Oxygen, trachs, suction machines, catheters, g-tubes, extensions, syringes, chucks, diapers…. If you had to choose one, which could you do without? I bet your answer is, none. When you are parenting a child with special medical needs you know how important all these items are.  Because of this, you set reminders on your phone or save packaging and leave them in a place so it’s in your face and you don’t forget to place a re-order of supplies. The next day you keep a close eye on the clock so you don’t forget to make that call before 5pm eastern standard time, but you live in the pacific time zone, so you only have until 2pm. After a brief debate with yourself as to whether you can hold off one more day, you pick up the phone. The nice, automated lady asks you to clearly state your date of birth; logic tells you she’s really asking for your child’s DOB. You carefully enunciate the month and day, Maaaaay-eiiiiiighteen-two-thousaaand-niiine but she doesn’t understand and she tells you to hold for further assistance. The smooth jazz music begins, and you are officially in a queue with no understanding of how you got there. The nice lady gets back on and says, “We apologize for the delay. Please continue to hold, we will be with you shortly”. You don’t exactly have another choice, so you continue to wait and hope it isn’t too much longer or worse, you get disconnected. After several minutes, a live person gets on the phone and immediately begins the verification process. You give your child’s name, DOB, address, phone number listed and they ask if you’ve traveled outside the United States in the last 6 months. “Are you calling to place an order?” she asks and you say “yes, I would like to order more diapers”. “Okay, one moment”. Then there is dead silence for a long time. Something tells you the diapers you desperately need will not be shipping anytime soon. Thankful that the call isn’t disconnected and the representative gets back on the phone only to bear the bad news, “we will need to get authorization from your insurance company and a new prescription from your doctor”. “How long will this take?”, you ask and hope you won’t need to try to find emergency supplies in the medical supply exchange page on Facebook. As the conversation ends the lady asks if there is anything else she can help you with. Feeling defeated, I say, no, thank you. Some of our medical supply companies are easier to deal with, but not by much. You are technically not allowed to place re-orders until 5 days before you run out so any hiccup can really set you back. As a special needs parent, not only do you deal with the challenges that accompany the care of a medically fragile child but also the added frustrations from these “providers”. Nothing is ever easy. These providers provide much more than medical supplies; they provide you with an unhealthy dose of frustration and headaches.  Lord help us!