Thursday, November 11, 2010

Reconsidering the Shouting Option

This morning, Raphaela felt fine and was behaving normally.   Around 10:30 am, her nursery called me, saying that she had been crying for the last hour, had refused to sleep and did not want to be held;  they tried her teething gel but nothing was helping.

I canceled the rest of my work day and rushed over, and took her home.  She cried for the better part of the afternoon, until I gave her some Children's Tylenol, at which point she took a two hour nap.  Meanwhile, I was trying desperately to reach her pediatrician, and considering taking Raphaela to the emergency room.  Her doctor finally returned my phone calls, and set up an appointment for six pm.

Having come to the conclusion that Raphaela was suffering from a combination of severe teething and conjuctivitis, he prescribed some anti-biotic drops for her eyes, and instructed me to leave her at home for the next few days.  And so I canceled tomorrow's Chiropractic patients.

On the way home from the doctor, I drove to the pharmacy in order to fill the prescription, only to be told that they didn't have it in stock, and that maybe I should just drive around the city, from pharmacy to pharmacy, until I found one branch that could fill my order.

I lost it.

I started shouting, "Here I am, seven o'clock at night, a single parent with a clearly ill child, and you are telling me that the only way I can take care of my daughter is to drive around Jerusalem all night in search of eye drops?  Because you're out of stock of anything that resembles this prescription?"  And more yelling in that vein.

Finally, after being unable to reach the pediatrician who not ten minutes before had been in his office, I called his partner, at home, so that she could authorize a change in the prescription, feeling terribly guilty for disturbing her and feeling like I overstepped professional boundaries. 

But I got the prescription, along with a huge and negative surge of adrenaline that will likely keep me awake tonight.

3 comments:

Ariela said...

Are you with Raphaela on Friday morning or do you work?

Doc said...

Normally I work for the four or so hours that she is at Gan. Today I did not work, stayed at home with her, though she napped most of time.
I have to say, it was nice to not feel rushed this morning, we didn't have the deadline of getting her to Gan by eight am. It's amazing, even when she is not feeling 100%, Raphaela still manages to smile and play.
I am sorry, however, that she missed Shabbat party. She should be able to return to Gan by Sunday.

Sarah said...

Was the pharmacist willing to call around to other branches to identify the closest one that had it in stock? If it's a chain it shouldn't be hard for them to contact other branches and save you the driving around. Unfortunately what "should be" is often not what "is."

Hope Raphaela is feeling better soon! She's such a cutie!