It Pays to be Good

Last year I took one of the kids to a local dermatologist to see about several warts.  A PA named Jim gave us a treatment that worked great, and the warts haven't come back.  Another child later developed one large wart on a toe so we thought we'd go to the same office to see Jim again and probably get the same treatment.

We did see Jim again and he was immediately smitten with the kids, and thank goodness they all behaved well enough that we didn't change his impression.  It's not that they were being perfect, but they were on good behavior.  They were talking and joking with him, and just being themselves.  Jim wanted to talk to Luke, and he told us that Luke reminded him of his son, who is 15 now, but is still a lot like Luke.  "Hard to understand him?" Cat figured.  Jim laughed and said yes, and commented about how girls were so much more mature than boys, and Cat quickly said that it was the same at school.  Whenever a "girl" song like "Let it Go" comes on, the boys freak out and wine and complain about having to listen to it, while the girls secretly don't like it either but aren't saying anything.  Then the kids started talking about "Let it Go" and who likes it and who doesn't, and Eliza told Jim that Luke sings the song when he hears it, so of course we all started singing it to try to get Luke to sing it, which he didn't.  It was great.  During the serious part of the appointment, the kids continued to jabber here and there, and Jack was fidgety, but nothing was really disruptive.

Upon examination, Jim recommended a different treatment for this case, since the child is younger and right now has just one wart.  He wanted to treat the wart with beetlejuice (no joke), which would take several treatments at 3-week intervals.  When I asked him about the charges for the many office visits and told him that we have a high-deductible plan that won't pay for specialist visits until we meet our deductible, he completely switched tracks.  He sent the kids out of thee room with a nurse so that they could look at the treat drawer while we had a chat.  He said he felt like we missed a step and we should try something else before we spend $1000 on beetlejuice treatments.  He told us to try Compound W, an over-the-counter treatment that would at least help to reduce the size of the wart.  We should use that for two months or more, then check in with him again.

When the kids came back in the room, Jim doted on them and said again how we made his day and what a great family I have.  As we were leaving, in passing he gave us a sample of a lotion to use on the dry spots on Eliza's face.  And we walked out without paying a dime.

When I got the kids outside and we were standing by the car about to go in, the reality of what just happened set in.  I was overwhelmed.  We could have potentially spent one thousand dollars to remove this wart.  One thousand dollars.  And Jim liked us so much that he came up with an alternative that would cost a tiny fraction of that amount.  Now, perhaps he's such a nice guy that he would have done that even if I'd been difficult and the kids had been hellions.  But in that moment I was so overwhelmed with gratitude for the way Jim handled the situation and the fact that the kids had been so good that I immediately wanted to thank them and reward them.

So once I got control of my emotions, I suggested we go out for lunch, something that is a real treat for us.  They were thrilled at the idea and we enjoyed a lovely lunch at Chick-Fil-A.

I'm pretty sure I have the best kids in the world.

Also, this was about 2 1/2 months ago, and the OTC treatment has worked really well on the wart.  Hallalujah!