Friday, June 05, 2009

A Concentrated Cluster of Zits

That's kinda, sorta what the dermatologist was saying to Boy #3, but dermatologists refrain from saying zit. Boy #3 sat and listened intently as this guy began to explain the treatment for his concentrated cluster of, okay acne, on the back of his neck.

"Here's what I want you to do, I'm going to prescribe two acne washes, you'll switch off everyday, use this one first and be careful is has peroxide in it, it might bleach your hair, then use this one the next day, so you're switching back and forth with these, one day this one, one day the other one. Take these anti-inflammatories twice a day, but with food, they might make you nauseous. Then this topical cream, put it on after your shower, every day after you dry off. I'm going on vacation for two weeks so if you have any questions be sure to call me by the end of the week."

All this time he's directing most of the conversation to the teenage boy. And I have to say the teenage boy put on a good show. I know he stopped listening after he heard, "Here's what I want you to do." But I raised my boys to be polite and he maintained eye contact through the whole instruction speech. He even nodded his head a few times as if to convey a sense of understanding.
When the doctor left the exam room to get the nurse to bring in our fist full of prescriptions, Boy #3's facial expression changed, "I'm not doing all that."
"All what?"
"That."
"The $60.00 "specialist doctor" co-pay says you are. You know when you were four years old and had pink eye, I could have let you go blind in that eye, but no, I sat on you twice a day, had your brothers hold your arms and squeezed those drops in your eye. Don't make me call in the troops on this."

8 comments:

Leigh said...

Ah... I remember those days of having to sit on the child to give him medicine... The good old days! Before they learned to talk back and really fight you on anything other than medicine...

ReformingGeek said...

You tell him, Girl. If he wants it to clear up, he might just do it!

Chris said...

How 'bout this. If he won't use the medication, just wrap it in a slice of baloney. That'll fool him. Oh wait, no, that for dog pills.

In that case, just threaten his life. Or take pictures and threaten to show them to future prom dates.

Ora - Looking for Offramp said...

Sounds like the doctor made it sound more complicated than it really is. Hang in there!

vacation for Kids said...

Aren't Doctors great - I took my son to a "specialist" for allergies. The very expensive test told me nothing I already didn't know. And then it had mistakes - the test said he is allergic to peanuts - my God, this kid eats peanut butter every day!!!!!

The "specialist" Doctors response: "oh, test not perfect. We get false positives".... so can I get my money back for the cheap fualty test!!!

Suzanne said...

Leigh - Those were the good old days, I just hope it doesn't come back to bite me when I'm old and feeble and have pink eye.

Chris - I'd have to put it in a cheeseburger or his CoCo Puffs.

Ora - The doctor did spend a lot of time with us and that would explain the log wait in the waiting room but yeah it was complicated at first.

vacation for Kids - Our family doctor likes to send us to specialist at the drop of a hat, he caught me at a week moment and before I knew I was handing over $60 bucks.

Anonymous said...

Does the sitting on and shoveling in really work? I have a son that refuses to eat anything... except bread and sugar. I'm sure his sister would LOVE to be called in to participate in a forced anything session. No wait, she already does that on her own.

Suzanne said...

Lunatron - There's always the possibility of choking, remember that. But what the hell give it a try.