Sometimes you just have to be a pushy bitch...

There are doctors and there are specialists. Then there are specialized specialists. For example, we have a general pediatrician.  I also know of several local orthopedists. But then there are pediatric orthopedic surgeons and thats who Brodie needs to see to get the right medical treatment for his condition.

There are less than a handful of pediatric orthopedic surgeons in this whole state. A handful of surgeons to treat more then a thousand children who need them. Children with club feet, or spinal problems, or bone fractures. So these surgeons are booked months in advance. It can be very hard to get appointment with one.

It's even harder when you live in a rural area. Most of these surgeons work in Phoenix, more than three hours away from where we live. When our baby can't tolerate sitting in a car seat for more than 5 minutes, Phoenix feels as far away as mars.

So our best option is a children's orthopedic clinic closer by in Flagstaff. This clinic involves the surgeon visiting Flagstaff maybe once a month. On that clinic day, the surgeon sees hundreds of children from all over northern Arizona and even parts of Utah and New Mexico. So this clinic is also booked months in advance.

All the children who come to this clinic are funneled through a single harried over-worked case worker.  For weeks I have been working with this case worker, wading my way through paperwork, insurance approvals, and referrals to try and get an appointment for one of these clinics.

I have been very polite and sweet to the people I have been trying to work with, bored receptionists and apathetic medical assistants, only to get brushed off and stalled. They tell me that the only possible appointments I can get with the specialist, or with the clinic, is in early December or late November, months away.

Meanwhile, Brodie's bad leg has been having terrible muscle spasms, where the whole leg gets rock hard and starts to shake. One time, when we were changing his diaper, his good leg actually popped out of joint and popped back in like nothing even happened.

So an appointment months away means months of Brodie of having pain. Months where he is losing valuable treatment and therapy time, when his bones are still malleable and soft, maybe even repairable. Months that could cost him mobility later on in his life.

Yet the very busy case worker and the over-worked medical assistants just keep on telling me to call them the next week because there is not much they can do.

Finally, I reached a point of overwhelming frustration, where I didnt  know where else to turn. I shared my feelings of helplessness with my husband. My husband can be very determined when he wants to be. "I am going to harass the hell out of these people until we get a better appointment." he tells me.

The next day my husband calls me at work. " I got appointments for this month with two different pediatric orthopedists." he says. One of which who has particular hard to get an appointment with. "How did you manage to get that?" I asked him.
"I wouldn't get off the phone with his medical assistant until she gave it too me. I am not above pleading and begging, or even getting a little tearful. I would have cried if I had needed to. Nobody wants to hear a grown man cry."

A good friend told me "Stop being nice about it and start getting loud. You are not in this to make new friends or have people think you are polite. You are in this to get medical treatment for your child.  Do not take no for an answer. Sometimes you just have to be a pushy bitch."

So I took my cue from my husband and my friend and I showed up at the office of the orthopedic clinic and asked to see the case worker. "Well he is really busy." the receptionist tells me.   "That's OK,I can wait."
Then I cornered him in the hallway. He tells me "Well maybe I might be able to get him an appointment with the clinic this coming Monday. But its a long shot."
That's when I got a little irate and I told him that I have no problem showing up at his office every day with a screaming baby until we get a better answer than that.
His eyes got wide and he asked me "you would actually do that?" 
You betcha. I will stalk you. I am not going to go away until you figure something out.
His attitude changed quickly. Finally he relented and said "I will definitely get you into the clinic on Monday."
Damn right you will.

Then I called the absentee medical assistant who never calls me back and has been lagging on pushing through the referrals Brodie needs to go see these doctors. I left her a tersely worded message that basically said 'hey, if you don't get this done today, I will call you non-stop and I will physically show up in your office until you do.'
An hour later she called me back. I'm not her favorite person now, but I don't care. She got the referrals done by the next day.

So folks, that's how Brodie got his appointments moved from two months away to this Monday instead. Sometimes to get it done you just have to be a pushy bitch.