I have never really believed that bad things happen on Monday mornings or that Monday mornings are any more rough than any other day. It just so happened that this Monday morning life did not travel the path I would have liked it to. This particular day I had a choice of letting the situation color my every thought and action or accept it as a part of free will on the part of everyone.
The alarm went off at 6:00 a.m., my typical wake-up time on a school day. With only one bathroom it was important that I get in and do my thing before waking up Tuck. Packed my Magic Bullet with frozen fruit, rice drink and Carnation Instant Breakfast - breakfast of champions! Woke Tuck up and watched a little morning news while figuring out how best to get two bags of pumped milk into one bag, into the the bottle, capped and into the bottle holder with what I finally settled on - a zip lock back with ice to keep it cold because all my freezer packs are too big! As time ticked away I expected Alex to bring Lillian up, 30 minutes before time to leave - 20 minutes until time to leave - I send a text...nothing...make a phone call...get voice mail...finally I hear the familiar squeak of the door. Miss Lillian decided that this was the morning to sleep in...NOT! Alex quickly fed Lillian, I got her dressed and safely tucked into the car seat while Tuck parked Brian's car across the street. With five cars in a four car driveway we juggle them around most of the time. Finally the three of us are strapped in and heading for Hospital Hill, in good traffic conditions it is at least 30 minutes away.
In the parking garage I managed to get behind everyone that is cruising for the 'perfect' parking spot. If you have been to Children's Mercy Hospital very many times, you know there is no 'perfect' parking space. It is very simple, you drive until you find an empty space and pull in.
It has been at least 14 years since I toted a little one in a car seat. So I am trying to get Lillian out of the car, in the car seat and keeping the blanket over her to block the wind that always whips through the parking garage. The three of us head for an elevator into the hospital where we have to find the next elevator to take us up to the clinic.
Finally we are inside with only 5 minutes to spare. I get Tuck signed in, take off my coat, get Lillian's snow suit off of her and back into the car seat, trying to keep my purse and the diaper bag out of the aisle. There are plenty of empty chairs in the clinic this morning. But a family comes in and for some reason pick the chairs that back up to ours. Immediately the mother wants me to move my coat because it is too close to her chair...whatever. I get called back to answer a series of security questions. More of the same thing, only this morning it is difficult because I still have laryngitis. Back in to sit and wait with Tuck and Lillian.
Waiting this morning is a bit tough because Tuck is more nervous than usual; he just wants answers. After another 20 minutes we get called back to weigh, measure, temperature and blood pressure. Every time we come here Tuck's blood pressure is high. For some reason this place makes him nervous...could it be all we have to go through just to get here?! The nurse is showing us back to the testing area. We only have to wait a few minutes until another nurse comes in to ask a few questions before we start. 'Have you had anything to eat this morning?' she asks. 'Yes, a waffle,' answers Tuck. She frowns, that will mess up the test results, they needed him to fast. I look at the nurse in disbelief and ask 'Why didn't the nurse who set up the appointment tell me there were stipulations for the testing?' I ask. She doesn't know and I know she doesn't know. Another nurse steps up and tells me she is the one who talked with me and can't believe she didn't tell me it was a fasting test. I tried my best to be polite; no, she didn't tell me anything about the test except that it was the same test he had 8 years ago only they do it very different now...honestly...does that make sense to anyone out there? The other nurse hands me a whole sheet of instructions and reschedules the test for next week. The nurse who says she made the appointment for me tries again to tell me that it is standard procedure to explain the pre-test directions. All I can do is look at her. I have had the kind of cold where you are stopped up but your nose runs uncontrollably, dry hacking cough, laryngitis, sluggish and doing my best to function and I have a nurse telling me about standard procedure when it is obvious she didn't follow through. If she would have started reading off a whole page of directions to me I would have suggested she either email or fax them to me!
The small corner of my brain still engaged in reasoning is now realizing this is a situation where I have no control and the nurse made a mistake. She did not forget to give me directions thinking this was her perfect opportunity to mess up my life - she doesn't even know me! The best I can do at this point is leave before I say something that will hurt her feelings and my emotional security. The one thing I learned this morning is that I am still capable of getting an infant and teenager in the car and to a specific location. Even with a cold I managed to get the bottle prepared, diaper bag packed, my book in the bag and safely transported from one city to another.
When I make a mistake I like for those around me to be kind and accept my apology for messing everything up...there it is, the one thing I have been searching for...the nurse never apologized, she just continued with the fact that she is sure she followed standard procedure. At this point it might have made me feel a bit better had she accepted that she made a mistake and asked if I had any questions about the test now scheduled for next week - when I will once again go through the steps again of getting a teenager and infant up and ready to travel.
Lord, at the close of this Monday I lift up the nurse from this morning. Hopefully she takes away from today a lesson on compassion and working with adults and the children they bring to that clinic. We all make mistakes, we can apologize when we are at fault and if possible, have a plan to correct the errors. This clinic has had organization problems since the first day we walked in there over 8 years ago. I am thankful for the help Tuck has managed to receive in spite of it all and pray he will benefit for a lifetime. Amen
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