Good Service/Bad Service

This post is dedicated to my friend Mariah, who is in a world of hurt. I wish I could make everything all better, but I can't, so I'll share a few memories with her and tell her I love her.

About 5 1/2 years ago, Joseph was about a year old and a miracle occurred: I got pregnant. After years of infertility and using infertility drugs to get pregnant with Joseph, I found myself with a positive result the natural route. I was beyond thrilled. I was so excited for Joseph to have a little playmate that would be so close in age. 

I went in for my appointment and the doctor said that since my pregnancies are always high risk, he wanted me to go in for an ultrasound. I didn't question this because we'd done the same thing with Joseph. (And we did the same thing later with the twins...)

When I went in for the ultrasound, the person doing the ultrasound was very cold to me. She never smiled, never tried to explain things to me or show me what was happening. But she immediately started asking me questions: "Why did the doctor send you here today?" 

I explained. She refused to accept my explanation. She said, "They don't send people in for no reason like that. Did he tell you you might be miscarrying?" 

Starting to feel a bit annoyed and a bit concerned, I said no, he just sent me in to check things out like he'd done with my first pregnancy. She continued to argue with me that he couldn't have sent me in for the reasons I had stated. I hate to say that she seemed to very SMUG when she showed me there was no heartbeat and the fetus (embryo?) was much too small for the age. She said it had died weeks before and my body just hadn't expelled it yet.

I was devastated, of course. No amount of kindness would have made that moment a happy one. But having a messenger who didn't rub it in my face and seem proud to use it as a moment to prove her own superior knowledge would have been a step in the right direction. I have no idea if my ob/gyn sent me in that day knowing what was coming, but he certainly showed a bit more discretion and concern for my feelings.

Skip forward to this week. No, I'm not pregnant. This isn't about pregnancy. Don't SCARE me by making assumptions like that. Sheesh, people.

I have an eye infection. It was so horrible by Sunday that I was miserable. My whole body felt sick and I knew I had to do something about it. Joseph had been suffering with an eye infection since Tuesday and his prescription wasn't really making much of a difference for him. So I hemmed and hawed and finally called my eye doctor's office, hoping they might be working an after-hours shift. They weren't but my (angelic) doctor left his home phone number and cell phone on the answering machine, saying to call if it was an emergency.

After much debating the definition of the word "emergency" I decided to just call and ask him one question.

After getting him on the line, I explained briefly what was going on and said, "Would you recommend I wait until tomorrow to come into your office to see you, or should I go to Instacare today?"

He replied, "Well, I wouldn't do either one of those. I think we need to get you some relief right away." And just like that, he called in a prescription for me so I could start getting better. I think I cried. I'm crying now at any rate. His kindness and concern for my health meant the world to me.

This is how life is. We have crappy times. Things hurt. The people around us cannot make the pain go away right away, but they can boost our spirits by showing kindness and humanity. I pray I remember that when my friends and family are feeling down.