Happy Endings

There was a situation just before break that my LVN called me about: a student that gets migraines did not have any medication at school, and “just FYI, you may want to contact the parent about it.” In hindsight, she clearly knew something I didn’t, because when I emailed the parents, the father had already been made aware of the situation and was FURIOUS about it.

There’s good and bad to having this correspondence by email. On the plus side, I didn’t have to have an immediate response and could craft my response to him slowly. On the other hand, it’s in my inbox, and able to be re-read whenever. In a phone call, I may not respond with the exact verbiage I’d want to later, but at least it’d be over as soon as I hung up.

Anyway, craft I did. There was more to it than the student not having medication: supposedly she had turned in a medication form earlier in the year, and supposedly she had asked to call home and the office hadn’t let her. I wasn’t on site when this transaction occurred, but still had to play the messenger: contact the office, get their side of the story, etc. It was enough to give me a headache. To top it off, this dad was sure to leave in his email signature that he has a higher degree in education than me.

He didn’t respond and I dreaded what would happen the next time the student had a headache.

Fast forward to this week, when I reached out to him and asked if there was anything else I could do for his daughter (implying, ahem, that he still had not turned in the proper paperwork and we were still waiting on the medication to be left at the office). I dreaded the “new email” ping on my computer, and instead was relieved to find this from him:

“Dear [Mrs. Nurse]:

Thank you very much for your note, for following up, and for your empathy. I am most touched by your commitment and professionalism. 

I will take care of this as soon as possible. 

Sincerely,

[Dr. Dad]”

It often feels rare that I get an angry parent to come down from his soapbox. I’ll take it where I can get it.