. . . take me away

I now understand the premise behind those cheesy "Calgon . . . take me away" commercials from the 80s:

 

Poor Bryn has had a blocked tear duct from birth.  We've tried drops, massage, warm compress, etc - but nothing has helped.  She wakes up with her eye glued shut every single day.  So, I decided it was finally time to take care of things.  Our appointment was scheduled for this morning at 8 am, and the office is clear downtown.   They told me to be there 15 min early for paperwork.  So, we left the house at 6:45.  We got downtown at 7:30 (no traffic at that time, which is strange for rush hour),  parked, walked in, only to find that her appointment was next door in the pediatric building.  So, we walked clear-the-heck over there (Bryn wanted to walk and G wanted to be carried - not fun), and actually found the office with 15 minutes to spare - just like we were instructed - and the office was closed!  I tried to call back to the lady I'd just talked to, and her phone said their office was closed.  I decided we could just sit in the hallway and wait - but G had to potty, so we went in search of the restrooms.  We found them way down the hall.  Not very convenient for a pediatric medical center.

 

5 minutes later when we returned, the office was open and full of people.  WTF?  I went to sign in at the desk, and the woman rudely told me that she'd help me in a minute - so I stood there and waited.  She snapped at me that I could sit down, because she really would be a minute.  I was starting to get pissed . . . then Bryn decided to poop more than she'd ever pooped in her entire life.  I asked where I could change her, and they sent me clear-the-heck back down the hall to those same restrooms.  Poor Bryn was a mess.  I usually only carry about 4 wipes and one extra diaper with me.  But this was a 20+ wipe job, so I was not prepared.  I had G get me some TP from the stall to help clean up the poo-splosion.  She came back and noticed (rather loudly) that Bryn had eaten corn and carrots and beans.  At that point I stopped her.  I'm sure the other ladies in the restroom didn't want to hear the entire contents of my daughter's BM.

 

Her clothes were a mess.  The one bright spot of the whole ordeal was that the restroom had diaper disposal baggies, which also were large enough to hold Bryn's poop covered outfit.  So, I had somewhere to put the dirty clothes, but nothing clean to put on her!  Poor girl had to go back in wearing just her diaper.

 

We made it back to the office, and got called back to a room.  And the doctor came in relatively quickly.  He did a quick exam, and decided that Bryn did indeed have a clogged tear duct, but he needed to do an exam anyway and needed to dilate her eyes.  The nurse came in to give Bryn the drops, and told us they will burn and sting, and Bryn will cry.  Well - drops went in and Bryn couldn't have cared less.  Then we had to wait 20 minutes, so back to the waiting room we went.

 

Bryn kept pulling off her diaper, and while I turned my back to rediaper the child, G would decide to run laps around the office.  Clearly annoying all the other patients.  It was a long 20 minutes.

 

Finally we got called back for the second time.  No sooner were we in the room when G announced that she had to potty again (sometimes having a potty trained child is SO difficult).  I asked the nurse where the potty was, and she sent me to the same potty clear-in-the-heck down the hall.  UGH.  We ran there, pottied, and came back, only to find that we'd missed the doctor.  He went in with another patient.

 

By this time, it was Bryn's nap time, and she was crying "bye bye bye". I didn't blame her - I wanted to go home too.  Heck, I would have been happier to be having a root canal than sitting in that office anymore.  The doctor finally came in.  He had no bedside manor - I could not believe he was a pediatric doctor.  After a 2 minute exam, he told me that Bryn indeed needs surgery, and told me to wait for his staff to come in and schedule it.  When I asked when I could expect the surgery to be scheduled, he rudely told me that his staff new his schedule better than he did, and I'd need to wait for them.

 

 . . . ugh

 

Surgery was scheduled for June.  We successfully made it to the car (which was like a mile away) without any more incident where  Bryn promptly fell asleep.