Being Real

I have tried to keep this blog as open, honest, and as real as possible. While my last post showed all the wonderful things happening in Alesha's life and all the joy she brings us, I would not be honest if I didn't share one of the main struggles we have had.

When we picked Alesha up in India on May 20th she had a few spots on her head that she was scratching constantly. We thought it was just dry scalp and it would go away. Upon returning home she was still itching and her once beautifully smooth skin developed a rash. We took her to the doctor and she said that the rash was from the 6 immunization shots she was given in India and it should fade. There was no concern regarding the spots on her head either. Good enough. We waited and sure enough the first rash faded, but a new one developed. This rash was not easily identified. Alesha, saw 3 different pediatricians. It was thought that she could have scabies, but it wasn't presenting itself like usual. We were given the scabies treatment June 25th and moved forward. Alesha, continues to get WORSE! I am at my wits end and take her to a dermatologist who takes one look at her and says that is SCABIES!! I said we already treated her and she said she would confirm it for me. The doctor took some scrapings, left the room, and came back with an affirmative case of SEVERE scabies on June 30th! Alesha was covered from the top of her head to the soles of her feet with scabies! In severe cases of scabies it affects the scalp (which explains the spots on her head) and you can have nodules (large raised dots), burrows, where the scabies burrow there way into the skin, and SEVERE itching. In Alesha's case she also had small little blisters all over her body. This was explained to be her bodies reaction to the scabies :-( The new plan was to retreat Alesha for scabies as there were still eggs and poop under her skin and treat our entire family. Let the fun times roll. I cannot tell you the amount of laundry that goes along with scabies. EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING (towels, toys, stuffed animals, clothes, bath mats, crib bedding, sheets, blankets, car seat covers, stroller covers, basically anything that has come in contact with the skin) needs to be washed, cleaned, or dry cleaned! One word - EXHAUSTING!!!!

This is what happens when the bumper pads and all the crib bedding is being cleaned!

The itching continues and we have a not so happy girl...I don't blame her AT ALL! Who wants to itch all the time. She even itches in her sleep. I will catch her during nap time fast asleep, yet scratching the little bit of skin that I have not covered up with clothing. At this point, what used to be her favorite time of the day, bath time, has turned into the worst. Alesha, cries the entire bath and can't wait to get out :-( The sores on her head begin to get worse and she has a ton more of them. By July 18th these sores are beginning to weep. You guessed it back to the doctor. They said it must be another reaction her body is having to the scabies. I am beside myself. They give her stronger anti-itch meds and a cream for her scalp. The NEXT day, Alesha wakes up with yellow oozing sores on her head and her eye is all swollen. She scratched her head during the night and rubbed her eyes and we now have an eye infection on top of a full blown bacterial infection on her head. I am in tears sitting in the doctors office, once again. My poor little girl has gone through so much and now this. This is now happening on top of the rash that is still there and she is teething like no body's business!

Here is what her head looked like - hard to capture the gross factor completely!

Waking up with an eye infection

Now the other eye, too.

To me this picture captures so much. She is scratching her head, the look on her face, the best shot of what the scabie rash and nodules looked like, and her precious little face all in one picture. I think the capture should read "Please, mommy, make it stop!!"

After a few days on the antibiotic the sores begin to dry up. I am beginning to feel hopeful. We prepare to go on our first camping trip as a family of 5 and stay in a yurt (see previous post). When we arrive at the campground I notice that Alesha's head is starting to weep clear again and a few new bumps are appearing on her skin!!!!! This cannot be happening. I guess denial sets in. We have a fun day and go to sleep. By the next morning the clear weeping on her head has turned to yellow with the same horrible infection and the bumps on her body are getting more plentiful. It is obvious that we will not be staying another night as planned and make various phone calls to get in to see the dermatologist ASAP! They fit us in Friday the 30th.

As we enter the office the nurse is asking me all kinds of questions and I try to answer them through a steady stream of tears. I am so tired and so sad to see my daughter STILL going through this awful ordeal. It is truly heart breaking to see the people you love suffer, especially when they are SO tiny! She hands me a tissue and says she is so sorry and it must be so difficult. She says how absolutely adorable Alesha is and how lucky she is to be home...this makes me smile and cry harder. I will say that I am SO thankful that Alesha is home and I can hold her in my arms and comfort her during these really tough days.

The dermatologist comes in and says we are definitely dealing with a bacterial infection on her scalp. Her lymphnoids are all swollen and we need to get her on an antibiotic immediately. She gave me an oil steroid to apply to her scalp, topical anti-itch meds, in addition to the oral anti-itch and then she said IT....I almost hit the floor!!!!. Alesha, has scabies AGAIN!!!!!!! This cannot be happening. It was like the worst nightmare EVER! How is this possible???? I did EVERYTHING they told me to do, how could she possibly have them AGAIN!!!???!!! The doctor explains that in severe cases of scabies it is not uncommon for them to reoccur. She also takes a scraping of Alesha's scalp to make sure exactly what bacteria we are dealing with and will change the antibiotic if needed.

With the oil steroids they gave me a shower cap to use. I looked at the doctor and said you really want me to use this and she said no it would be okay to just rub in at night and let her sleep on it. I had to put the cap on just to see what would happen. Two things...one she looked absolutely adorable and two, she kept it on for like 10 minutes. I was shocked!

I leave another doctors office totally deflated and go the pharmacy once again, where they know be by name, for more meds to add to my arsenal! I will confess that I have officially hit my breaking point. I am sobbing by mid-day and cannot speak without bursting into tears. To top it all off I am sick, too. I try to stay focused on the good things like thanking God we have good doctors and medical care, that we have good insurance to help with all these increasing medical expenses, that Alesha still gives me that precious little smile even though I have been forcing eye drops, anti-itch meds, antibiotics, creams, etc at her for the last month or so. These things I am SO thankful for, but it doesn't fix the misery that my baby is in and there is only so much I can do to make it better. All this on top of the very thought of repeating the laundry, vacuuming, washing insanity ONCE AGAIN with this second round of scabies is more than I can bear.

We now find ourselves in August. I feel as if our summer is not what I had hoped it would be. There were so many ideas and plans for the summer, but when you have a baby with a mysterious rash and open weeping sores, you don't want to go our in public much or expose people to the unknown. I will say that our boys have been amazing through all of this. They have had to miss out on several things, but they are more concerned about their sister than themselves. I love my boys!! The antibiotics appear to be helping as the sores begin to dry up.

Here are the sores mostly dried up. I spend about 25 minutes after every bath in the morning drying her hair and picking out dried scabs. It has become quite the routine. When she gets older she will have no problem sitting still at the beauty parlor :-)

On August 3rd, I got the call from the dermatologist to confirm what bacteria we are dealing with and the results are STREP and STAPH!!!!!! This would explain why we have had SO many issues. At least we know what we are dealing with and I really hope that we are at the end of this skin/scalp insanity! The itching continues and on August 6th I did Alesha's 5th and hopefully LAST treatment for scabies.

It is funny how these health issues we have been dealing with are TOTALLY different than the health issues we thought we might be dealing with upon bringing Alesha home. Funny how that works. I am amazed at how resilient children can be and how Alesha will still giggle, smile, and make us laugh daily even though her little body is going through so much. We love her so much and it has been so difficult for us to watch her deal with all this. We thank God for his provision during this trial and hope that September will begin a new chapter of good health for the Pfeiffer family.