Whisper to Me Softly...

Well, enough is enough... I swear if I don't catch a break here pretty soon then I'll just scream. Okay, maybe not but I'd like to. **wink, wink**

The month has been going fairly well with the ex-husband being on a business trip since Jan. 9th and the princes being with me. It's been true bliss except for the emails flying back and forth the day that he left but I'm done with it and the good news in this area is that my attorney is getting a court date so the judge can decide and get the crap over with since it's been going on for 3 yrs and the mediation & parent coordinator (crazy lady as we like to call her around here) didn't make any dent in the situation. I'll either get my ass handed to me by the judge or come out with what I'd like to see happen for the princes.

Back to this week... it started with me making a visit to our local Redi-med on Saturday night to find out I had a bad case of strep throat, staying home from school on Monday and going back on Tuesday and finally feeling better on Wednesday.

Wednesday night comes and I begin to slowly lose my voice! WTF???? My throat doesn't hurt, I'm feeling better and now I'm losing my voice? I woke up this morning with the squeakiest voice I have ever heard - I swear it was like having Minnie Mouse in the house or something like that! Anyhoo... I go to work because no one would be able to hear me if I called to request a sub plus I had a box full of basketball clappers that I needed to take to school. Got to school and came to the realization very quickly that there was no way that I would be able to teach a group of 5/6 yr. olds with no voice. Got a sub and went to the dr.

Waited almost 2 hours to see the nurses practitioner (and this was only to get back to the room). It was another 40 minutes before she came into see me and this is how the conversation went:

NP: "Hi, I'm so-and-so."

Me: shaking head

NP: "You went to Redi-med and was diagnosed with strep throat?"

Me: shaking head again

NP: "They put you on 500 mg Biaxin 2 times per day?"

Me: again shaking my head in agreement

NP: "And why are you here to see me?" (Imagine her saying this while she is doing the little head cock with the annoyance in her voice.)

Me: squeaking out "Because I have no voice."

NP: "It's going around and it takes 5-7 days for the voice to come back."

Me: "But I had strep earlier this week and think it could be related."

NP: "It's a virus." (This without her even touching me!)
Me: "I've waited 2 hours to see you when my appt. was at 11:20 and you're not going to examine me."

NP: "It's a virus. Sorry. Go home and rest."

Me: "The phone nurse could have told me this when I called. The front desk or your nurse could have told me you were 2 hours behind and given me the choice of seeing someone else but instead I waited for 2 hours for you to not examine me. This is unacceptable - I came in to make sure it wasn't anything else or still the strep but you won't even listen to what I'm saying to you."

I politely told her that she was a bitch and walked out with the paper to take the the cashier who when I asked her to have my dr.'s nurse make a note that I am NEVER to be given to the nurse practitioner again asked why. She promptly offered to have another dr. see me and went and explained the situation to the other dr. This dr. stayed late from lunch to see me. Comes to find out I have fluid behind my right eardrum (enough to be causing problems), a sinus infection that is draining into my throat causing it to be sore & irritating the vocal cords making them swell to the point of causing my laryngitis! This dr. put me on another medicine along with the current antibiotic and if there isn't a slight improvement tomorrow then she will change my antibiotic tomorrow afternoon before the weekend. Hmm... now the nurse practitioner might have caught all of this if she would have done her job and actually examined me!!! Thank goodness for the wonderful dr. and wishing the nurse practitioner learns some bedside manners very soon!

I should have part of my voice back by Monday (and I'll scream then if I'm not better) but it means another day off from school for me and not going to the school's open house on Sunday. Nothing like a 4 day weekend - it'd be better being able to talk but a little "me time" is always good. ~grinning~