Eric’s Visit to the Dermatologist

On Wednesday, we had an appointment for Eric to see the dermatologist and check up on the depigmented area on the back of his leg.  We didn’t figure that it would be anything important after talking to another mother whose baby has the same spots, but we wanted to go to the appointment just to make sure.  Looking back several months to when I made the appointment, I was sent to the line where you can either get appointments for blood workup or for a hospital visit because there isn’t a dermatologist at our medical center.  I was handed a sheet with the appointment, and assumed that we had a hospital visit, just like every other time that I have done the same thing.  I was in the line for hospital appointments after all, wasn’t I?

(You can guess where this is going, I’m sure…)

We arrived at the hospital with lots of extra time because it is always impossible to find parking, and with Mauri on crutches, we didn’t want to park on the other side of town.  We decided, in our situation, to go to the paid lot, and today noticed a sign that if you were only there for 15 minutes or less, that you wouldn’t be charged anything for parking.  We laughed a little, because with the waits for appointments, we figured that it was very unlikely that anybody ever managed to only be in the parking garage for less than 15 minutes, and proceeded to go through the busy lot looking for a place to park.  One thing you will notice, if you are used to driving in the US, is that in Spain parking lots always have very tiny little spaces.  You have to seriously maneuver your car to get into and out of them, and once parked, it is usually almost impossible to get into and out of your car.  They try to make use of every little space available, and cram as many spaces as possible, and with all of the columns in the parking garages, it’s hard to make yourself extra space by parking nearer to one side or another.  With Mauri in crutches, and Eric’s car seat being part of the stroller (meaning we have to take it in and out of the car), we’ve gotten into the habit of looking for spaces where no one can park next to us, or, otherwise, have gotten into the despicable practice of taking up more than one parking space.  I’m surprised more people don’t do it because trying to park really is difficult here.  I’m getting off track, I guess…

Anyways, we parked and headed up to our appointment.  You have to go to the desk of the area of your appointment to check in.  As luck would have it, dermatology was at the very end of the hall, and when we got there, there was nobody at the check-in desk, and there was a sign to go to the desk of the area before this one.  (Why they don’t put the sign earlier in the hall so that you don’t have to backtrack is beyond me.)  With Mauri on crutches, I had him sit down with Eric’s stroller, and headed down to the other check-in desk.  I waited in line, and meanwhile was looking over the appointment sheet, and thought it was funny that the appointment was with “CSI” doctor such and such since I enjoy watching CSI and similar programs.  When it got to my turn, I handed the girl Eric’s card with his SIP number.  She looked at me and asked to see his appointment sheet, saying that our appointment wasn’t at the hospital.

“See, look, it says here that your appointment is at ‘La Pedrera’,” she said as she circled the “CSI.” 

“What?!?!?!  I’m supposed to know that by reading the CSI?”  How am I supposed to know the codes stand for the different places that one might be able to have an appointment?

“I guess they should have told you.”

Yes, I guess they should have.  So, we left Denia to get to the “Hospital de Denia” (ironically not in Denia), all for nothing.  At least she assured me that she would call to the Pedrera and let them know there was a mix-up, and that we were still going.  After waiting months for the appointment, I guess that was only fair. 

We headed back to the parking garage, and I laughed about how at least we would probably get free parking, probably not having been there for the full 15 minutes.  Mauri looked at the time stamp, and said that we just made it.  I put the card into the machine that you have to check out at to be able to leave the parking garage, and it was asking me for 30 eurocents. 

Are you kidding me?!?!?!?

Mauri started to head towards the car, but I refused.  It wasn’t enough that they sent us to the wrong place, making us lose time and money, but now they wanted to charge us for parking when they state that parking is free for the first 15 minutes.  I know, 30 eurocents isn’t a big deal, but it is the principal of it. 

So, I headed towards the exit of the parking where somebody is always working just in case something goes wrong in the parking garage, and I told him what had happened.  He asked me why I had put the card into the machine if we had been there for less than 15 minutes. 

Grilled Cheese sandwiches are really good!

Um, I guess because that’s what they tell you to do- put the card into the machine before exiting.

Well, there’s a glitch in the machine, and it shouldn’t charge you for the first 15 minutes, if you are only there for 15 minutes.  So, to get around it, you have to leave without going to the machine, and supposedly you can get out with the unpaid card if less than 15 minutes have passed. 

I guess this is the hospital where you have to be psychic.  You have to know that CSI stands for la Pedrera, and that, despite being told to put your card into the machine before leaving the parking garage, that you shouldn’t do it if you’re only there for 15 minutes.  I was already annoyed about being sent to the wrong place, so I mentioned to the parking attendant my thoughts about how this was a hospital for psychics, and told him about everything that had happened up until that point.  While he actually told me that I was right, and that they should put a sign on the machine explaining better what you should do, he didn’t offer to give me the money that we were unfairly charged. 

So, I left as annoyed as I had gone there.  The only thing that made me feel a little bit better was that, as we were leaving, the parking attendant had left his station, and he told me that he was heading to talk to his boss about putting a sign up on the machine at the check-out. 

