Never yell at your doctor

           One of the prayers I prayed when I was pregnant with both Evangeline and Trey was, "Lord, please do not let my baby be born with a birthmark like Drew's on their face."  Drew has a very dark port wine mark on his arm.  And, guess what?  Both of my children have birthmarks on their faces!  God obviously heard my prayer and decided the answer was "nope."  When Evangeline was born she was a c-section and I didn't get a great look at her.  While I was still on the operating table, Drew came to me and said "Guess what!  She has a triangle-shaped birthmark on her face just like mine."  The way he said it made it sound like it was the most wonderful thing in the world.  And I didn't care one bit.  She is beautiful and her birthmark is beautiful, and really not all that noticeable anyway.
           Even so, we were still concerned so we went to our first dermatologist appointment in Picayune when she was only 10 days old.  They told us it was "raised oil glands"   and that it would probably go away and to come back in six months.  When we switched pediatricians a year later, we wanted a second opinion so our doctor got us in touch with a pediatric dermatologist, Dr. Sullivan, in Jackson.  There was a two month wait, but this was okay because I was due to have Trey in only a few weeks.
            When Trey was born I looked at him and thought "No birthmark!  Yay!" only to discover when they brought him back to me that he had a red mark on his left eyelid and a tiny one on his right.  Drew swears he is the same baby I gave birth to. 
             Evangeline's birthmark, it turns out, really is raised oil glands (though Dr. Sullivan used a much fancier term for it) and there is nothing a dermatologist can do.  She will have to see a plastic surgeon when she is older to have it removed.  Trey's is a port wine like his daddy and needs to be treated ASAP so that it will not spread any further.  Good thing he had an appointment scheduled one month before he was even born!
           Today Trey had an appointment for his latest laser treatment.  I always feel awkward in the waiting room because you can't help but wonder what kind of birthmark each patient has.  You see a little girl and think "why is she here?" then notice some kind of mole.  You try not to, but just can't help it.  My mom came with us instead of Drew this time so that we could go to the fair after we were done.  I had looked online and discovered that there was free admission and parking every weekday from 11:00-1:00 and since Trey's appointment was at 11:15, we were planning on going straight there after the appointment was over. 
            Things didn't quite go as we planned.  The last two times we have gone to this doctor we have had a relatively short wait time.  Today, we waited an hour and a half before even going back into the office.  And, they were not that busy.  The waiting room is super tiny and has nothing at all to entertain a toddler- no T.V., toys, nothing.  I was amazed and very impressed by how well-behaved Evangeline was.  I did whip out my Netflix app on the phone at one point so she could watch "Pe Pe" (Wonder Pets).  She entertained the other waiting families by dancing along to their songs.  I was happy to help make their wait seem a little shorter. 
              There was one other little baby waiting as long as we were.  She was about 6 months old and was there with her daddy and grandmother.  She was called back about 15 minutes before Trey and after 10 minutes the dad came out, obviously annoyed, to grab her bottle.  I heard him mumble something about "the sorry service in this place" but didn't pay much attention to him.  Even though the wait was RIDICULOUS we hadn't really discussed it in the waiting room.
              By the time Trey got called back it was 12:45 and all hopes of getting free admission and parking to the fair was gone.  We went back into the laser room with the nurse and then the Dr. came in a few minutes later.  She was crying!  Apparently that daddy had just yelled at her for having made him wait for so long.  She apologized for crying and said that she got chewed out for something out of her control.  Though she hadn't said it, I knew exactly what the guy had chewed her out for- the wait.
              Let me just say that I really really love this doctor.  She is one of the most compassionate doctors I have ever met.  You can just tell that she truly cares about her patients.  Before Trey ever received treatment, she insisted on performing a sample of both me and Drew so we could know exactly how it felt and wouldn't worry. The last time we were there we talked with a mother whose daughter was seven and had been coming in for laser treatments every eight weeks since she was six weeks old.  At some point the lady's insurance company  had changed and they had denied her treatments.  They decided to stop coming because it was just too expensive, but Dr. Sullivan had insisted on her coming anyway and just lets her come for free now! 
               We had a little mix up with our insurance about the proper paper work being filed to get pre-approved for the treatments.  A few weeks back we received an explanation of benefits from our insurance company saying we owed $878 for Trey's last treatment.  I somehow managed not to have a total meltdown.  We were unsure of whether or not to come again this time because we didn't want to double our bill.  Well, Dr. Sullivan's office said that we absolutely should come and that if it didn't work out with the insurance they would adjust our bill.  So, I was not about to get upset about the $15 extra dollars that we were going to have to pay to get into the fair knowing she may waive hundreds, if not a thousand dollars. 
                My mom said that she overheard the guy yelling at the doctor -something about him having a 1:00 appointment somewhere that he was going to be late for.  He said that he probably wouldn't be bringing his little girl back, to which one of the nurses responded, "what does her mother think about that?"  Good job, lady! 
                 You know, some good things are worth waiting for.  Dr. Sullivan said she definitely saw improvement in Trey's birthmarks and we have noticed this as well.  I am hopeful we won't have to go back for too many more treatments and that if we do, the wait won't be so long.  But, if it is, I'll keep in mind that it's worth the wait.