Stupid H1N1 Crap...

[AMom29]

I tried to get my children vaccinated today for the H1N1...emphasis on tried.

I called my pediatrician's office on Friday to get information about the H1N1 vaccine.  Our local health department finally released the vaccine to local health providers, and it was being distributed to the high risk groups -- namely, my children.  So, I didn't want to delay, knowing about the shortages.  A very nice recorded voice told me that they were having a clinic on Saturday from 9 AM until noon, first-come, first-served.  OK.

We arrived at nine, which was no small feat, with two little ones on a Saturday, a rainy one at that.  Much to my chagrin, the place was packed.  (Apparently, I had let my experience here at CM delude me into thinking that it wouldn't be as popular of a destination as it was).

We got into line to get the forms, which I tried to fill out as best I could while holding a toddler with one hand.  Once we turned in the form, we got a ticket and settled in to wait.  My children were totally nervous in the thrall of people, so it took a bit to calm them down and then to entertain them.  Toys.  Juice.  Snacks.  The lobby of the building is stifling with the heat radiating from all the bodies and the humidity of the room.  I fan myself with a bit of cardboard, cursing the heavy fleece pullover I had worn, thinking I'd be cold.  My stomach growled, as the good mommy that I am, I had packed refreshments for them, and not for myself.

An hour goes by.  Our names are called.  Great!  That wasn't so bad.  I pack the three of us up and go up front.  {BUZZ!}

False Alarm.

Apparently, I had filled out my son's form incorrectly.  The woman, who clearly was not happy to be there, very snottily referred to my son as "my daughter".  I corrected her politely, she didn't care -- she simply shrugged and said, "Okaaaay..."

We return to our seats -- actually just the seat.  Some other woman's child took the chair my daughter had occupied just a minute before, and when I passive-aggressively made a mention of it, no one moved a muscle.  My 5 year old DD was OK with it, so we soldiered on (my son was in his stroller).

An hour and 15 minutes went by. Snotty Lady came back over to us and told me that they didn't have any vaccine for my son (it was my understanding that they never had it) and that they only had the FluMist for my DD.

SHIT.  That's not what I had wanted.

First, I was pissed for them telling me this after an hour of 15 minutes of waiting.  Second, I worried about the live virus in the FluMist -- I had hoped for the injection.  Could she get sick from the mist?  Snotty Lady told me that I had to ask a nurse when I got back there.  Third, I worried that my son was unprotected.  He's only 21 months.  I had read the horror stories on CM and in our local news.  I feared for them both, but he was so young...Are you getting any of that vax in?  Another shrug.  "We hope so."  She leaves.

Another staff member, who had been politely informing the masses of our progress ("We are on 307 now..." - We were 382) came over to us and I asked her the same questions.  She was nicer, but essentially said the same thing.

I spend the next half-hour freaking out.  It didn't help that I felt my blood sugar dropping, which increases my anxiety anyway.  I needed a cup of coffee in the worst way.f

I had already been waiting well over an hour.  I didn't want the waiting to go to waste, but...the live vax made me nervous, especially with my son NOT getting a vax. 

To top that off, my daughter was doing the potty dance.  I kept telling her to wait and once we had been seen, we'd go.  I was too afraid to be stuck in a stall and possibly miss our names being called.

Finally, we were ushered into the main waiting area of the office, as our number was getting close.  It was then that my daughter's bladder about gave out.  She became hysterical.  I had just got permission to take her to the office bathroom when we were called.  We went back, and I asked the nurse my questions.  Can she get sick from the live virus?  "Nope," she replied tersely.  What about him, can he get it from her vax?  Another terse "nope".  Are you going to be getting any of his vax's in?  "We hope."

We passed a bathroom, and my daughter ducked in without a word.  Made a beeline for the toliet.  I followed behind and shut the door.  Her brother immediately freaks out, as he hates enclosed spaces.  She begins to freak because he's freaking.  I usher us out as soon as she's finished and head for the exam room. 

Finally, we were done.  It was now almost eleven.  I bundle us all back up and head to the parking lot in the pouring rain. 

As I was loading them in the car, a woman was on the sidewalk, having a smoke and a very LOUD cell phone conversation.  She was bitching about them running out of Medicaid vax's and only having them available for private insurance, and how she was going to "f***ing tell them them off" because she didn't see the difference.  They get paid still, don't they? 

I wanted to explain it to her, because she was downright irritating.  However, I was cold, wet, tired, hungry, and SO past fried.  Let someone else snap her delusions of grandeur.

I'm not sure I'm up for this again.

Tags: h1n1, vaccines, doctor's offices, aggrevation

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