A Rough Week

Finally, I am back with an update to our new craziness!

We took Charlotte to see Dr. Maxey, an orthopedist, on Monday morning.  After an excruciatingly long wait in a very crowded waiting room, we finally saw the doctor.

About our wait…although I printed out all of the registration material and filled it in the day before we went to the doctor, as directed by the website, I was told when I called on Monday morning to be there at 9:30.  I told the scheduler that I had everything filled out, and she repeated, rather snidely, as if I were hard of hearing and understanding, that 9:30 was the time to be there. 

OK.

When we arrived, at 9:30 as directed, the receptionist was pathetically grateful that we had our paperwork done already and directed us to sit down.  Shortly thereafter, someone from records called Jeff back to fill in paperwork.  SURPRISE!  As we told everyone at every step of this process, we ALREADY HAD THE PAPERWORK DONE!  The records lady was pathetically grateful, adding that no one ever brought the paperwork in complete.  Jeff came back out in about 30 seconds.

Then, we waited.  And waited.  And waited some more.  At about 10:30, Jeff inquired as to when we might be called back.  We found out at this point that our actual appointment was at 10:10, something that no one had seen fit to tell us at any other time during this process.  Evidently, the 9:30 time was to fill out paperwork that I HAD ALREADY COMPLETED!  The receptionist had to call back to the nurses’ station to find out that we were actually next.

It was after 11:00 that we were finally put in an exam room and told that the doctor “will be right in.”  The nurse asked us if we had filled a green paper with Charlotte’s medical history.  I rather drily told her that we had PRINTED OUT OUR PAPERWORK AT HOME AS DIRECTED BY THE WEBSITE and that the paper was probably white.  “Oh,” she said.  “I was looking for green.  Here it is!”

Yeah.

Dr. Maxey finally made his appearance around 11:20, and we actually liked him very much.  As we chitchatted bit, he told us that he was headed for Strasbourg, France, the next day for some type of cadaver workshop, and, since we’ve been there, we talked a bit about it.  He’d also been to Switzerland that summer and stayed at the same place as David and Victoria “Posh Spice” Beckham.  Interesting!

As far as Charlotte’s leg, Dr. Maxey told us that she had the best possible type of break to that bone.  While her tibia is fractured, her fibula is fine and offers good support for the broken bone.  Because of that, he put her in a removable boot cast instead of a traditional fiberglass one.  This means that she can bathe and dress pretty easily.  She will be on crutches for a couple of weeks and then will be able to walk on her boot.  She is looking at six to eight weeks in the boot, but Dr. Maxey anticipates a “happy ending.”

We will take her back on Monday for a follow-up x-ray and to make sure that the boot is holding the bone together properly.  If it isn’t, then he’ll cast it, but he doesn’t think that will be necessary.

So, as I’ve admitted to myself and Jeff and others, the biggest problem now is my attitude!  I’m very accustomed to Charlotte doing most things for herself, such as dressing, bathing, clearing her spot at the table, making her own breakfast and lunch, picking up after herself, getting her own glass of juice.  Now, I’m doing most of that because we really only want her walking on the crutches, as that is hard enough for her right now.  So, now I have two helpless children, and I find myself not liking it much!

In addition, Jeremy, who is an amazing calibrator of the household stress level, decided to go on a nap strike for the end of the weekend and early part of the week.  I was nearly out of my mind trying to homeschool, keep the baby happy, and get anything else done.  But yesterday, he finally had enough of being tired and cranky and took two, two-hour naps.  Heaven!

And it’s hard to stay angry at him…he’s just a baby!  A couple of weeks ago, he finally figured out how to get his toes to his mouth.  I love it when my babies do this!

 

Jeremy is also so near to crawling that he can taste it.  He’s up on his hands and knees, rocking away, plus throwing in a few baby pushups on his hands and toes, too.  We are so not ready for a mobile Jeremy!

And that’s been our week, so far!  Last night, Charlotte finally got her black top in tae kwon do, broken leg and all.  I’ll tell you about that next time.  Have a good one!