How Far is 100 Miles?

On Thursday, September 30, we headed to WVU to go over Cooper's echocardiogram with Dr. Einzig, Cooper's cardiologist. When we arrived at the hospital, we expected to receive information related to his echocardiogram which was performed the week prior. Perry and I fully expected to learn more about Dr. Einzig's professional opinion, and we hoped to leave WVU with an idea about when Cooper's surgery might be performed.

We checked in, waited for a short time and were called back by one of Coop's FAVORITE nurses. A few tests were performed and we were put into a room to wait for Dr. Einzig. We were told that Coop would probably have his FOURTH (one at WVU and two at Children's already) echocardiogram. For those of you familiar with Cooper's story bear, "Cooper did not want to do that."

We hadn't been waiting long when Dr. Narumanchi, Coop's pediatrician, stopped to check on him and say hi. In all the ups and downs, it meant the world to us that she had made time to stop in because she truly and genuinely cared about him.

Dr. Einzig arrived and asked if we happened to have Cooper's echocardiogram photos from his appointment at Children's the same week (September 27). Although a release was signed for the photos to be sent, they had not arrived at WVU. One of the nurses called Children's for us, they faxed over the report related to the echocardiogram right away and said they would "mail" the CD with his photos. SO, we left WVU after Dr. Einzig decided not to put Coop through another echocardiogram. Instead, he decided to wait for the photos from Children's and make a decision as to whether or not Cooper would need to be put under for an MRI to get better photos before surgery. We left the hospital expecting a call by Tuesday or Wednesday, September 4 or 5.

Today is September 11 and the flippin CD is STILL NOT AT WVU. I called WVU EVERY DAY from Tuesday through today to see if they had received the CD, driving everyone crazy I'm sure. Yesterday, when the CD was still not at WVU, I called Children's to see what the heck was going on. At that point I found out that the CD was sent SNAIL MAIL with no tracking number. HOW ON EARTH do you send someone's medical records through the mail with no tracking number.

SO - after waiting a week and a half for a CD and wondering if our baby was in danger, I called Children's to let them know that someone would be there to pick up the CD today. The woman I spoke to on the phone was seriously the most insensitive person I have EVER dealt with. As I'm sobbing and telling her that the cardiologist at Children's recommended surgery within a week (which would have been last week) and that I was concerned that Coop was in danger, she proceeds to cut me off and ask what time the CD would be picked up with absolutely no response to anything I said about my child being in danger. It felt as if she had put the phone down while I was talking - it was the only explanation I could think of considering I cannot believe that people are truly that insensitive. Today, Perry drove to Pittsburgh to pick up the CD so that we could make sure the CD was in the hands of Coop's cardiologist at WVU TODAY.

The surgeon's assistant at WVU (Tammy) was the SWEETEST and sat and answered EVERY question we had and said Dr. Gustafason (the surgeon) would be reviewing the CD this evening or tomorrow, and they would be in touch soon.

So the question for this past week is - HOW FAR IS 100 MILES and HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE A PIECE OF MAIL TO GET FROM PITTSBURGH TO MORGANTOWN.

SOOOOO - we're closer to a surgery date.