Diaster Strikes , Part VI

I couldn't get any rest Thursday night. I tossed and turned. I had nightmares when I did doze off. I was up Friday well before dawn, well before the hour that all the people I wanted to reach would even be stirring.

I bagged my arm and took a shower. I mumbled to myself about the indignities of showering with my arm inside a billowing, white, Glad Tall Kitchen Garbage Bag. As my frustration grew so did my volume. I got loud enough that both my husband and my dog were worried.

Once I was dry and dressed for the day, I started making phone calls. It was still too early to reach any one, but I had a plan. In a short amount of time I had created a list of names and numbers complete with office hours and any other information that I could cull from the various office recordings and websites.

At 8:00 sharp I started calling. I called number after number, sometimes making contact, more often leaving messages. By 8:45 I had run through all the numbers I had. I was about as frustrated as I could be. Nearing tears, I called the school nurse again. She very patiently explained that I was unlikely to have much luck before 9:00. She suggested I wait until 9:00 or 9:30.

I went and laid down on my bed and promptly found myself embroiled in a nightmare where i was trying to explain to some towering, huge entity that I was supposed to go to Japan. This being was so tall that I couldn't see its head. I was screaming and trying every way that I knew to be heard, but it was all in vain. I woke up sweating. It was 10:00 AM.

I started all over again. I called all the numbers I had already called and some new ones that I had just thought of. Slowly, I started to get some positive responses. One woman told me there was supposed to be a three day turn around on the paperwork for my surgery, but once I explained what the problem was she said she would see what she could do.

I called the long suffering school nurse back at least twice more. Each time she acted as my cheering section, coming up with suggestions and making a call here and there for me.

By late afternoon everything was coming together. The whole thing had become a comedy of technology. There were new fax machines that didn't fax correctly, faxes that only made it half way through, miscommunication of all sorts and kinds. I encountered many kind, but overworked individuals. One by one, things begin to come together. Phone calls were returned. Faxes flew, fast and furious.

By my last phone call of the afternoon all the faxes had found their proper places and I had received the authorization code for my surgery. Unfortunately it couldn't speed everything up. I would have to wait one more weekend. At least it wasn't another holiday weekend.