Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Lillianna's sleep over

Lillianna wrote this post last month and forgot to have me approve it until tonight!
Better late than never.

Changing my mind about changing doctors

My primary care physician,Dr.B,left the practice where I've been seeing him and he moved 15 minutes away. Since his old practice is 10 minutes closer to me and more convenient,I decided not to follow him and to choose a new pcp. I liked him but sometimes he intimidated me so I was okay with changing.

I was down to my last 2 cholesterol pills the other day and called in to CVS to refill it. It needed authorization because it said I could refill it 5 times before January 22,2008. I was a couple of days too late.

Knowing that Dr.B was gone and I was without a pcp,I called the practice to find a new one. They set me up with Dr.F who I was told was very nice and she would be coming to my regular office. I thought that sounded great and the secretary said she'd get Dr.F to sign off on my refill. I told her I'd set up an appointment in April to meet with her since I need blood work every 3 months and I just had a complete physical on December 28,2007. She said that was fine.

Today I went to CVS and picked up my prescription. I thought that was very nice that things went so smoothly.....then I got home. There was a message on my voice mail from Dr.F's secretary. She said that Dr.F really didn't want to fill my cholesterol med because according to my most recent labs,I should not be on a cholesterol med!

I was livid!!! I almost died 2 years ago on our trip to Disney World. My triglycerides were 3,000. The normal number is 200. All the doctors in Florida told me I have to be on a cholesterol medication for the rest of my life. Dr. B confirmed that when I came home and saw him. I accepted it. I'm alive. Taking this pill will keep me that way.

So now, Dr.F has decided I shouldn't be taking it? Did she even read my chart or just look at my labs? Is that really good care? I haven't even met her yet but I don't have much confidence in her judgment at that moment.

She wants to see me in the next few weeks to discuss this. I just had a physical!!! Read my freakin' chart!!! It's all in there.

I'm just pissed. I feel like she made a shoddy assessment without having all the facts.

What would you do?

Saturday, January 19, 2008

My very funny nephew

Everyone went to Kara's house tonight for Peter's birthday.(He's my very favorite brother in law.) Lisa,TC,Trent and Dash were also there which meant good bonding time with my little baby Dash who is 5 1/2 months old if I'm not mistaken.

Anyway,we were all sitting around the table eating ice cream cake for dessert...well,I was feeding Dash his cereal and applesauce for my dessert. I had just been saying that when I had changed Dash's diaper a few moments before,I was really worried that he would pee on me.

My cutie pie 4 year old nephew Trent who was sitting right next to me turned towards me. With his mouth covered in ice cream he said,"Well,you know,when I was a baby my mother put a sock on my johnson so that I wouldn't pee." Then he turned around and continued eating. The adults waited one second and then burst out in hysterics.

I don't know what was funnier...... Lisa putting a sock on Trent's private parts or hearing Trent say johnson or just the whole situation.
All I could say to Lisa was,"Do you want to blog about this or should I?" She told me I could do it.

Kids are so funny. If you don't have a child in your life,go borrow someone elses. They're a continuous source of laughter.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Telephone telepathy

Wednesday evening at 4:45pm I was home talking to Rich and Lillianna. Suddenly,I walked away from them, sat by the phone and called my mom's cell phone. She has been visiting from Florida since the 1oth.

Mom picked up the phone and asked,"Why did you just call me?"
The truth was I really didn't know. I just turned away from my family and headed toward the phone and called. So I said,"I don't know. Why?"

Mom said,"I didn't know if you were home or on the road so I tried looking up your cell phone number. I couldn't find it. I pressed a button on my phone and the screen went crazy so I put it down on the seat and said,'Robin....call your mother!' Then the phone rang and I said,'Make this be Robin,' and it was!"

I said,"Well I guess I got your message!"
This happens every now and then with us and with my sister Kara too. I love when I walk over to the phone to call Kara and the phone rings and it's her.

