Nancy Drew
About four weeks ago I noticed a slight irritation developing on Cardin’s right thigh. It was a bunch of smallish red bumps. I asked her if they itched and she declared they did not so I assumed, like any good parent, that she probably irritated her skin with her clothes or some ridiculous dress up outfit she had picked.
Over the course of the next few days, these small red bumps began to spread like rapid fire. They jumped to her other thigh and up her stomach; crept all over her elbows. Knowing that Brett & Rory both have sensitive skin, I called the Peditrican.
He checked her over and confirmed a virus of Gianotti-crosti syndrome. Come again? Listen lady, this makes my kid sound like an Italian sandwich being totted by panera bread?
Now, you have to understand. Our Peditrican has an extremely thick accent and is often difficult to understand. I’ve fine tuned my ear, but its taken years of practice. I’ve had a lot of practice since he was also my Peditrican.
Apparently this type of condition is a skin response to a virus and fairly common in young children. It can last a couple weeks but typically runs its course and disappears without harm.
But then I wouldn’t have anything to blog about, right? Two weeks pass and crusti face Cardin is looking more rashy than ever. The rash has spread all over her stomach, legs, back, arms. About the only place that the rash hasn’t covered is her face. Which is good since I don’t have to cover her with a bee keeper hat when we go out in public.
Back to the doctor, except this time we leave with a diagnose of eczema and orders to apply a thick paste of cream a couple times a day. After a few days of this regimen, I notice that slick willy isn’t getting any better and behold, her crusti/eczema/rash has now spread to my hands. Currently they look like as though they have been attacked by 1000 tiny misquotes.
I immediately started googling and came up with a few results; one more deadly than the next. Googling is bad people.
Back to the Peditrican we went, though he can find no cause. We haven’t switched soaps or detergents, he doesn’t believe it’s being cause by her clothing because if the way it’s spreading and not localized. He asked if there was anything new she was eating and I just laughed in his face. We have no new pets and we haven’t traveled anywhere.
On a positive he was at least able to tell me it wasn’t measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox or scabies. On the other hand, still no solid evidence on what weirdness this actually is. We left, with a referral for a dermatologist. Cardin continues to ask me “mom, is my rash a mystery?” Now she’s got me playing Nancy drew.