Raggedy Ann and Reagan

I guess Reagan and Raggedy Ann have what you would call a LOVE HATE Relationship!


Poor Raggedy Ann got the brunt of Reagan's frustration after we returned from our second visit to have her stitches removed.

Yes..... you heard me, two visits to get them all out.

It's no wonder that the healthcare industry gets such a bad rap! We had an awful experience all the way around.

No one wanted to remove these stitches. Last week the ER staff told Pat and I to take her back to the pediatrician in 7-10 days to get them removed.

I called my Pediatrician's office last week to let them know what happened and to schedule an appt to have the sutures removed. They told me that they do not remove stitches in the office and have not done so in years. They said I had to go back to the dr that put them in.

So, I took Reagan back in exactly seven days and when I walked in, they said, you were supposed to go to your dr, not come back here. After speaking with the girl at the registration desk, I was told that I needed to go to the walk in center connected to the hospital to have the stitches removed. Off I went with Reagan in tow.

I walk into the "walk in" center, register her and fill out a gazillion forms. After waiting 20 minutes, they call us back and some young dr walks in. I could tell the minute he saw where the stitches were placed, he was nervous. He wanted me to try to hold her so that he could get to her eye.

After five minutes of trying to get the first stitch, he looks up at me and says, "Why did you wait so long to bring her in....the stitches are going to need to be dug out with a scalpel" Ahhhhh...... because that is what I was instructed to do?

He and I wrestled with Reagan for about 15 minutes and did not get one stinkin stitch out of her eye. I said to him, "This is never going to work, can we get some help here?" He then leaves the room and comes back in to tell me that they are going to take her in the ER.... the very ER that I tried to go to just moments before.

Are you kidding me??? I wanted to SCREAM !!!

We walked back to the ER and guess what..... had to register her again!! They finally take us back and luckily we had the same two nurses that we had the week before and they were very good with Reagan. They apologized over and over again for the run around and assured me that they would get the stitches out as quickly as possible.

They bring out the papoose, wrap her up and the new dr comes in and says, "Boy, those stitches are really in there" He had to pull at them quite a bit, but he finally got them out. Thank goodness.

The nurses were very nice and I think they felt horrible for everything that went on. They gave Reagan a bag of mini chocolate chip cookies and lets just say that she had forgotten all about that nasty papoose in no time....One cookie later to be exact:)

Fast forward to Saturday night.... I start looking at Reagan's eye in the bathroom under the bright light and I think I see another stitch in her eye. I call Pat and have him look at it and he agrees..... there is one more left in her eye.

My stomach started doing flip flops.... I was SO UPSET at the thought of taking her back in for one stinkin stitch, but what was I going to do? I would never risk leaving it in, so first thing Sunday morning, we packed up and headed back in.

I called to tell them we were coming and when I got there (they now me by name by now) they tell me that the nurse is going to come out to see if there is really a stitch left in her eye before I go through the trouble of registering.

The nurse comes out and takes one look.... "Oh yeah, it looks like the dr must have missed one"

They take us back and repeat the whole process. Papoose, scalpel, guaze.... and more tears!

Seriously.... I have been through a lot medically in my life and I have never had an experience quite like this one.

Isn't this CRAZY?

No one communicates and it seems eveyone wants to play "pass the patient"

It is very frustrating to say the leeast and I have half a mind to write a letter to the medical facility explaining what went on.

Luckily, Reagan is a tough little cookie and handled it all so well. Each time she bounced right back and I am sure this will all be a distant memory.

On a positive note, her eye looks better than I expected! I think it looks really good considering only one week has passed. With any luck, the scarring will be minimal.

Okay.... I better run! Another crazy week for me. I am heading to Baltimore again today. I have been a real road warrior the last few weeks.

Special thanks to Aunt Barbara and Uncle Tony for the adorable adirondack chair fit for an empress:) I am sure it will appear again on the blog soon. I have visions of it out on the beaches of cape cod with a big colorful umbrealla and a sassy little girl sporting a bathing suit and sunglasses!