What a weekend

Long story short, Banana is still in the hospital. We need her combined calcium and phosphate levels to be below 60; we have gone from 81 (Thurs) to 60 (Friday) to 75 (Saturday) to 46 (Sunday) to 58 (this morning's), so we elected to keep her in one more day to make sure they don't go above 60 again. As far as we can tell, they should stay below 60, but we want to be sure. We are praying we can bring her home tomorrow morning.

Now for the long story, if you're interested in having something to read while draining your first cup of coffee :)

If you didn't already know, we live in a pretty rural area. Our vet is great, but the first impression of the emergency vet clinic is kind of unorganized, helter skelter, and fly by the seat of their pants. They are only open 6pm-8am, so you have to take your dog from your vet to their clinic and then pick up your dog again in the morning and take her back to the vet.

We show up there on Thursday night, and the vet there is very nice, but the techs don't seem to know how to work the accounting/computer system. We wanted to pay the full amount of the estimate, but they told us that we could only pay half. We leave Banana there, and plan to pick her up in the morning.

Friday morning comes, and I go to pick her up. The tech tells me that our bill is $250 more than the estimate. She says that the girl who entered the estimate the night before entered it as an invoice and not an estimate, so the billing is all messed up, and even though it seems like we have been double billed, we haven't. I just pay the balance, and I make sure I keep both receipts to go over carefully later.

Anna spent the day Friday at our vet's office, and her levels were 60. We are thinking, yay, she is going to come home tonight. Nope. Our vet says that she needs fluids overnight, so we have to take her back to the emergency vet. During the day, I've gone over our bills from the emergency vets, and I have come up with that they owe us $151. So when I take her to the emergency vet on Friday night, I tell them that, and they get all huffy. They tell me that they manager will not be in until Monday and that they will see what they can do and call me in a few hours. As far as the estimate this night, they tell me I *have* to pay it in full, which is totally opposite of what the tech on Thursday night said. This time when I leave Banana, she is barking, and I am in tears.

I get home, and Mr. A tells me that he thinks they owe us $250. He is really mad (at the emergency vet), and I am just upset because this is so much to take in. I felt awful leaving her there Friday night, knowing she was barking, and feeling zero confidence in their bookkeeping, honesty, and compassion.

By the way, they never called us about the bill Friday night.

Saturday morning I go to pick her up, and the vet there says that her levels that morning were 75. Yuck. She has to remain on fluids again. I told them that we are not happy with the care and treatment (of us) at their clinic, and we would be taking Banana to a 24-hour clinic in a bigger town 40 minutes away. She seems stunned. But I hold my ground. We are not dealing with these rough people anymore! They decide to credit us $165, and I told them that we still feel we hve been overbilled and that we'd like to talk to the manager. They told us that the manager does not usually interact with clients. HAAAAA!! I told her we will need to talk to her anyway. They also told me that they couldn't show me how they came up with a credit of $165, which is different than the numbers that me and Mr. A came up with!

At this point I am bawling in the emergency vet lobby. I am upset that Banana is not better yet, that we will have to pay more money, that I am tired of all the running around we are having to do to take her here and there, that I paid the huge bill without disputing it on the spot, and that I am supposed to be home getting our house ready for my aunt and cousin to visit!!! I called our vet, and through sobs, I tell her the situation and that we are moving Banana to the other clinic.

Mr. A straightens up the house while I take Banana to the other clinic. From the second I step into the door, I can tell this place is different. For the first time in 3 hours, I stop crying. Everyone is gentle, patient, and compassionate. They take the time to explain and comfort. They have marble countertops in the exam rooms, for heaven's sake. And, if you can believe it, their prices are lower than our dinky rural clinic's. They call the owners every morning and evening to give updates. They know exactly how to handle their accounting, and I walk out of there feeling 100% confident that they will help Banana get better. Finally, a sigh of relief.

My aunt and cousin made it to my house before me :) I told my cousin about our baby, and she was so excited! My aunt brought our little one their first books, and she brought me some lollipops for when I don't feel good! She is so amazing! We met my friend (who incidentally just got her BFP #6 on Friday) and her daughters (who are my cousin's age) for lunch, and we had a great time! We came home, hung out with Mr. A and Bert, went to church, and made my lentil soup (from Friday's recipe) and some pizza.

Yesterday morning, we got up at 4am (yes, FOUR IN THE MORNING). My cousin was performing (singing) at a pretty big concert hall and had to be there at 830am. Luckily, our timing was perfect, and we dropped her off. We had to wait a bit for a breakfast place to open, but we enjoyed some good food and took a walk in the big city streets until we had to be back for her performance at 12:30. She did great, and we were home by 5:30pm.

I fell asleep at 8pm. Ha!!

I am feeling a little off these days, but I am welcoming it :) I am just hoping and praying we see a healthy little heartbeat on Thursday!! I am trying not to worry or go.ogle. I am trusting my body to know what to do to support this little one!!!

Bert misses Banana something awful. We are praying she can be home tomorrow! It will make both of them so happy to be together again!