Boundaries People!

I woke up Friday morning with a pretty raging case of mastitis. I attempted to call my doctor's office to make an appointment, but their phones must have been down. I kept getting an error message that the call could not be completed at this time. I chewed up motrin tablets and hoped it would get better.

When I woke up on Saturday, it was NOT better. Husband took the older kids with him, and Z and I headed down to the instacare clinic.

We're sitting there waiting, and this lady is chatting on the phone, setting up a babysitter so she can go golf with her dh that afternoon. I'm thinking WHY is she getting a sitter for later if she's here with 2 kids at the instacare?

She sets up her babysitter, then comes over to visit with me, and first off, asks why I am there. Being being really open (and suffering from some boundary issues myself, hence the blog), and kind of hoping to embarrass her, I tell her exactly why I'm there. She said, "Oh, you must've caught it early, you still look pretty good. I had it with my son and was so sick" (her kids are boy- 4ish and girl 6ish).

I find out that her boy is there because of pinkeye. oh great. I HATE pinkeye. Had it a couple years ago, and it was miserable. But, she is doing her best to limit contamination. She's trying to get him to not touch anything (thank you!!). He starts playing with a magnadoodle. She grabs a disinfecting wipe, takes the toy away, cleans it off. Meanwhile, he grabs another toy and begins playing with this. Watching this struggle keeps me highly entertained for several minutes.

Then, this 17ish kid comes in with a bloody rag on his head, and some blood lines down his face. Ooooh, a bonafide emergency! Well, being nosy that I am, I'm dying to know what happened and what his wound looks like. They whisk him right back to double check his wound to see if he should get priority treatment or not. He is back out in the waiting room a couple minutes later, it being decided by staff that he is not about to die. He is there with one person (a parent maybe?). They both jump on their phones and are making phone calls. I am surreptitiously watching, hoping to catch a glimpse of his head wound.

She admits that she wants to see the cut on his head. I admit I do too. SCORE!!! He moves the rag away to show his cut to about five family members who have shown up for moral support! I announce that I have seen the cut, and she wants me to describe it, so I do. But, my description isn't enough.

She WALKS OVER THERE, and pushing past the now dozen family members who are there, asks to see his head wound (maybe she tells them she's a nursing student?). Meanwhile, pinkeye boy is going to town, touching all toys. Note to self- most parents aren't as good about disinfecting their kids, so disinfect toys in waiting room before allowing children to touch them.

She tells them that if it were her, she'd clean it really good, apply some neosporin, and put a butterfly bandage on it. Well, I have to admit that I kind of agreed with her; it wasn't that bad of a cut. Stitch worthy, but not NEEDED NEEDED, if you know what I mean. She comes back, and as she's disinfecting the toys again, tell me what she told them, and how they wanted to be seen anyway. I responded with, "Well, not everyone is a do-it-yourselfer". At this point, she is called back.

When she is out of earshot, the dam breaks loose. Wow. She has really, really offended this family who is having a Real Medical Emergency.

"Can you believe the nerve of her, telling us to just stick a bandaid on it?"

They're asking the receptionist her opinion (from across the room of course). She agrees it could use medical attention. During this flurry of discussion, it comes out the cut was caused by a sewer pipe. I inwardly decide that yes, he should see a doctor and get on antibiotics due to HOW he got the cut.

They sat there clucking and hissing and being really upset and offended for a good ten minutes, until I'm called back.

I got my antibiotics, and am feeling much better today. It was an entertaining visit to the instacare though. Definitely worth my $30 copay.