his other shot and did his urine sample . . . and he's still smiling.



He's a handsome old fella, isn't he.

Sigh . . . I just remembered field day is tomorrow.