Isn't it enough...?

I tried again to pick up the death certificate today and it wasn't there yet, and the clerk didn't know what I should do to look into why it's taking so long. I just broke down.

Isn't it enough that my kid is dead? Why do I have to jump through hoops just to prove he's dead so I can get started on all the paperwork? I can't even cancel his telephone service, let alone deal with Social Security -- which mailed his first disability check the day he died -- and the bank. I wanted to do all that before I went back to work, but I go back tomorrow with nothing done.

It's just such a pain in the ass. Not only do I lose my child, I have to jump through bureaucratic hoops to prove it.

I called the funeral home and raised a little hell there. Nobody knows where it went, but it fell through the cracks somewhere. They finally agreed to hand-deliver it to the county records office tomorrow. So I'll have to use my lunch hour to go get it.

I called Memorial Health Center in Savannah again today. I called right after Michael died to talk to their ethics person about how the doctor there failed to treat Michael for his colon blockage and for a life-threatening infection. All I want is acknowledgement that it happened and some kind of assurance that the hospital will look into whether other uninsured people are suffering the same kind of neglect.

But so far, I get nothing from them. Not even a return phone call. Robbo believes they're circling their wagons. Fortunately, I have a copy of the hospital records where the doctor wrote that Mike's colon was blocked and he couldn't complete the colonoscopy, and of his final visit, where the doctor told him he was healing slowly because he was so sick going into surgery. Less than a week later, Dr. Herb Hurwitz found a life-threatening infection that had been festering for weeks. It was part of the reason Duke adopted Mike, even though he couldn't pay.

It was a frustrating day, and it has left me angry and sad.