Not pox, can you believe it?

So says my kids' pediatrician, who I love dearly. And speaking of doctors....

May I say, if you live in the St. Louis area, you couldn't find a better primary doc than Dr. Mark Pelikan? I love this man. I originally went looking for a new primary doc because I couldn't stand the staff of the one I was using; they would never update our insurance, even when I stood over them, and then they'd try to make us pay extra for their mistake! Twice! So, anyway, I set up an appointment with some other guy who was in the same building as my ob/gyn and my kids' pediatrician. When I got there, I was informed that he was serving over in Iraq, and Dr. Pelikan was taking his cases. Well, Dr. Pelikan ended up being so great that when the Iraq guy got back and Dr. Pelikan went back to his own practice, I followed right behind.

You know how doctors get annoyed when you pull a Columbo "one last thing"? How they stop with their hands on the doorknob to discuss it with you? NOT DR. PELIKAN. He sits down, makes eye contact, and LISTENS to you. And when you go in six months later for something completely different, he remembers (or actually reads your file ahead of time, equally unheard of in that business) what you were in for before and asks how you're doing. And, best of all...get this! When he ordered some blood work to be done, as the first step in trying to figure out why I was having chorea, he called me AFTER HOURS to discuss the tests results and to determine our next step. AFTER HOURS. When I mentioned that was a little odd for a modern doc to do, he explained that when he had phone calls to make, he waited till the office was closed so he could dedicate as much time as needed to speaking to the patient, without having to hurry because there was someone waiting in room 2! Is this man great or what?

And, best of all, when I came in quite a few months since my last visit, just to get a simple test done, he passed me in the hall, stopped, turned around and said "I almost didn't recognize you, you look great!" (referring to my weight loss since my last visit.) I coulda kissed him. But that would not be above reproach, so I didn't, just said thanks.

So, anyway, Dr. Pelikan is a rare breed; a doctor who CARES about his patients. You could do no better than to have him as your primary doctor.