Alesha's scalp update

Yesterday, marked 3 months that Alesha slept in our home for the first time. I can't believe that 3 months has already passed. It still amazes me that she is our daughter and that she is home! The other day a lady asked me how many children do I have and I said 2 out of habit and Martin laughed and looked at me as I quickly corrected myself and said 3 :-)

I want to thank you all for your prayers and encouragement during our trial with Alesha's health issues. When you pray for something is nice to know if things have changed, where to give praise for answered prayer, and how to continue to pray. At least it helps me. So with that in mind I wanted to give you an update, praises, and requests. You can scroll down to the bottom of this post for the summary, but I wanted to document this for later reflection.

I need to back up a bit. Last Friday, August 20th I called the dermatologist office, because I was not seeing the results from the antibiotic and new shampoo after a week that I should have and was very concerned. After much discussion they decided to prescribe a topical antibiotic in addition to the oral one. There was also an addition of a new cleansing scrub shampoo, because Alesha had a bad reaction to the previous one.

At this point I have to share with you our daily routine. We wash hair in the morning, blow dry, and apply topical antibiotic to scalp. We then coat her body with a prescription cream and Cetaphil from head to toe to address the eczema issues on her skin. Then we proceed to the oral antibiotic and anti-itch medication. At night we do a full bath with the special shampoo, blow dry hair, apply topical antibiotic to scalp, coat body with both creams, give oral antibiotic, anti-itch meds, and then have our bottle, song, prayer and go to sleep. It is funny how well this baby girl knows the routine. She stands at the tub when she hears the water. After I get her out of the bath she lays nice and still so I can rub all the cream on her body. I think she enjoys her twice daily massages (I feel for her future husband....she is spoiled) then we get dressed and sit up to play with toys while I dry her hair. When I turn off the hair dryer she says ALL DONE! Luke walked in the bathroom the other night and said looks like she is at station 2 right now...I had to laugh! We pretty much have a 3 station routine...bath, massage, hair :-) Keep in mind I have been doing this for 2 weeks and not seeing much results in the scalp department, but her skin is back to looking nice and smooth. This makes me SO happy!

Okay, back to my phone call to the dermatologist. The nurse said she was going to call me Wednesday to see if things had improved. She called and I didn't have any good news to tell her. She said she would talk to the doctor and get back to me. The verdict is that we need to go back in for additional cultures, because the staph might be resistant to the current antibiotic now and there could be more going on since it is not cleared up. Oh joy, another trip to the doctor. I pack everybody up and head to the dermatologist office once again.

I had to laugh when we arrived for our appt as the receptionist called Alesha by name when we walked in the door and when the nurse called our name she said "I am SO sorry to have to see you today." The office staff and doctor are so sweet and have such compassion for our situation. When the doctor walked in we gave each other a hug (now that doesn't happen everyday) and we began discussing our current situation. Upon observation of our still not healed scalp she said she wanted her colleague to come in and take a look and see what her thoughts were. A fresh set of eyes might give additional insight. I have NO problem with that I just want the insanity to END!

Upon her observation she determines that in addition to the scalp infection we also have eczema issues on the scalp, too, which my doctor agreed. They both decide to take cultures to test for fungus, viral, and bacterial issues. These results will tell them exactly where we stand at this point. Her partner tells me that unfortunately the scalp and the bottom of the feet or the HARDEST to treat and take the longest to heal, BUT it WILL get better! My doctor proceeds to take some scrapings from Alesha's scalp and pull out several hairs. Alesha barely even cried, she is such a strong girl. However, she did scream when the doctors just wanted to look at her head...it must be the white coats!

So we left the office with yet a new plan of attack. Continue the oral antibiotics for now until the cultures come back (hopefully Monday), discontinue the shampoo and topical antibiotic as it is causing the scalp to dry out too much and not really helping, and start back with the scalp oil to get moisture back to the scalp and help with all the scabs, etc. Good news NO trip to the pharmacy this time. It appears that I have all the meds needed in my own little pharmacy at home :-)

SUMMARY -

Praises -
1. Alesha's skin is looking great and we have discontinued the prescription cream and just coat with Cetaphil twice a day.
2. We have insurance.
3. We have great doctors with such compassion for our situation.
4. That I listened to my gut and called the dermatologist on Friday to get additional meds and that we were able to get in on Wednesday to get a new plan so Alesha's scalp didn't get more dry than it already was. It was great timing to get in on that Wednesday, because our doctor doesn't work on Thursdays and all the clinic doctors were going to a conference on Friday and I wouldn't have gotten the cultures taken and there would have been more of a delay.
5. The availability of medication and doctors here in the U.S.
6. A strong little girl who is a fighter.
7. A pharmacist who goes out of her way to help me and knows Alesha by name. She was going on her lunch break and stopped to talk to us, help me find what I needed, and then called another pharmacy to see if they carried the shampoo I was in need of because she didn't have it.
8. For 2 sweet boys who are learning to be very flexible with plans having to change due to doctor appt and pharmacy trips.
9. The antibiotic is pretty gentle on Alesha's stomach so we are not dealing with diarrhea.

Requests -
1. That the results will come back soon, that the staph and strep rating have gone down, and we will know exactly what we are dealing with.
2. We will be able to resolve this problem once and for all.
3. Strength for me to continue doing all that the doctors require.
4. Help Alesha as she continues to take all the medication daily. She is getting weary and pushes it away as soon as she sees it coming....poor baby, I don't blame her one bit :-(

Thanks so much for your prayers and I will post the results as soon as I hear anything. I will also try and post some more fun and upbeat stuff on my blog :-)