Life on the Road

Last Friday was a singularly exasperating day.  It wasn’t until it was almost over that I got the “Ah-Ha” moment about a totally different way to interpret the events…  But let me begin at the beginning.

Thursday morning, Jewel woke up with a nasty bug bite on her leg.  This is only a little unusual, as bugs seem to find her especially tasty.  This bite was a doozy, though, and more inflamed than anything else we’ve seen.  We kept an eye on it…

Friday morning we checked her… the bite on her leg was looking really awful.  It almost looked like it was blistering up and weeping.  AND there was another bite that looked like the beginnings of the same thing on her arm. 

That was enough for me, and I prepared to take her to the doctor. 

Oh, yeah…  WHAT doctor? 

We’re new here, and don’t know any doctors…

I started by trying to find someone on our health plan.  This is a somewhat tedious process when you’re feeling the urgency.  I look at the online directory and find a provider I think I’d like to see.  Then I call the PLAN office, who calls to verify that the doc in question is still accepting the plan, and accepting new patients.  Then the plan gives me the docs phone number, and I can call them…

Seems some doctors won’t see a new patient on a “crisis” basis.  You have to come in for a check up and “get acquainted visit” before they’re willing to squeeze you in for the urgent stuff.

Some doctors’ offices close at noon on Friday.

Some doctors, listed as “Family Practice,” actually only see patients ages fifteen and up!  Fifteen?!  I adored the family practice doc Nick and I saw when we lived in the Santa Monica, CA area when he was an infant.  “Family Practice” is supposed to mean that you see the whole family…

The local “Urgent Care” clinic had some very disturbing customer reviews posted online, so much so that we didn’t dare go there.

After exhausting all the appropriate docs within 20 miles or so on the plan, we called our landlords and asked for a recommendation.  Unfortunately, their doc, too, quits at noon on Friday…

I was almost ready to tear my hair out, and take her to the E.R. 

I HATE the E.R., I hate the wait…  and it was hardly an “emergency”…  But what was I supposed to do?

Luckily I got a flash of inspiration.  I went to the local La Leche League meeting last week, and still had the leader’s contact information on my desk…  I called her and asked for a recommendation.  After the careful disclaimer that she was “taking of her LLL hat”, she told me about the doc they went to on the infrequent occasions that they went at all.

I called Dr. Geraldi’s office, they were very kind, and agreed to see her that afternoon!  Yay!

By the time we arrived, the leg bite was dark and horrible looking, and the arm was starting to blister and weep.  I was horrified, and relieved that we had found a doctor at last.  Paying full price out-of-pocket for the visit suddenly didn’t seem like such a big deal.

He checked the bites, and agreed that it was something that needed treatment.  He thought it was probably a spider, although probably not a brown recluse (a reasonable fear, though, given the appearance).  After confirming that he only gives antibiotics when they are truly needed, he recommended one.

Relieved, we headed home…  well, to the pharmacy. 

On the way there, I bothered to actually read the prescription, and saw that he was giving her Augmentin.  Wow!  That’s not just your garden-variety antibiotic like Amoxycillin - that’s the “big guns” that they bring out  when they need a tough, broad-spectrum solution.  If he felt that was necessary, I’m more glad than ever that we went! 

And, of course, something like that (even the generic) is NOT on the list of “free” or “$4″ antibiotics that pharmacies are promoting like crazy these days…  So, although we saved a nice bit with our discount plan, it was still pretty pricey to get the oral antibiotic, as well as the topical ointment.

Finally heading home, I got the flash of insight.  I turned to Wolf and said, “I wonder if all my frustrated searching this morning was really just God closing doors.  (I did my “God is talking to you” voice)  ‘Stop worrying about the money.  Find a good doctor, and I will provide…’”

(P.S.  We got a lot of bug spray while were out, too, and Jewel is doing MUCH better now!)