Litigious Lawyering

Sitting at the airport at the end of a very long three days.  I met my client here on Monday for depo prep, and spent the last two days in depositions. There was an unbelievable amount of drama leading up to these depositions because one attorney refused to produce his clien after agreeing to these dates long ago (and after I had to jump through hoops and set a hearing to even get dates in the first place).

But two of the three noticed depos went forward and I got a certificate of nonappearance for the third. There will be a motion for sanctions, among other things, as soon as I return.  The whole ordeal was just unnecessarily contentious--at least before we all sat down in the same room.

And then OC told me today that I was nothing like what he had pictured before meeting me.  I guess he was expecting an ogre.  And after we were done, I had lunch with another OC and we worked through a lot.  It went really well.

Hopefully, this weeks's events will help move us to resolution.  If not, there is sure to be a lot more drama.  But I do think the in-person meetings were helpful to understanding one another's personalities.  Sometimes this electronic era is not what's best for our clients.

Terrified

PS went to the movies with a friend tonight.  A perfectly normal thing for a teenager to do, in our sleepy suburban city with few other options. We sent her off and told her to have fun and text us when the movie was out if we needed to pick up. So, thank god, out phones were nearby when this text came in:

Movie's out.  Apparently two people for shot in the parking lot.  There are ambulances and police cars and helicopters.

OMG.  DH and I both went flying out the door,  and I broke many traffic laws heading to the theater. DH called PS on the car bluetooth so we could both hear.  She was fine. It all happened while they were in the movie and they didn't even know anything until they came out.

But still, I sobbed all the way there and most of the way home. I don't even want to imagine a scarier text.

And these things don't happen here.  I don't live in Big City.  I live in a tiny suburb with virtually no crime.  Until last spring, there had only been two murders here in recorded history.  And then one of PS's classmates was killed by her mother's boyfriend.  And now this. (We don't know the condition of the victims.)

I don't ever want to let my children leave the house again. I try not to be an over-reactor.  I tend to rely on statistics to convince myself that my children will be safe when I send them out into the world.  But this was too, too close.  A few minutes' difference, some changed circumstance--who knows what might have happened? 

Grumpy and Whining

My doctor love has seriously faded. I met with the gastro today. Yes, I need the scope, blah, blah, blah.  Losing 15 pounds or so would probably help, too. (Thanks. As if I didn't know that.) I may be within the small percentage of people for whom surgery is recommended because of the long-term effects of the acid reducers on my bone density. We'll just have to see what it looks like in there. And we can schedule the scope as soon as I'm ready and have pre-paid it (because I haven't met the deductible on my crappy insurance). Yay. SS gets her braces this week.  I was so looking forward to writing another big check.

Not 15 minutes after I got back to my office, the new GP called with my lab results.  No stomach-ulcer causing bacteria.  But my cholesterol was high and my Vitamin D is low (and one of the only places to get Vitamin D is in milk and milk is full of cholesterol--WTF?) Doc is putting me on a prescription megadose of the D.

So I'm feeling like a fat ass whose problems would all be solved if I weren't such a fat ass. And then Girl Scout cookies came in today.  Yes, I'm a fat ass with 150 boxes of cookies in my dining room. FML.

How do you spell relief?

More than a year ago I made a New Year's resolution to find a new family practitioner.  I felt like my current GP just didn't listen to me.  And she never did anything to make me feel better.  She made me feel like a hypochondriac.  I go to the doctor maybe twice a year--when something weird is going on or I am so sick I think I'm about to die.  And her advice is usually something along the lines of "take a Benadryl."

It was so bad that the last couple of times I was sick, I went to urgent care (and paid 3x my copay) because I knew they would actually give me something to make me feel better.

And way back when I broke both ankles, and she discovered that I have low bone-density, she decided that I could no longer have my prescription for Protonix filled because it is contraindicated for low bone density.

I have terrible, awful acid reflux.  Vomit in my sleep and aspirate it, bad. Can't even drink water some days (yes, literally) bad. Lumps of food stick in my throat bad.

She said, take Zantac, raise the head of your bed, modify your diet.  I did those things.  Zantac didn't work, DH HATES having the bed raised (but it is), I don't drink coffee or soda or eat anything with red sauce.  And it is still terrible, and she still she wouldn't give me anything.

So finally, finally, today I went to a new doc.  And as soon as I told him my symptoms he said that I needed a scope.  And her ordered a bunch of labs, including a test for an ulcer-causing bacteria that no one has ever looked for before.  And he put me back on the Protonix, even with the low bone density.

And with all that--even getting 5 vials of blood drawn and facing a so-not-fun endoscopy in the future--I left the doctor's office happy.  I was so stunned that I didn't have to convince him that my situation was truly bad.  That I needed to be fixed. I didn't leave feeling like I was some kinds of drug whore (I didn't even take pain pills after I gave birth to twins, but old doc wouldn't give me so much as an antibiotic.)

Why is it so easy to advocate for others and ignore ourselves?  I would never put up with this treatment of a client or my children.

Freedom!

This is the first weekend in I don't even know how long that we have nothing to do.  No hauling kids around to games and practices, no commitments, nada. The twins left on Friday to go camping with their Girl Scout troop.  Poor PS is sidelined with norovirus (otherwise we would be hauling her around).

So what the heck do we do with a rare free weekend? Yesterday, we decided to head to Ikea.  It's a 30-mile drive in city traffic, so we only go once or twice a year.  And the kids HATE it. So it was nice to go and dawdle and not listen to any griping kids.  Woot!  And I bought a small trash bin full of stuff and still came in under $40--double woot!

Then we headed to a nearby mall and I got the new iphone, which was my slightly late birthday gift from DH. My old phone was a slow, slightly-buggy 3gs, so I was in desperate need of an upgrade, and we had great fun asking Siri stupid questions on the way home.

Next, we headed to a fun, always-crowded mexican restaurant for lunch.  And we were seated within  5 minutes.  Do you know how much easier it is to get a table for 2 than a table for 5? And we spent less than $20!

Finally, we wandered back home, with a quick stop for groceries. After unloading, I crashed on the sofa and took a 2-hour nap--something I could never get away with if the twins were home.

We spent the evening watching The Dark Knight Rises with PS.  She had DH saw the midnight premiere in the theater, but I had not seen it. I have to say, I was not impressed, but dark and depressing isn't really my idea of entertainment.  And Bane's voice was unbelievable annoying.

Halfway through, PS was starving and feeling much better, so we headed out for ice cream (in a drive-thru), barefoot and in out pj pants.

It was a good day.