There were 3 families in our MOPS group that needed meals (2 of them were crisis situations and the other was the birth of a new baby). This involved much phone calling, cooking, driving to deliver meals, collecting meals from others, driving some more to deliver more meals, sending emails, making more phone calls, PRAYING. In a way it's relatively easy for us to do these things since I can fit them in around our daily routine, but it is challenging at times for me to stay on top of everything mentally. In fact just this moment I realized that I forgot to make a reminder phone call this morning to someone who had asked for one. I hope they remembered to take their meal to the new baby family tonight!
I have been reminded how much I have to be thankful for this week, and how much I take for granted. My kids, their health, their hugs and kisses and smiles, the opportunity to watch them learn new things, the thrill I still get when my husband walks in the door. Life is so precious. It is a blessing to be a blessing to others during times of need. Thank you, Lord, that we are not in dire need at this moment. Thank you that when we are, for we have been and surely will be again, You will provide just what we need.
In other news, our son who has SPD (sensory processing disorder) received his body sock in the mail yesterday! This was very exciting. Unfortunately for him it is hot pink, but he has decided he wants to keep it rather than wait another week for another one to come, which may also be hot pink since you can't specify color. He loves it and has used it for long periods of time since yesterday. In fact today he fell asleep in it, curled into a little ball at the foot of our bed! He looked like a large, smooth, pink cat all curled up sleeping. I am so glad we got it!
For those of you wondering, a body sock can serve two purposes for children with spd (probably more, but I'm still learning). It creates a little space that is all their own, to go when they need time and a place to regain a feeling of self control. And it also is extremely good therapy for them to push against the resistant fabric, providing sensory input for their muscles and joints (the proprioceptive sense). Here are two pictures of him in the body sock, first the back view and then the front, showing the velcro opening.
And lastly, I am concerned about Little Man's excema. He has it really bad on his legs and some patches on his arms and trunk. He had a viral infection earlier this winter called "Molluscum Contagiosum" which are little bumps that look like warts but aren't warts. They aren't dangerous, but if they get scratched and break open, the virus will spread to whatever part of the body is touched next. The pediatrician sent us to the dermatologist, who said that he could give us medication to "burn" them off, but he could tell that Little Man's body was beginning to recognize the virus as an enemy and build an immunity to it so we were at the beginning of the end. We chose not to pursue the burning treatment.
The way he could tell this was the beginning of the end was that a rash had appeared all around the bumps, which looks extremely similar to excema. So I'm not sure if this is truly excema or the molluscum contagiosum rash that has spread to his legs. I'm going to try and email the following picture to our dermatologist tomorrow and see what he thinks. Hoping to avoid a trip to his office unless absolutely necessary! Little Man is quite bothered by it (he cries and says it hurts) but lotions seem to aggravate it so I am unsure what to do.
Tomorrow is co-op. It was cancelled last Friday due to snow, so it's been two weeks since we met. One of our sons has a cough and another one had a fever all day today. I predict that at least one of them will have to stay home tomorrow, and my wonderful hubby will have to work from home in order to accommodate them. He is so supportive of our homeschooling endeavors - truly he is a gem!
9 comments:
Our doctor says that eczema is most often a gluten allergy. A GF diet was the only thing that cleared up our youngest's eczema which he was BORN with and didn't get relief from until he was five and we started the GF diet. Even now, all four kids (plus dh) get their eczema back if they eat too much gluten. I don't know if a GF diet would help, but it may be worth a try....
I KNEW I was spelling it wrong, but I didn't take the time to look it up! Thanks Susanne!
I'm hoping GF isn't his issue, because he has always had very strong aversions to lots of foods. Bread is one thing he *will* eat. He did have eczema at birth, but it cleared up several months later and has come back sporadically since then. I am willing to try GF if that is the answer, but I'll have to try and be even more creative with food for him. That will be hard!
I spoke to a friend who as a almost three-old who has about every allergy you can imagine. For the eczema she suggested filling a bathtub with water and add 1/8 cup of bleach and put the kid in it. According to her specialist from the Houston medical center when the sores crust over the medication cannot get through to the skin. Doing the clorine bath 2-3 times a week (or going swimming) should help keep the areas more receptive to the medication. The lotion her doctor gave her is "lociod lipocream". Also, you may not want to hear this but, wheat and CORN allergies are usually the main contibutors to continual child eczema. Her child was also so bad, but after 2 weeks of removing wheat and corn, the eczema all but went away. When it does pop up it can usually be traced to sickness, or not sticking close enough to the diet. For very bad cases, children can sensitve to even dairy because cows are fed corn.
As far as the sores on his body, she also said that her pediatric specialist said to let it run it's course, that she would never do a burn treatment on a child. It open all the sores and their clothing will stick to their bodies and then you have to pull it off after it has dried to his clothes...enough said!
I finally removed the blocker from our computer so I could write to you.
Love,
Susan
On the chlorine bath--the reason that is supposed to be helpful is because the scabs of the eczema can grow a bateria and the chlorine bath can help retard that, but sometimes the child needs to be on a antibiodtic also, especially if his immune system is being taxed with something else.
You probably already know most of this--I just thought I would pass it along.
Do you have a PEDIACTRIC allergist? You might consider having A and L tested for allergies.
Susan
Susan's right. A & L could both have allergies. L's could be contributing to his SPD. I have heard of wheat and corn causing eczema but I've also heard of nuts being a problem, even peanuts which aren't really a nut but you know what I mean . . . Maybe nuts would be easier to cut out (even he is even consuming them). Okay, and I was at the hairdresser's today and found out that limestone supposedly can help w/ eczema (don't EVEN ask how we got on the subject because neither of us have it and I hadn't read this post yet, so WHO KNOWS? but when you are there for HOURS, you have to talk about something) but anyway, as I was saying, limestone can help and supposedly there are products in African markets that have limestone in them that you can put on your skin for just such a problem. And if you followed that last sentence and didn't give up, what a good job of persevering you are doing! ;-) And don't ask me where to find an African market in your town because I don't even know where any are here.
Susan,
How wonderful to "see" you here!!! Thank so much for all your helpful comments. No, I do not yet have a pediatric allergist. Maybe that would be the next step? Thank you for removing your blocker so you could write to me! :-) I hope that wasn't too much of a pain.
Beth,
Thanks for your helpful comments too. I'm going to pray over everyone's suggestions and I'll let you know what we end up doing! In the meantime, I did get a scrip from the dermatologist, some cream to put on that will help alleviate the discomfort he's in.
Love the body sock! (Though I'm sorry for your son's sake that it's pink.) I'm praying that this will be a good thing for him.
The comments above about chlorine and swimming explains why the kids cleared up so well during swim class!!!! Even though we weren't using the creams at the time, that bacteria must have been killed by the chlorine. Wow -- I always wondered why they cleared up!
Salt water baths always helped, too. Using a cup of sea salt in a warmish (just above lukewarm, not hot)really helped, too. Do the bath first, then add the medicated cream from the doctor after drying the legs thoroughly. It really helps the meds to work!
Wonder what my kids would think about the body sock? Can you dye it a different color? I have an award for you at my blog!
Blessings,
Laurie
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