Warning - this post is only complaining, ranting, and worse. If you don't want to hear it, wait for my follow-up with the good parts of the day.....

You know what I hate? I hate people who talk to my daughter like she is stupid. My daughter is smart, funny, and very good about trying to explain what is going on with her body. Any person or Dr. who takes a few minutes and speaks directly to her (instead of me) realizes it, but unfortunately there are still some !#@!%$ out there who treat her like she's a spoiled brat.

Today, it happened again. And I'm freakin' livid.

After Bugs orthopedist appointment they sent in an employee who works for a medical supply company I will not name right now to help get her a lace-up ankle brace. Until this point Bug has been fine with that idea. Enter employee X, who starts off by saying, "I hear you need a lace-up brace" (looking at me the whole time, but talking to my daughter). "We don't have anything smaller than a women's 5-6, but I think we can make it work." "Otherwise, we'll have to see about ordering something". Bug and I are still ok at this point, although I'm a bit concerned about the size of the brace since she is just hitting a children's 4. But whatever, trying it on can't hurt anyone. So, he puts it on, and as he is getting near the top of the brace Bug starts complaining that it hurts, it doesn't feel good, etc. He jumps up and says "I'll go get the papers" and leaves. I go over and loosen the laces, adjust the Velcro some, and ask Bug if it's any better. She still says no. Now she's starting to get upset because it doesn't feel right and it's still on. I asked her to walk around, just to be sure, promising we'd take it off afterward if it still wasn't right. She walks some, complains more, and we take it off. She insists it doesn't fit correctly, and that we need something else.

Enter employee X again, this time with a ton of papers he's expecting me to sign. "It doesn't feel good, she wants to try something else" I told him. He looked at me in a not so nice way and said "This is all we have". Before I could say anything else Bug chimes in "I don't like the laces" and he says to her "well, that's what you have to have, that's what the Dr. ordered." I am really getting PO'd now, not only because of what he's saying, or the looks he's giving, but his tone. His tone was a "I don't care what you think, you don't know anything, you're a spoiled kid" tone.

I told him a lace-up brace was fine, but THIS lace-up brace wasn't going to work, my daughter said didn't fit comfortably. He said "Well then, you're going to have to find something else, because this is all we have"! Then he turned around and marched out of our room. I was really really mad now. Seconds later employee X returned and tossed Bugs prescription for the brace on the table with a "You're going to need this" and rushed out again. (What, no mail order like he mentioned before? Darn, how sad for us)

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

My daughter deserves to be treated like she knows what she is talking about until she proves otherwise, or, I say otherwise! I don't care that she is 8 - she knows her body better than anyone! I bet that guy had never even tried on the brace he was trying to make her wear. I can almost guarantee he has not been forced by someone who doesn't know him to wear an improper-fitting brace. How dare he treat my daughter like that, who has been through plenty in her life already.... She's been happily wearing those ring splints for 3 1/2 years now, no complaints. She's worn her current Air Cast ankle brace for three months straight with not a peep. She knows if something fits correctly or not. Shame on him for assuming she was being a brat and I was letting her be one.

So - after Bug and I left I asked her how she liked her new Dr. She liked him. I asked how she liked the nurse. She liked her. I asked her how she liked the brace guy, and she just looked at me with "the look". The look was the one that said "I have nothing nice to say so I'm not saying anything". LOL So I said, "I didn't think he was very nice." She emphatically agreed. So I promised her that we would never see him again. She smiled. Hopefully that helped smooth over what had happened. I just hope now that I can still get her to try the other lace braces on, and that I can get my hands on several for her to even try! No one in the area carries sizes small enough, they are all special order. So, I'm calling our insurance contact tomorrow to see what our options are. I'm hoping she can help us out so we can move on and not have to worry about the brace anymore.

I'm taking a deep breath now, thinking about Karma, trying to let it all go and relax a bit. But boy do I wish that people could walk a mile in my daughters shoes sometimes! Not to punish them, but to give them a small bit of understanding and insight into her world.