Friday, November 02, 2007

urgent, schmurgent

Apparently my definition of the word urgent is significantly different from that of our local imaging department at the hospital. Over a month ago Tatyanna's pediatrician finally sent away a request for her to have an MRI. The request was marked as being urgent....not an emergency exactly but with a higher degree of importance than a regular, standard request. We were told to expect a 7-10 day wait. We waited patiently for the first two weeks. We waited impatiently for the following 2 weeks. After a month of living in limbo I decided to give the diagnostic department of our local health centre a call.

***

Me (using my grown-up sounding, ex-call centre voice)- Hello, this is ----- calling. I was wondering if you could tell me if Tatyanna Z. has been scheduled for her MRI yet. Dr. E sent the request away about a month ago.

Them (that would be the people who sit at the desk and make the appointments)- Oh, Tatyanna......

Me - feeling optimistic at this point! Hey, it sounds like they at least remember the name, and that's a good thing right??!!

Them - ummmmm, hmmmm.....

Me - not feeling quite so optimistic anymore

Them - How old is your daughter again?

Me - She's 4 (I could hear them typing so either they pulled up her file and don't fell like doing math to figure this out or they are playing an exciting game of Stratego while we are talking)

Them -Oh....you don't think she will lay still for this do you?

Me - (trying not to sound as boggled as I feel and wondering if perhaps the person is kidding) No, I don't think so.

Them - Are you sure?

Me - Yes. I'm sure.

Them - You're sure she won't lay still.

Me - I'm 100% positive that she will most definitely NOT lay still! At this point I'm wondering if this woman has ever been exposed to children let alone have any of her own. I don't know a normal 4 year old that will sit still for 30 minutes. I'm not sure how they figured my 4 year old ASD child was going to lay still for that long with out moving a muscle while they insert her body into a tube and loud noises thump around her head. Perhaps I'm underestimating my child, but I really think not.

Them - (sounding rather irritated) Well she'll have to be out under then (no, really???) We'll have to send you and her doctor more paper work before we can go ahead and schedule her in.

It's probably best that I don't actually put in writing how I felt at that particular moment.

***

Today we see the doctor so that he can fill out his share of the paper work. I'm not really sure why this wasn't done in the first place.

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