Raise You Hand if EW! - 10/20/2007

My poor, poor boy has had an ingrown toenail for a while. Months. We thought nothing of it, even when he would YELL if anyone accidentally stepped on his toe, or he hit his toe on something. Even then, I thought "Overreact much?" Then, Isabel stepped on it, and pus came out. That caught my attention. I scheduled an appointment with my doctor (Jake & Iz's doc moved to Apopka, way too far away for us).

The first visit was pretty much just to say, yea he needs to have that cut off by our doctors, please pay your $25 co-pay. We scheduled "surgery" for 3 days later (please pay another $25 co-pay. Losers.)

On Friday, the 4 of us went to the doc (David brought him from school because I was not driving from work in Seminole county, to get him in Volusia county, to take him back to Seminole county for the appointment).

Let me preface this by saying, Jake's dad is an $%^&+*. (I don't care who reads this; you know who you are!) WHY the heck would anyone tell their child about to have surgery "You make sure they knock you out. I had that surgery and it was the worst pain in my life. The needle they stick in your toe to numb you hurt like hell. The worst pain I ever felt!" Who does that?!?!? He is not your "buddy," he is your son. Your job is to protect him, not scare the crap out of him. SERIOUSLY.

That's what I was dealing with as I went into the room with him; terror. He started to freak a little, and I told him: "The thing about pain is, you have to breathe through it. You cannot freak out. You have to breathe and stay calm. Freaking out is only going to make it last longer. Just get through it and it will be done." He asked me when did I become a Zen Master.

The doctor came in (she was 12, Indian, pretty and sweet). She explained the procedure while Jake tried not to hyperventilate. When it came time to numb the toe, they placed a rubberband tight around it, and then stuck a 20 gauge needle into his toe, to slowly push in the medicine. I turned my back to them, looked at Jake, held his hand and told him to relax and breathe. I could tell he was in pain. They numbed one side, then it was time for the other. The return of some feeling to my hand led me to believe that the first shot was working. Jake was afraid that he would feel them cutting into his toe and voiced that fear aloud. That's when I told him that they were injecting him a third time. He had no idea.

Last time he had to have an injection to numb something was in Kindergarten. He sliced his finger open & needed stitches. As the doc was putting the injection in his finger and Jacob screamed bloody murder, the room looked a little too white and bright. A nurse said "Mom, are you o.k.?," sat me down on a chair and shoved my head between my knees.

So, yea, the room is getting a little whiter and man, it's hot in here. MY doctor walks in to help out 12-year old doctor. He sees me and says "Are you o.k. mom?" I laugh and sit down.

Jake was listening to his music on his MP3 player so he did not hear the CRACK of the nail coming off, or the doctors laughing about how loud it was. I'm trying to refrain from sticking my head between my knees.

They bandaged the toe before we could see it, showed me the HUGE piece of nail embedded in his toe, and gave us instructions for the next few days.

Some Assembly Required - 07/05/2006

Mom, I am sorry. I really am. But I have to Blog this. It's a matter of civic duty (and also, you don't have a computer, I am evil, and will be punished).

So...mom calls and asks for some help for her husband Jose. Seems that my mom's husband Jose received a mailing at his daughter's house. He's a FINALIST in a SWEEPSTAKES. The drawing will be soon! In the meantime, in between time, he's been awarded a voucher for $400 off a $698 laptop. He mails the $298 check and receives a post card stating that the merchandise would be mailed in 14 days. Well, it's been over a month and they have not seen anything. *bells ringing* *scam* *scam* She gives me the account number, the phone number and the name of the company: Sweepstakes Clearinghouse. *dingdingding* I asked mom if she was serious. I said that this sounded like a scam. She asked what that word meant in Spanish. I explained it to her, and told her I would call her back.

The phone number with a Dallas exchange put me through to the computer, that politely mentioned the merchandise was mailed May 9th...almost 2 months ago. When I tried to connect to customer service, I was told to call back during business hours. What business hours, you ask? I don't know - I got hung up on after that message.

I decided to Google Sweepstakes Clearinghouse. Go on, get ye to Google. Find the many, many web sites about the complaints filed my various people and ..oh yes, the entire state of Iowa. When an entire state files a lawsuit, you know something's fishy.

I called mom back & told her the bad news. I told her I would follow up during "business hours" and see what they said, but to be aware that they are possibly out of $300. Well, not they. He. It's all his money, she gets a $20 weekly allowance, but I'm not bitter.

There are complaints about sending $44 for a tv, and getting one with a 5" monitor! Five Inches! Others tried getting a stereo or computer, and ended up paying extra c.o.d. charges up to $50. The computer is so old & so bad, it is not even funny. This website below shows a copy of the flyer for the computer....a dinosaur with 128 MB of memory. Woo.
Click Here for one such website - scroll down a bit when you get to the page.
I know older people get scammed and it disgusts me. My mom's husband, though, knows better. He should know better. It just blows my mind. You can't get something for nothing. Buyer, PLEASE beware. Some Assembly Required...mainly to your checking account.