“Being fired has some of the advantages of dying without its supreme disadvantages. People say extra-nice things about you, and you get to hear them.”
― Howard Zinn
It started out as a fairly simple visit.
I had my coffee in hand and was waiting with my son getting ready for the visit to the Complex Care Clinic at Gillette. It was early and getting a grumpy teen to be cooperative at 7:45am is like asking someone to successfully nail Jello to a tree.
We had been referred to Complex Care because, well my son is complex. He has complicated medical stuff. When we started there we were even paired with a specialist with a disability because she was touted as being adept with kids like mine. We got the same nurse we had while my daughter was there and I was excited to work with her again.
After I filled out the paperwork and was assured that "Dr. X" could manage all my son's health conditions we were set.
The first meeting went well. She seemed to know what to do and was ready to roll. We were even promised some new services they offered there.
Then the honeymoon came crashing down. Our team wasn't returning our calls and the doctor was floundering.
The doctor asked for a meeting and then admitted that she had no idea what to do with my son. That he was complex. I asked if this was not the Complex Clinic and did they not have "complex children". She stated that she really delt with "less complex" children. That she did not know what to do with my son.
By now my son was rolling his eyes and pretending to bang his head on his laptop. "Mom, didn't this woman go to medical school?" "Like how hard is it to say give him an IV when he's sick and Benadryl when he has an allergic reaction. Mom, do you purposely pick stupid people?"
Thankfully she didn't catch any of that. I did rephrase the question and ask about getting some support when Marvin crashes. Her response was, "I just send people to the ER because I am not comfortable dealing with that." OK......
Anyway, we were politely fired from Gillette Complex Care. It was not the first time Marvin was "too complicated" for a department there.
I probably should be angry, but I'm not. I'm just disappointed that someone who went to medical school, spent time learning things medical, and advertises being able to handle complex kids is having a parent spend hours doing research, read medical books, and try to dig resources out of a rock so her kid can have a decent life while she can't be bothered to reach out to my son's main specialist who would guide her in pulling it all together.
It does stink, but I'm also not going to cry in pillow about not having to visit with Dr. X anymore. I could find better ways to spend my free time. Like trying to figure out where missing socks go around here. Or discovering a cure for grumpy teens.
My son deserves better.
