Saturday, April 12, 2008

Helplessness and Aggravation


First the helplessness...

Last night, Mouse had a seizure. He has them on occasion, not frequently thank goodness. There's nothing worse than being woken by a panicked cat scream followed by the sound of uncontrolled thrashing. Whenever it happens I go from out cold to full alert in a second. I raced up the steps to find my poor little Mouse on his side, legs out straight and stiff, tongue lolling, drool spewing, eyes rolled back in his head, twitching wildly, banging his head against a bookcase. The only thing to do is to move him away so he doesn't injure himself and scream his name until he finally hears me. Then I keep talking until all movement stops. That's when his fear kicks in. He tries to pace but his legs won't support him. He's confused and disoriented but he generally lets me dry his face. For the next half hour I follow him around the house, making sure he doesn't fall, until he settles down and sleeps. Poor thing is so exhausted by then. Me too but I can't sleep. I have to watch over him to make sure he doesn't go back into another seizure when he relaxes.

I don't see how anyone handles this with kids. I have enough trouble with cats who never leave the house without me. How can you stand it when your children go off without you? Mothers (and fathers) have got to be the bravest people in the world and don't get nearly the credit they deserve.

Now the aggravation...

The cable company sent me a past due notice today. You remember them. The cable company that I replaced last month. My bill used to run from the 16th to the 15th. I had the cable disconnected on the 29th. So I paid half my bill. Makes sense, right? Well today I got a bill for the balance due from last month plus the next month's service. I called, pointing out that I had the service disconnected and that I returned the box. The less than pleasant man clerk checked and oh yes that's correct. However I still owe them $4.78. They will credit the balance. I disagreed, explaining that I paid half the bill even though I had the service disconnected a few days shy of half the month. After going around and around for 10 minutes I still have no clear explanation of why they think I owe them anything. Because you do is not an acceptable answer to me. Now I have to wait until next month to see if the statement makes any sense. Somehow I doubt it will. Time to start looking for my bureau of consumer protection forms again.

5 comments:

Brynn Paulin said...

Grrrrrrr!! Cable companies... I go round and round with mine because I have my high speed internet through them too and they're awful. Good luck!!

So sorry to hear about Mouse's seizure. How horribly scary! It would terrify me.

Anny Cook said...

Feel better Mouse!

House hunk had a seizure a few years back...in the main aisle at Wal-mart while we were on vacation. Yeah, it was scary.

Utility companies can be a bitch.

LynTaylor said...

Oh dear! Poor little Mouse. Sending him lots of love from my boys and I, Down Under. And a big hug for you Barbara *HUG*. Hope he's okay.

barbara huffert said...

Ooh Anny that would scare me to death!

Mouse is back to himself. He thrives on being babied and the other boys still aren't talking to me for taking them to get their teeth cleaned so we're hanging out again today.

Phoenix said...

Here's a thought too. They won't send you to collections or report it as it is too small an amount. It would cost them a minimum of $6 an hour to do the paperwork and load the system, hire the appropriate party, make them post it, send out paperwork with postage and then call to harrass.

Just don't pay it. You don't owe them and they are being nitpicky when there are delinquint bills out there by others. Yours is negligible.

To mouse: Oh baby, you have such a good mommy taking care of you. Give her a good head butt and a purr.

To Barb: We parents manage. It's all we can do.