Dr. Purgatory
We entered Dr. Purgatory's office at 3:00 pm this evening; we escaped nearly three hours later. At first, I was optimistic. We had misjudged traffic, and we had arrived 45 minutes early. Patients were being called up at a reasonable pace. The waiting room was big, and it had a small play section for the kids. Waiting wouldn't be too bad, I thought. We may even get called in early - a reprieve for the good behavior of arriving prior to the appointment.
No such luck. Janette and I moved from Plan A through to Plan Z over the next three hours. One entertained Hannah; the other, Gabriel. Hannah sat in a waiting room chair well as I sang to her; Mom sat at the kids' table, acting out stories for Jay Jay the Jetplane and monkey figurines with Gabriel. We switched. Hannah lit up as Mommy sang to her, laughing; the figurine stories took a morbid turn as I injected my sense of play into Gabriel's routine.
We switched again. I carried Hannah around the office, pointing out artwork to her, asking her opinions (she reviewed them carefully, but offered no comment). Gabriel, with my prior play in mind, turned into a doctor, performing completely unnecessary chest-cavity surgery on any patient that entered the play area.
We switched again. And again. Around 4:30 pm, we finally got our call back into the bowels of Dr. Purgatory's office. Hannah was weighed (Mom accompanied) and brought back into the room. Nurses visited. A resident visited. Then the main act, Dr. Purgatory, appeared about ten minutes later. He apologized profusely for the delays.
"I'm short two nurses today," he explained.
"Means you actually have to do some work?" I quipped.
"Well, means I have to do all the paperwork."
Dr. Purgatory enthusiastically gave us his ideas. We just as enthusiastically reminded him of Hannah's latex allergies as he grabbed for the wrong gloves (twice). As he popped in and out of the room, Janette, Gabriel, and I delivered bedside karaoke to Hannah, keeping her mind off of the upcoming skin sampling procedure.
"Is she going to get a shot?" Gabriel asked.
"Yes, and they are going to take a sample of her skin." Janette replied.
"Oh, I don't want anyone to hurt my sister."
Awwwww. Both Janette and I basked in a big brother moment.
A few minutes later, the doctor returned. It was time to biopsy a spot on Hannah's skin (trying to identify what agent(s) are causing the severe rashes - not just hives). The tray, previously assembled by a nurse, was brought closer. Gabriel moved farther away, covering his ears. Janette, I, and two nurses tried to hold Hannah still.
Restraint does not make our little girl happy. None of us could blame her, but the doctor did nice, quick work.
It took us another twenty minutes to receive updated nursing orders and six plus prescriptions. I joked with Gabriel that we were sleeping there tonight. He didn't believe me, so I asked him to confirm with the remaining office assistants. They confirmed with a smile. He and I pretended to go asleep on the two-chair waiting room couches. Subtle, huh?
We left the office at 6:00 pm. We drove through the specialty pharamacy nearby (does compound medications) and picked up a waiting prescription. McDonalds, the food of choice after a three-hour Dr. Purgatory visit, was next. We ate and planned our secondary run to the local pharmacy for all of Hannah's new prescriptions. I went foraging at Walgreens ("where everyone knows your naaame..."), returning at 9:00 pm, pretty much done for the day.
Hannah is now asleep. Gabriel is still reading in his room, I think, but not pacing: a good sign that he is slipping toward sleep. Janette is filling in Hannah's nurse for the night on our medical adventure. And I am just about to finish this blog and head off to other things.
-- Dad
