My son has never had pizza!  Can you believe it…you should know by now that I eat pizza at least once a week, and that’s a bad week for me.  Why have I deprived me son?  Be cause he is allergic to everything.  Gluten (which knocks out just about every restaurant bread), wheat, corn, dairy…that is, until yesterday.

After seeing numerous doctors, some local, some far away, we finally have the problem solved.  The local doctors offered him cortisone to treat skin rashes which covered his body head to toe when he was an infant.  My wife, believing the surface treatment was the wrong answer, began researching this.  She soon discovered the food allergy problem, which is actually the result of your body not properly digesting a food, which leads to a toxic substance in the body rather than properly digested food, which in turn must come out of the body, generally in the form of a rash.  Well, with a long list of allergy foods in hand, we were able to keep Tiny Tim (as I call him) somewhat free of rashes.  The problem is, that means Tiny Tim can only eat a hand full of boring foods while watching the rest of us enjoy pizza and ice cream.

Then a couple of months ago someone refers us to a doctor just three hours from my house.  Two visits, three weeks of treatment using natural products (no drugs), and he’s free to eat whatever.  Of course Insurance doesn’t pay for this type of treatment…it’s all out of pocket.  But do you think I questioned the fee?  Did I send out RFQs, collect three bids, push the doc for a 30% discount, count his hours?  No!  He solved a serious problem using his intellectual capital.  He earned the right to advise me, charge me, and convince me to call him the next time I have a medical need.  This is the essence of becoming the trusted adviser.  This is not a commodity.

PS.  Tiny Tim and I are having pizza tonight!

© 2010, David Stelzl