I'm trying to keep my business, my triplets, and my waistline under control. I excel at one of those, fail at another one of those, and one is a work in progress. Which is which is day dependant.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Ewww, Ick and Gross!

This past summer I noticed that DD1 had a small growth on her toe. At the time I thought it was a little scabby abrasion, because she's spent the entire summer in flip-flops. She's also highly accident-prone, so I assumed she scraped it on something. It bled rather a lot and looked rather gross and it was just ICKY. Eventually, when the damn thing wouldn't leave, I realised it was a wart.

*collective shudder* Eeewwww!

Anyway we used the topical stuff, but like most things we got excited about it for a week and then couldn't be bothered doing it again. I figured it would go away. Yeah. No. Now she has a second one, on the other foot (strangely, on the same toe!). A third one has appeared on her finger. I'm sensing a bit of a pattern here, aren't you? Those buggers are multiplying.

I took her to the doctor, and basically ordered him to freeze them off. He did as told (good, Doctor! sit, Doctor! roll over, Doctor!). She screamed like...well....like she was dropped into a vat of hot oil with nothing for company but some highly flammable clothes. A couple of seconds after he stopped applying the freezing stuff (what is it, anyway? dry ice?) she sniffled, wiped her nose on my shirt, and recovered.

He then told me that freezing is not an 'indicative treatment' in kids under 10. When I asked why, he said, "Because it can take up to 10 applications to work, and because of the trauma." "Trauma? What trauma?" "The trauma it causes the child, and the parent." "I'm not traumatised, and she's fine. What trauma?" "Okay, well, the trauma it caused ME. Put it this way, I'm never doing that again!"

LOL. DD1 managed to out-scream a doctor with a bajillion years experience working with kids.

He suggested we go see a bloody expensive paediatric skin specialist to have them removed and/or treated. "Or," says traumatised doctor, "You can try banana peel." "Banana peel?" "Yes, it has anti-wart properties."

I laughed all the way home. And then I Googled it. Who knew?!

I made the appointment with the money sucker skin doc, but there is a 4 week wait to see him. In the meantime, we're all eating a heck of a lot of bananas.

2 comments:

Cameron said...

Small world - When I was her age, I had three warts on my right thumb. The doctors tried all kinds of things -- acid, various topical stuff. None of it worked. When I was in third grade they finally busted out the liquid nitrogen. That's what the freezy stuff is. It is a balmy 77 degrees Kelvin (or -196 C, or -321 F). I remember it hurting like hell, but I certainly wasn't traumatized. I think my mom bribed me by offering to purchase a Michael Jackson tape after the second treatment, which I happily accepted.

Laura said...

One of our little guys has (had hopefully!) a wart on the bottom of his foot. First I took him to the ped and she tried to freeze it off. Nada, zilch nothing. Next came the dermotologist referral and they gave him a shot right in the wart. Not a happy time, but it seemed to work a bit. The shot should only take 3 weeks to work, with the possibility of needing one or two more. We did need another and he recieved the second one a couple weeks ago. Looks to me like it is gone now (whoo hoo!) but we go in the week again just to be sure.

I know a shot is not much fun, but no creams were needed or anything. No fuss, no muss, it just slowly goes away on it's own.

So if you get tired of banana peels, ask your next Dr about getting a shot.