Maddening...

I guess I shouldn't complain too much because our healthcare system has worked well for us over the last several weeks. Today I'm running into sort of a roadblock. Shelly is in surgery right now, and that part is hopefully going well. I suppose it's going well as long as no one comes out to the waiting room and looks for me.

The problem is getting Matthew in to see a surgeon about his toe. His pediatrician gave us the names of 4 doctors yesterday, 3 of which are in a practice affiliated with Texas Children's Hospital (TCH). Shelly called their office yesterday afternoon and after explaining the situation, they told her we didn't need them, we need a plastic surgeon, so we were referred to a pediatric plastic surgery practice also affiliated with TCH. It was after 4:30 when she called yesterday, and the lady that answered said everyone was gone for the day and we needed to call back today.

Well, I called them back a little while ago after Shelly was taken into surgery, and after getting the story from me about what happened, I was put on hold and eventually told that toes were not what they did, and I would need to call pediatric general surgery at a certain number - which just so happened to be the group we called yesterday. Great, now we're full-circle...

So, I called General surgery back and they listened to my story and... referred me back to plastic surgery... GRRRR. I "explained" to her that I've had about all of the fun I can stand and I'd like to get off the merry-go-round. She told me that maybe I should call the pediatrician back and ask him who I needed to call, which is when I told her he gave me a printout with their doctor's names and numbers. She put me on hold a few more minutes and said she needed to talk to their manager and would call me back. How much do we bet no one calls back?

I think I'll call the pediatrician's office and see of he will call and intervene on our behalf. Wish us luck... I really don't have time for this BS this week.