I think people have a very strong heart connection to one another and they don't even realize just how strong that connection is. We kind of take it for granted but it's really quite a miracle.

Today my best friend Liane called to say that she created a new piece of jewelry and she wanted to me to help her name it. When I heard her message the word dream immediately came into my mind. I called her back and she said she had kind of named it already but she wanted my input. The name she came up with had the word dream in it. I told her I had already heard dream when I listened to her message so we both knew her name for the piece was the correct one! Usually her names include words like peace,breeze,mist,sea...things like that. It was interesting that we both came up with dream. That's why we're best friends!

We've all shared something like this with another person. I'd love to hear your story of telepathy!

Sunday, January 13, 2008

No work? No school? No way!!!

It's true.......believe it or not my office will not be open tomorrow and the schools will be closed in our town. First of all,in the 17 years that I have been at this job they only closed ONCE ahead of time due to a blizzard warning. Unfortunately,the day of the blizzard we only got about an inch. My company vowed to never do that again so when I got the call from my manager's wife this evening,I was stunned. But hey....no work for me. We have to use our PTO hours to make up for it but that's okay since I have plenty.

At 8:50pm I received an automated message from Lillianna's school saying that it would be closed tomorrow. She was thrilled. The news says that after midnight we should get a few inches of snow and then by morning we should be getting one inch every hour.

I've lived in Massachusetts my whole life so my attitude is maybe it'll snow....maybe it won't.
I guess we'll know soon enough. As for me and Lillianna......tomorrow is pajama day!!! Yahoo!!

Thursday, January 03, 2008

A very sore throat

Lillianna is home sick today. The school nurse called me yesterday at work at 9:20am.......35 minutes after I arrived. She said Lillianna didn't feel well and she looked pale. I went to pick her up thinking she was probably run down and tired from her vacation. I tried to pace her with all her activities but she was quite busy.

She got home and immediately changed into her jammies. After lunch she fell asleep for 2 hours. I figured by morning she'd be fit as a fiddle and ready for school. At 3:30am she woke up with a raging sore throat and couldn't swallow. She sat up watching t.v. and sucking on a lozenge. When she was done,she went back to sleep. I knew she wouldn't be going to school today.

She complained that her ears were crinkling and that was my signal to call her doctor and make an appointment. I grew up with crinkling ears which meant and ear ache was fast approaching. Lillianna has walked in my footsteps.....stupid footsteps! Ear aches suck!!

She went to see Dr. Fernandez who we both adore. She is the best doctor ever! She said Lillianna's throat was very red but that her ears looked ok. I told her that Lillianna feels the ear pain 2 days before a doctor can see the redness. I learned that from Lillianna's previous doctor. I always ended up taking her for an appointment and then returning 2 days later and sure enough that 2 days showed the redness. Dr.Fernandez said she wouldn't wait 2 days to prove that and immediately wrote a prescription for an antibiotic. I totally love a doctor who respects the mother's input. She's known us for about 5 years so she knows I'm not just trying to medicate my child for no reason.

Lillianna is now resting on the couch and she's about to fall asleep. A drowsy 10 year old is a sick one,that's for sure.

The good news is that I called the payroll manager at my work just to check if I had a few sick hours available to cover my 3 days off which is about 15 hours. My manager had told me that since I went part time in June I wouldn't have any benefits until one year from June which isn't for another 5 months. When the payroll manager checked she said I had 48 hours of paid time off. I was stunned!!!! I thanked her and felt a huge burden lift from my shoulders. I panicked for a second when she called back and said she had made a mistake. I held my breath until she said,"You actually have 80 hours of paid time off. I miscalculated and didn't figure in that you've been here 17 years." I think I literally jumped for joy!

So now I can relax and take care of my sick little girl and not worry that my pay check will be 15 hours short. It's such a relief.

Lillianna and I will be resting for the next 3 days. That's not so bad after all.