Wednesday May 9th, 2012- Frustrated

Frustrated. It might be narrow minded of me not to be overly concerned with the "Big Picture" of our health care system, but today I couldn't help think about how it might be affecting us.  Ella has been experiencing some medical issues that can not be explained.  Last week I had to take her into the pediatrician. She was complaining about burning when she urinated.  After they ran cultures that described it as "non-specific irritation". Really? The doctor actually told us to have her drink apple/cranberry juice.  He said the cranberry juice would be helpful.  That stuff has less than 2% real juice in it, so I couldn't help but feel he was just giving me an answer because he didn't know what else to say.
She has also been having back pain and dizziness. The back pain had her up most nights last week, so her Oncologist said they would schedule an MRI to make sure everything was OK. It took the MRI department over 2 full days to call me back and they scheduled it for May 30th.  23 days to get an MRI for a child? Seriously???  How does this make sense? It is not like we live in a small town with 1 machine that is shared by several communities. We live in Chicago and go to a major hospital!  God forbid there is something really wrong. I do not plan on waiting 21 more days to find that out.  Looks like I get to be "That Mom" again.  She is going in for X-Ray's tomorrow, but her Oncologist already told me that it probably will not show anything unusual with her bone. AHHHH!!!!  Today, I feel like our health care system is not working.

This weekend we are celebrating Ella's sixth birthday. I tear up just thinking about her birthday because I feel so grateful that she is here for me to celebrate.  Ella is six.  Ella has made it to six years old.  Ella will get to laugh and play and celebrate the day with her friends.  I will find joy in the smile of my happy child.  My happy child who is still fighting cancer.

Blessings~Katie