Yesterday Ellyn and I had appointments at the dermatologist. Ellyn has some little flat warts above her upper lip and under her chin and I have to have a full body check every 6 mos. after my little brush with skin cancer last fall.
We were off to an auspicious start when Ellie began working on a poopy diaper about 3 minutes before we pulled into the clinic parking lot. We were already running 5 minutes late due to the fact that I thought my Dr. had said that the clinic was in the Valley when it was in fact in downtown Monterey and I hadn't given myself enough travel time and hadn't looked up the actual address until it was too late. As we pulled into the parking lot, whilst trying to talk to my husband on the phone, I look over into the passenger seat and realized I didn't have my diaper bag. I had just picked up my van from the body shop and I had grabbed the car seats out of Mike's car but not the diaper bag. I scrounged around and found three Sawyer diapers tucked into a pocket. Ellyn- size 6, Sawyer- size 3. I did my best to wipe everything off and then prayed there would be no odor AND brought an extra diaper so that maybe if we were in the exam room by ourselves I could get a soapy paper towel and do the job right. Right except for the fact that my daughter would be wearing a g-string for a diaper. I soon learned that there would be absolutely no time alone in the exam room- ever.
Ellyn went first. I was hoping the Dr. would prescribe some sort of cream.
Let me backtrack- our doctor comes out to greet us and she is older than dirt. I love the elderly, I really do. They are full of wisdom and they deserve our admiration and respect- as long as they weren't secretly murderers or something. It's a little disconcerting however, when you can't picture this person being able to operate a vehicle let alone find new tiny cancer growths on your body and they have the back of their suit pant tucked into their kneehigh.
As I was saying, I was hoping that she would prescribe Ellyn some sort of cream but no, she wanted to freeze them off. She said there would not be any scarring and it was the most effective way. We had to hold Ellyn down and she was not happy and I know it had to hurt and I should have just said that I would rather try a cream first and I have been kicking myself all day. Ellyn was traumatized, not as badly as I thought she would be, but still... Finally, with the aid of a few Starbursts from the nurse, she was right as rain. However, she did really want to sit in the stroller, which happened to be where Sawyer was sitting. Sawyer did not want to be sitting in the stroller, especially with Ellyn sitting on top of him. The boy had been sleeping peacefully until we started attacking Ellyn with a frosty Q-tip. So Ellyn was finishing up with her tears and Sawyer was starting his and wanting me to hold him and it was my turn to see the Doc.
She asked me the purpose for my visit and I explained and she asked to see the site on my leg. Then she told me we should do the full body exam and told me to go ahead and do the top part first and she would keep a hand on Sawyer. Alrighty then. Yes, so no gown, no leaving the room, no polite knock on the door. Nope, just take off the sweater set and all that goes with it. Check everything out, top back on. Check out the bottom half the same way. That was awkward. Thank goodness it was an 89 year old woman, that was really the only reason I didn't protest. It was just easier to do as I was told, throughout the entire appt. evidently. I guess I am just all about the big blue paper gown and the quiet knock on the door. Oh yes, and a nice prescriptive cream that gradually dissolves warts.
Anyway... that was it. I don't think I have any new skin issues. She did seem to do a thorough check. I am pretty sure I am going to request a new dermatologist if this doesn't work for Ellyn, and hopefully we can put the whole painful memory of yesterday afternoon behind us. I am a little nervous about the results of Ellie's face, so far just redness. Unfortunately Ellyn could be bearing the evidence of our trip to Dermatology Hell for the next several days, poor baby. I'm sure I'll be taking a nice long exotic guilt trip cruise to go along with it. Serves me right.
Blog out.
We were off to an auspicious start when Ellie began working on a poopy diaper about 3 minutes before we pulled into the clinic parking lot. We were already running 5 minutes late due to the fact that I thought my Dr. had said that the clinic was in the Valley when it was in fact in downtown Monterey and I hadn't given myself enough travel time and hadn't looked up the actual address until it was too late. As we pulled into the parking lot, whilst trying to talk to my husband on the phone, I look over into the passenger seat and realized I didn't have my diaper bag. I had just picked up my van from the body shop and I had grabbed the car seats out of Mike's car but not the diaper bag. I scrounged around and found three Sawyer diapers tucked into a pocket. Ellyn- size 6, Sawyer- size 3. I did my best to wipe everything off and then prayed there would be no odor AND brought an extra diaper so that maybe if we were in the exam room by ourselves I could get a soapy paper towel and do the job right. Right except for the fact that my daughter would be wearing a g-string for a diaper. I soon learned that there would be absolutely no time alone in the exam room- ever.
Ellyn went first. I was hoping the Dr. would prescribe some sort of cream.
Let me backtrack- our doctor comes out to greet us and she is older than dirt. I love the elderly, I really do. They are full of wisdom and they deserve our admiration and respect- as long as they weren't secretly murderers or something. It's a little disconcerting however, when you can't picture this person being able to operate a vehicle let alone find new tiny cancer growths on your body and they have the back of their suit pant tucked into their kneehigh.
As I was saying, I was hoping that she would prescribe Ellyn some sort of cream but no, she wanted to freeze them off. She said there would not be any scarring and it was the most effective way. We had to hold Ellyn down and she was not happy and I know it had to hurt and I should have just said that I would rather try a cream first and I have been kicking myself all day. Ellyn was traumatized, not as badly as I thought she would be, but still... Finally, with the aid of a few Starbursts from the nurse, she was right as rain. However, she did really want to sit in the stroller, which happened to be where Sawyer was sitting. Sawyer did not want to be sitting in the stroller, especially with Ellyn sitting on top of him. The boy had been sleeping peacefully until we started attacking Ellyn with a frosty Q-tip. So Ellyn was finishing up with her tears and Sawyer was starting his and wanting me to hold him and it was my turn to see the Doc.
She asked me the purpose for my visit and I explained and she asked to see the site on my leg. Then she told me we should do the full body exam and told me to go ahead and do the top part first and she would keep a hand on Sawyer. Alrighty then. Yes, so no gown, no leaving the room, no polite knock on the door. Nope, just take off the sweater set and all that goes with it. Check everything out, top back on. Check out the bottom half the same way. That was awkward. Thank goodness it was an 89 year old woman, that was really the only reason I didn't protest. It was just easier to do as I was told, throughout the entire appt. evidently. I guess I am just all about the big blue paper gown and the quiet knock on the door. Oh yes, and a nice prescriptive cream that gradually dissolves warts.
Anyway... that was it. I don't think I have any new skin issues. She did seem to do a thorough check. I am pretty sure I am going to request a new dermatologist if this doesn't work for Ellyn, and hopefully we can put the whole painful memory of yesterday afternoon behind us. I am a little nervous about the results of Ellie's face, so far just redness. Unfortunately Ellyn could be bearing the evidence of our trip to Dermatology Hell for the next several days, poor baby. I'm sure I'll be taking a nice long exotic guilt trip cruise to go along with it. Serves me right.
Blog out.
Comments
Barb
Hey guess who I ran into last night? Greg and I were on a double date and we went to Skate King! As I was sitting resting my sore feet I see....Joey Flakus! I say "Hi Joey"!!! a couple of times and then he recognizes me and sits down. He wanted to know how all the old group was. I didn't realize his old group was a bunch of Mormon kids. Anyway.....thought it was pretty funny. Hard watching your peers getting old.