After the whole parking garage ordeal, we headed back towards Denia to go to the place that his appointment was supposed to be in the first place.  When we arrived, we realized where the whole CSI code had come from.  This new med. center was made in a section of the old hospital in Denia.  The old hospital stands in the area of Denia referred to as “La Pedrera.”  The hospital is still open, for chronic and terminal patients, and is called “Hospital Marina Alta.”  I knew that they had opened up a new medical center there, but didn’t realize that it was actually part of the old hospital that had been fixed up, and that it was called the “Centro Sanitario Integral.”

We went in, and were pointed to the direction of the area of the dermatologists, and, after a short wait, were called in to see the dermatologist.  Meanwhile, though, Eric had fallen asleep.  I was a little bit upset about that, thinking that his nap schedule was going to be completely thrown off, after having been interrupted by the appointment.  In the end, though, his being asleep actually worked out perfectly.  At home Eric wakes up to the slightest sound, but at Eric’s appointment, even the poking and prodding of the doctor wasn’t enough to wake him up.  Having him asleep meant that he didn’t complain about somebody that he didn’t know touching him.

The doctor took a look at the spot on the back of Eric’s leg, and scratched at it a bit.  He then sat down, and told us that it was nothing.  He said that it is actually just like a big freckle, but that instead of being more pigmented, it lacks the melanocytes, and is thus less pigmented.  He said that it is nothing to worry about, and it is actually better than a freckle, which rarely can have problems later on.  The only thing we should be careful with is that this area is more sensitive to the sun, and can be more easily sunburned.

I decided to make use of the time with the dermatologist, after waiting so many months for this appointment, and I asked him about the dry, scaly patches that Eric gets behind his ear.  Most of the time Eric won’t even let me take a look at the area, but with his being asleep, we were able to take a better look.  Actually his ears looked pretty good right now, but the doctor said that he likely had a type of dermatitis or something that would just need some moisturizing.  He said that we should not wait until the area gets dry, though, because the moisturizing might actually bother Eric more by making the area itchy.  So, he wrote down the name of a moisturizer that we could use.  That was the end of the appointment.  It had only lasted about 2 minutes from start to finish.

We headed out of the CSI, and noticed that we had arrived just in time because, as we left, there was a huge line at the entrance to check in.    

I don’t have much more to tell about that. 

Eric in the first experimental tie dyed shirt

It has taken me awhile to get the post up because I’ve been busy being crafty lately.  Not only have I been working on practicing for making the fondant cakes, but after playing with the colorful “tie dyed” cupcakes, I decided that I wanted to do some actual tie dyeing, and I ordered some clothes dyes online as they are impossible to find around here.  Yes, the bigger supermarkets have a “Rit”- like type clothing dye, but they aren’t very good, and they are definitely not the type of dyes that would be best for tie dyeing.

From left to right: Heart attempt, star attempt, and two spirals.

I bought some little white t-shirts and onesies for Eric, and I decided that I would buy myself one too.  I then proceeded to try tie dyeing for the first time in my life.  After seeing a few tutorials on Youtube, I decided to try to make a couple of spirals, a star and a heart. 

100% cotton on the left, 96% cotton on the right

You can see that my t-shirt, being biggest and easiest to work with, turned out the best.  Eric’s shirts were too small to make the star and heart turn out well.  The spiral looked better, but it wasn’t perfect either.  Not being completely happy with the results, I decided to try again for a good spiral t-shirt for Eric.  I made him another onesie, and a t-shirt.  They turned out much better.  Sadly, the t-shirt, being only 96% cotton (4% elastane), it didn't turn out quite as vivid as the onesie.  For the best results, I guess you should listen when they say that 100% cotton is best.  I used what I had, though, and I'm pretty happy with it.  My next dyeing project will be a white glue batik.  Hopefully it will work out well, as I've never tried it before.  If these work out well, I'll have fun projects to do with Eric as he gets older.  :)

Making molds

As for my cake decorating, I was looking for some fun molds for shaping fondant for my cakes, and I realized that I wished that I could make my own.  So, I did a bit of online research and found that you can make silicone food-safe molds with silicone putties that they sell in the craft stores in the US.  Here, though, I can’t just bring my 40% off coupon to Michaels, so I had to pay full price, plus shipping, to get myself some.  It still wasn’t too bad, and I have to admit that it was all worth it.  I ended up not ordering a shell mold and a pearl forming mold because they seemed a bit too expensive for what they were, and I actually made my own from shells and pearls I had at home.  My favorite is the one made from a little starfish!

Fondant shells and pearls

After dusting the shells and starfish with cocoa powder, and the pearl mold with pearl powder, you can see that my first  experiments with white fondant castings actually turned out very well, very easily.  I’m addicted, and think that I’ll have to order some more molding putty for more molds soon.  I was thinking, though, that I could probably get it cheaper from an online dental laboratory here in Spain.  Dental impression materials go into the mouth, so they should be food safe for casting fondant. 

I decided to do one more project.  Being upset about not finding little fish-shaped cookie cutters that I liked anywhere, I decided to make my own out of a re-purposed dollar store cookie cutter.  I bought a set of two cookie cutters for 75 eurocents, and cut one up and bent it to look like a clown fish.  I then epoxy glued it back together.  It worked great.  I can't wait to try it out.  Making Eric's cake is going to be so much fun.  Less than a month to go...