Let's assume

Let's assume, for just a minute, that I'm not a complete idiot and I do in fact know what I"m talking about when it comes to my child.  What, exactly, am I talking about?  Caleb's spots.

At 10 am today we had an appointment with the pediatrician.  I love my pediatrician and it will be a very, very sad day when he retires.  I showed him the pictures I had taken of Caleb's spots yesterday.  As luck would have it (or doom, rather) when we got to the dr.'s office this morning I noticed he had something on his fingertips.  After close examination, it looks like burn blisters on the tips of each of his fingertips.  He said they don't hurt.  But man, they look awful.  The pediatrician was stumped.  He said he doesn't feel like it fits Hand, Foot & Mouth (Fifths Disease) or that it fits HSP.  He called every dermatologist in town.  All but one dermatologist was out of town.  So, my pediatrician scheduled an appointment with that office for me.

I left Caleb & Brooke at daycare while I went to work for a few hours.  I returned a little after 2 pm to pick them up.  Caleb had refused to eat anything at daycare and still had the weird burn marks on each of his fingertips.

Come 3 pm, we have an appointment with Dr. Robert Young's office.  When we get there, the girl can't find Caleb in the computer.  Why?  The nurse had put his birthday in wrong.  AND, the person that scheduled the appointment hadn't hit the "next" button to confirm the appointment.  Since there was a note about him in the computer and the appointment had already been "okayed" the girl at the counter told me, "I'll just put him in."  Great.  Off to a lovely start.  Now, I've been to this dr.'s office before.  I don't care for ANY of the dr.'s in the office EXCEPT Dr. Young himself.  In order to see Dr. Young I think it must be a matter of life and death.  I am informed we will be seeing the PA, Craig.  Not awesome.  After a THIRTY minute wait with 2 very difficult children (Caleb & Brooke) I finally asked how much longer we were going to have to wait.  I was told we were "next on the list."  After FORTY minutes in the waiting room, we were finally taken back.  I gave the medical assistant his medical history.  Then in comes the PA.  I describe all the symptoms - from six weeks ago as well as this time.  I showed him the pictures I took.  I showed him Caleb's hands.  He busts out his medical dictionary thing and asks if the spots have ever looked like targets.  Um, no.  He asks if the spots have ever looked like "these" - No dude.  I showed you pictures & he's here in front of you.  "Those" spots look like my eczema.  The diagnosis?  Eczema.  WTH?  I am the freaking eczema Queen.  I know what the heck eczema is.  If you don't know what's wrong with my kid, tell me!  I am not an idiot!  I told the PA that I know what eczema is, this is not eczema.  I told him to look at the scars on my hands.  I told him that I use to see Dr. Young for my eczema.  I told him that I buy paraben and fragrance free everything for my house!  The kid DOES NOT have an eczema breakout!  Yes, he has eczema, I know that.  But this CURRENT condition, is NOT eczema!!!  His solution to fix the problem?  "Well, there are a lot of things we can do, but this is the least obtrusive and obnoxious."  I don't care if the poking and prodding is obnoxious!  Tell me what the hell is the matter with my child!  He prescribed a 2.5% hydrocortizone (which I filled to use on his actual eczema on his bum).  He wants me to put the hydracortizone on the spots, then put Aquaphor or Eucerin on top of that.  Then, cover with socks when he goes to bed.  Oh, and give him Benadryl every 6-8 hours.  Why am I giving my child Benadryl when his spots DON'T ITCH?!  Seriously man!  Did you listen to a single word I said?!

This first one is a bit blurry, but you can kinda see the darker red spots on the tips of his fingers.

This is the best one.  If you look at the tips of his fingers you can see a darker red spot.  To me, it looks like when you touch the tray in the oven and burn yourself but it doesn't burn it bad enough to blister above the skin.  He has these on the tips of all 10 fingers.  Most fingers there were multiple darker spots on the tips.

This one is a bit blurry too.  I took this when we got inside the dermatologist's office to show the red spots after he ate the chocolate.  A lot of them had already gone away by the time we got in, got checked in and settled down enough I could get my camera back out.

You can kinda see the spots on the tips of his fingers in this one too.

I was a very irritated mother when I left the office.  What a waste of an hour and a half and a $30 co-pay.  Oh, and don't forget, "We want to see him back in 7-10 days."  So, I schedule an appointment for next Monday, knowing FULL WELL, I will call on THURSDAY to CANCEL it!

I went to the pharmacy to fill the hydracortizone to use on his actual eczema.  Then, I got on the phone and called my pediatrician.  I left a message for my pediatrician to tell him what happened at the dermatologist's office.  I also let him know I have an appointment at the Specialty Hospital for Wednesday morning.  CVENT has their allergy clinic but in order to be seen/treated at the allergy clinic you must first be seen by one of their physicians (of course you do!).  I'm thinking he's got to be having an allergic reaction to something.  What confirmed that suspicion to me is that on our way to the dermatologist's office, he ate one of the fun size Hershey's milk chocolate pieces of candy.  As soon as he was done eating it, his hands were plastered in red spots.  I thought it was kinda funny when the nurse at the pediatrician's office that I was leaving the message with asked me "So you don't think it's eczema."  My response to her was "I'm 110% sure it's not eczema!  I have eczema!  Besides, Dr. Clarke can identify eczema!"  She kinda laughed and said, 'That's true."

My ever gracious mother had picked my kids up from daycare to take them to piano (which was later rescheduled).  When I got to her house to pick them up, she informed me that Nash had a fever, the chills, a headache and generally just did not feel well.  Awesome!  His teacher had called me earlier as I was coming out of the pediatrician's office to ask if anyone at home had had pink eye recently.  I told her not for about a month or so.  However, he spent the night at my in-laws on Saturday and was allowed to stay up until at least midnight.  He also got in the hot tub and was opening his eyes under water.  I told her to call me if he was complaining about his eyes and I'd come get him since I was going to have to leave work early anyway to make this second dr.'s appointment.  She said she thought he'd be fine.  So much for that theory.

Let's see, that leaves Sam & Brooke & myself as the "healthy ones".  I'm fairly certain that is' Monday all around today.  What else could go wrong?  Perhaps I shouldn't ask that out loud?  I know why this is happening.  It's because Travis doesn't come home for another week and I told the kids I couldn't miss any work between now and the end of March since I'm taking a week off to go to CA with Sam and her dance group.  Great.  Just stinking great.  Here's to hoping the week flies by!