The "Hallelujah Chorus" is playing in my head!

Ok, people! Those must have been some strong prayers you were sending up after my last post because Hayden got her swine flu vaccine today!!!!!! I went to her school this morning with the other home room mom to do an art project with the kids. It is part of our Festifall school fundraiser. Each class is do to a themed basket and a group project to be auctioned off. We chose for the class to make Christmas ornaments. Hayden normally would have been there and it made me so sad that she was missing it. Every now and then I would hear a child ask one of their teachers where Hayden was. Her friends miss her and she really misses them too. I left there this morning determined to find her a vaccine. I didn't care what I had to do or where I had to go, she was getting one! I first called her CF doctor to once again be told that theirs didn't arrive today either (big surprise) and to call back on Monday. Unfortunately they nurses have no idea when it's coming, they just keep being told by the state health department that they will get it. Well Monday wasn't going to work for me. I then called the cystic fibrosis clinic at Children's Hospital where Hayden used to go and talked to their head nurse, Debbie. Yeah, they didn't have them either. They've been getting the same story from the state. So then I called the Oklahoma County Health Department. That got me nowhere. "Hunny, you're gonna have ta take her to the open clinic like everybody else." "Maam, she has cystic fibrosis. I can't take her out to stand with 3,000 sick people for hours." "Well I don't know what to tell you." "Well, can't I just bring her to the health department office to get one?" "Nope. There's no one working today." "Obviously there are since you answered the phone" "Not the kinda people who can help you". Ugggghhhh! I got absolutely nowhere and was very upset by the time I got off the phone. What I wanted to yell at her is that I think it is absolutely ridiculous that the state will open up clinics to huge groups of the public before they've taken care of the people with underlying conditions who need it the most. SERIOUSLY! Just give the CF doctor 50 vials and go about your business with your free clinics!!! Or at least have a place at your office where we can take our children without exposing them to a bunch of stuff. Is that too much to ask!?!?!? Well, by this time I was a very determined momma. I was getting ready to call the state health department when i decided to get some ideas from my mom on where I should call. "Why don't you call the Logan county health department?" "You don't have to live in that county to receive the vaccine?" "I don't know. It's worth a try." I thought to myself before I made that call that if they didn't have it, I would get on the phone and call every county in Oklahoma until I found one. Hey, my grandparents in Kay county would love a visit, I'm sure. "Yes, my daughter has cystic fibrosis and I've been trying for over a month to find her a swine flu vaccine, and I've had her out of school and nobody in Oklahoma county has been helpful or can get it and I don't know if you have the injection or not ....(rambling)...but do you have any swine flu vaccines?" (please, Lord, please, Lord...) "Sure, we have some" WHAT! Just like that! "Do I have to be a Logan county resident?" "Nope, just come on up. But we close at 11:30 for lunch and don't open until 1pm. I would tell you to come then but we are usually pretty crowded so you might want to bring her later." I glanced at my clock and it was 11:03. I threw Hayden in the car and drove my little heart out up to Guthrie. It was 11:30 when I exited off the highway and I called them and was prepared to beg and plead that they stay open five more minutes until we could get there. "You're fine, hunny, just come on in." I teared up on the phone. Thank you, God for Logan county and their completely sweet and understanding nursing staff. Bless them. We made it and within 5 minutes she was vaccinated and we were headed to McDonalds. If only I had thought to call Logan county four weeks ago! Or even three, or two.... Anway, the important thing is that she has it. They said 7-10 days before she's fully protected against the virus so no school next week either, but that's ok. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I know that after a fun-filled week of Halloween parties and trick-or-treating she will get to go back and be surrounded by her friends and learn new things from her teachers. She is a social little thing and this has been hard on her. Get ready kids! Hayden's gonna be back soon!