Squeaky’s Blog

I have to admit that I miss the Army doctors!  The saying that you don’t know what you have until you lose it is so true right now.  We aren’t stationed near a base so we have to use the civilian doctors.  Trying to pick a doctor in a town you have no clue about, let alone where anything is at, becomes a pain.  I thought it would be fine.  I thought we could settle in and then ask around and pick a doctor.  I should know by now that plans never work in the Army world.  We have always been able to call and get a same day appointment if someone in the family was sick.  There were times that it was hard and we had to wait a day or have a nurse call and squeeze us in, but we always got in.  We have had a few bad experiences as everyone has.  I always try to then to never see that doctor again.  Most of the problems I had with the military hospitals were not with the doctors though, but the ungrateful staff.  You know the people who forget that if the military wasn’t there that they wouldn’t have a job, or they think just because they have a GS job they are untouchable.  Well, I loved the doctors we had in Oklahoma on base.  They the doctors took care of my kids and it was stress free most of the time.  Well, now we don’t have them and Giggles got sick.  I had to take him into a doctor last week.  Which trying to get him seen before our paper work was completed has been a nightmare, leaving me wanting to pull my hair out.  But that is another long story.  I want to know how the rest of the world does it.  I called at least 4 offices before I found one that agreed to see him last week.  The first time I had to take him in the Tri Care office just set everything up for me over the phone.  I wish I had known then that the doctor’s office they were sending me to was 45 minutes away.  So, yeah I am not keeping that doctor if I don’t have to.  The drive out there is all back county roads and I thought I was going to fall asleep on the way.  Okay so, we saw the doctor and she said he had double ear infections and gave us a prescription.  On the third day he got a rash but the fever had gone away so I called to get a second referral.  This time it was easy since I knew what to do and they gave him 2 visits.  This is when the doctor said he didn’t have an ear infection at all and didn’t think he ever really did.  She thought that his ears were red due to the fever but that he had Roseola.  Okay, good so now he should be fine in a day or two and back to his old self.  If that were only the case, but instead he cleared up for a day and then right back to a full body rash.  Once again, I had to start calling around to see if a doctor would see him again.  My husband had by now gotten a list of doctors that were close to the house and I had to pick one.  I finally found one that would take him next day and then had the paper work put in for that doctor to be our Primary Care Manager.  Now it was done I thought we have one close to the house they are put in the system and he is going to be seen.  I could not be so lucky.  I think I had only gotten off the phone for 5 minutes when the doctor’s office called back to say they couldn’t see him that day and had to push it back for 4 days.  Well, this is when I wanted to ask “Are you serious?”  Wow!  So, I said screw it and called back to the original doctor 45 minutes away and said “Look the rash is back we still have another visit can we use it?”  This morning we all got up at the crack of dawn and drove back out to the doctor and were told he has caught another virus on top of having the Roseola.  There is no medicine he needs but that there are a lot of babies with rashes right now just like his and some were so bad with other symptoms that they were admitted to the hospital.  Giggles though only has a rash and is fine in all other matters so, the doctor said she wanted to see him back in one week.  Nice huh!  Can I now bang my head in the wall?  Tri Care has already given him a provider and I can’t get a referral again because my paper work is in limbo.  It’s been sent in but not put in the computer so, they can’t give another referral.  I have to take him to the new doctor and have them check him out and then get a referral or have them do the check up in a week.  But before I can take him in to be seen there they want all copies of the medical records from the doctor we just saw.  I had asked for them this morning but they were busy so I just said oh well and thought I could deal with it later.  Yeah no, I have to go back out there tomorrow and get them so I can take him on Friday to get seen again just so he can have a follow up in a week.  Here is the kicker part, if we had just been at a duty station with a base I could of walked in and they would of seen him, and done all his appointments without any question.  So, I truly miss the Army doctor’s and the fact that they see my family when needed right away without question.  They will do follow ups and it doesn’t matter, they take care of us!  They were great to us.  As for all the people that complain about the Army doctor’s try going to a remote location and have to deal with civilian ones for a change and see how fast and easy you get taken care of!  It’s a totally different way of life and I am learning my life is about to change.    

There are a ton of things in my kitchen that I couldn’t do without.  The two things you can always count on me having are Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup and Lipton’s Soup Secret Onion Mix.  I don’t know how many times I have gone to make something in the past and not had what I need.  These two are a great mix and work well with so many different things.  I use them to make roasts with gravy, pork chops with sauce and so much more.  So, here’s my shout out to Campbell’s and Lipton for saving me so many nights in the kitchen.  

I was in Sam’s Club last week and I found a package of the Clorox wipes and decided to grab them.  I have been buying the Lysol ones and no more!  I normally buy whatever’s on sale at the time or in bulk and that had been the Lysol ones.  So, after thinking what can it hurt if they don’t work I will just go back to my sprays like I have been thinking of doing.  Oh my god I love the Clorox wipes they are amazing!  I took them to the highchair which has been in the attic for about 2 years now, and it looks brand new.  It took a bunch since it was so covered in dirt, but there was no elbow grease involved.  So, then I thought if it worked so great let me try my kitchen cabinets.  Since I hate them because they are white and show every little spot of dirt and nothing has seemed to work unless I scrub.  Well the Clorox wipes were awesome!  They took everything off!  There was no elbow grease to it.  I just wiped them all down and now they look great.  Then I had a small stove fire and had smoke on the back wash which again was white and everything just seemed to smear it but never remove it.  The Clorox wipes took it all off!  I can’t say enough great things about them.  I will be continuing to buy them from now on.       

I am starting a new category for all the things that I love.  I found a lot of things over the years that I think are great for whatever reason and have decided to share, in hopes of helping others.  This will be my 5 stars rating system for anything and everything that I use regularly.