I HATE APRIA!!

I HATE THEM!

HATE THEM!

Makily's got this new AMT button. When we got it, it came with ONE bolus extension (for feeding quickly with a syringe...which Makily can't tolerate) and ONE pump feeding extension.

I was due to order her monthly supplies in a week or two and figured I would order more extensions then.

Well in TRUE MAKILY FASHION the ONE extension we had POPPED A FREAKING HOLE. NEVER has this EVER happened to us. Holes in the balloon on her button yes BUT NEVER on/in the extension tubing. In all honestly I was just glad the button didn't go bad!

So I call Apria in a total panic telling them that Makily can't eat without this extension and I need one overnighted to me. I was desperately trying to think of ways I could feed her in the meantime from taping over the hole on the extension we had or just trying to make the bolus extension work with the pump (which ultimately is what we did overnight).

I tell the woman MY CHILD CAN'T EAT WITHOUT THIS TUBE.....she does not eat by mouth.

Do you know her reply?

Brace yourself.......




"Sorry, Ma'am it's a special order item and it will take two weeks to get it to you".





WHAT?!

I reiterate AGAIN that Makily can't eat without the tube, SHE WILL SHRIVEL UP AND DIE OF STARVATION waiting two weeks for them to ship the freaking thing.

Then she had the nerve (and stupidity I might add) to actually tell me that since it's a special order item.....they don't even make them until you order it, that's why it takes two weeks.

I LAUGHED...VERY LOUDLY IN HER EAR.

I went on to tell her this was unacceptable. She had to get me the stupid tube somehow, some way.

I didn't care how.

She says "well I don't do special orders"

GIVE ME TO THE PERSON WHO DOES YOU FREAKING MORON!!!!!!!!

She transfers me to someone equally as heartless and idiotic.

I go through the entire story with the new asshole and do you know what she has the nerve to say?

"We don't even have an order for that tube ma'am, I can't even try to order it without an order from the doctor".

At this point I lost my cool (okay I am lying, I lost it when the first idiot told me two weeks). I said "Look I don't care what you may have to do, what extra step you have to take but I NEED THIS TUBE and NOT two weeks from now...I NEED IT YESTERDAY LADY"!

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX PEOPLE.....THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX...WHAT PART OF MY KID CAN'T EAT WITHOUT THIS TUBE DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?!?!!!?

Am I speaking Greek or something!?!

THROW ME A FREAKING BONE!!

So I ask her what she suggests I do. What should I tell Makily when I can't feed her for the next two weeks? Sorry Makily....the lady on the phone couldn't send us your tube because she didn't have a piece of paper and it was a special order?

I asked her what she would do in my situation.....I say "If it was your baby, I am sure you would find a way to get the tube....and NOT in TWO WEEKS"!

YOU KNOW WHAT SHE SAYS?

"Ma'am, I would follow the same procedures I am following right now with you!"

I laughed and said "Well I feel really sorry for your kids!!!!!"

She says she will "see what she can do".

That's the last I heard from her.

When I hung up I had to run to pick Makily up from school and then take her to therapy. I wasn't sure what I was going to do.

I called Allen and asked him to google "AMT" (the button manufacturer).

He did, then he called them and guess what?

HE GOT TWO OF THE EXTENSION TUBES OVERNIGHTED TO US FOR $30.

It took him all of 10 minutes.

SHAME ON YOU APRIA......SHAME ON YOU!!!!!!

I wasn't going to call them and tell them how incompetent they are because it just puts me in a really bad mood and nothing ever changes with them.

Three days later I get a call from Apria. Verifying that I ordered a new AMT button for Makily.

sigh

NO YOU IDIOT, I DIDN'T ORDER THE BUTTON......I ORDERED THE EXTENSION SETS...THE FREAKING EXTENSION SETS!!!!!!

I swear I am going to have high blood pressure and gray hair.

So I tell that lady what a moron she is (and honestly she just was thrown into it and had no clue what was going on....I feel bad about going off on her now, give me a break, she called me while I was in a cramped dressing room with BOTH kids in the double stroller SCREAMING). I go through the whole story AGAIN which just pisses me off that I have to waste my breath for the 900th time with these idiots. She tells me she will "check it out" and call me back.

That was six days ago.

sigh

Fast forward to this weekend. Makily's extension tube kept coming unattached from the pump. Meaning it fed the bed, her car seat or her diaper. The extensions are really only made to use for a week then thrown out. We have had to use these more because it's all we have right now. This morning we get her up for school and she is laying in a puddle of formula....fed the DAMN BED again. THANK GOD for her Sleep Safe Mattress....it just wipes right off. (Shameless plug there :-)

We get her ready for school and start a feed on the pump. Allen drives her to school and THE DARN THING UNHOOKED FROM HER TUBE AGAIN!!!! Fed the car seat, she was drenched and a mess by the time Allen got her to school, so he turned around and brought her right back home.

I call Apria to find out WHERE ARE THE EXTENSION tubes that I ordered.

I go through the entire story with the supervisor (I asked for her off the bat because I did not want to go through the entire story more than once). She does not apologize for the stupidity....she puts me on hold to check on it. Comes back and says that our local branch has them and will be sending them to us today. I ask her why I had the issue when I called about the tubes to begin with. Does she not see that it was a bit ludicrous that I got NO HELP and left to figure things out on my own? I went on to tell her it took us 10 minutes to get the tubes overnighted from the manufacturer. That it makes no sense why they couldn't have done the same thing.

Her reply?

"We didn't have the order".

SIGH

I give.

Here's my problem....I get they didn't have the order.....I get it. I get that it was special order and they don't always do that.

WHAT I DON'T GET IS THE FACT THEY DIDN'T CARE/UNDERSTAND THAT MY KID COULD NOT EAT WITHOUT IT AND TRY TO FIGURE OUT A WAY TO GET IT TO ME AND ASAP!!!!

It takes minutes to get the order. Dr. Pierre is usually always good, especially in situations like this. Even if they didn't have the order in their hands at the moment they shipped the extension tube.....really who was going to know that? Who would have found out? A five year old kid COULD NOT EAT without this tube and so I think it was worth the minimal risk of sending us a FEEDING TUBE and getting the order a day later.

We got the button with no order?

I told the lady on the phone that I pray she never has a child or a family member in the situation my kid is in. I told her that if that ever did happen to her I pray that someone would help them more then they had helped us.


END RANT.