Do you ever feel like you have a giant brick wall in your brain when it comes to doing a thing? That’s how I’ve felt with this blog lately and I couldn’t get past it for a bit. We have also, legitimately, been very busy. My apologies for no recent posts!

Let’s dive in! I woke up around five-thirty, with the belief that I had to be at the children’s hospital by ten. It’s a two hour drive, but I like time to wake up and have time to myself before we embark on a full day.

I did all of the morning things and enjoyed the quiet house. Teeny and Lou Bae woke up and started on their morning work. Tom got up and we debated whether we should all go to the hospital, or if he should stay home with the other girls.

See, our basement flooded and fried the water heater. What we assumed was rainwater he figured out was actually water back up from the drain in the basement. So we were debating if he should stay home and call a plumber or not.

Selfishly, I prefer when we all go because I hate driving. Do not confuse that with can’t drive. I drive well. It’s everyone else on the roads I don’t like driving with. Ultimately, I decided to suck it up and be a grown up and drive Phita up myself so Tom could be here when the guy came.

About the time I needed to leave the hospital called and cancelled one of our appointments. We were set to have one at ten and the next at two, with a lunch break between. They cancelled the earlier appointment which allowed me to do an abbreviated school day with the kids and clean up the house some before we left.

Tom took the car and filled it with gas and bought me car snacks. He helped get Phita in and settled, and we were off! The drive was long and uneventful. When we got to the hospital we saw that our parking garage was closing at four, but I calculated we should have enough time to get out.

Pro tip, pick a parking garage floor and always try to park on that level so you don’t go to the wrong floor or panic about where you parked. We always park on the lowest level because it’s the most likely to have open spaces.

I get her all loaded up and we head up to the check in floor. We still have COVID era check ins and name tags required. For reasons. While we were waiting I saw a mom with a shirt that made me glad Phita can’t see or read.

I won’t write it because it was vulgar. I just don’t understand why anyone would think that was appropriate. You know you’re going to a place where there will be kids. It’s literally a children’s hospital. It’s gross and low class honestly. Later I saw her on the same floor as we were, waiting to see a doctor with her baby. Why would you want your kid’s doctors to see you in a shirt like that?

And do not give me the nonsense that she may not have owned anything else. I will not buy that for a second. But if it was, turn it inside out. Have some respect for other people’s kids. We have no shame in our culture anymore and it’s a problem.

Phita and I stopped by the bathroom. This hospital, or the children’s portion at least was built in like 2015ish. The main floor of this CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL dos not have an adult changing table or even handicap buttons on the bathroom doors. This is a rant you will hear every time we go to the hospital.

We come out of the bathroom and see an eighty year old woman in a shirt that says, “Knotty Knitter” with an inappropriate image underneath it. When did this become such an acceptable thing? Already irritated, we headed up to check in for our appointment. We were immediately greeted with a marijuana t-shirt. I give up!

The first appointment was neuro. It went pretty well. I do feel like he’s pushing surgery pretty hard. Both options are brain surgery and neither have high enough success to justify the risks. I did agree to a new med.

After that appointment we had to check back in for GI. That one took like three minutes. No joke. All is well. We went to get labs. The girl was new and didn’t think she got enough blood. Thankfully, it was just enough.

Finally, we were able to go. We got back to the parking garage just before four. It was crazy. I need you to understand that even on the lowest level, with a handicap placard it can be tough to find parking some days. There were three cars. On the entire level. It was spooky.

We drove home during hospital rush hour, which is horrible. Do not recommend. The drive home was otherwise uneventful. I talked to my grandma who told me I was too old fashioned about the t-shirts, even though she agrees with me.

We got into an entire discussion on when people stopped caring about what they look like and how other people view them. She says it’s been a steady decline since the 50s and the allowance of jeans instead of skirts on Fridays.

I blame Wal-Mart and doctors for doing away with uniforms and dress codes. It certainly hasn’t helped with customer service or quality of care. I’m sorry, Dr. Smith I do not want to call you John and see you in blue jeans. I just don’t. Am I snobby and old fashioned? Probably.

Was service overall better then? Definitely.

Anywho, we got home just after the plumber left with an ominous promise to be back Monday. He couldn’t get through, so the line is probably broken. Next week we’re starting a kitchen remodel. And working on this, apparently.

The rest of the night was quick. We hung out with the kids, lamented the pipe problems, and watched TV. And now I’m writing to you.

I hope your Friday went better than mine!