Category: E.

Dramatic results as promised

E. is continuing to recover from his infection. The results of the new medication were actually quite dramatic as the doctor said it would be. E. started on the meds on Thursday and by Saturday he looked as good as he does today. E. was so cute over the weekend. You could tell that he felt a lot better. He woke up happy as opposed to writhing around in his crib trying to scratch his face. And he was so giggly and cheerful. He’s taken lately to “talking” lately to himself or us and makes these funny groaning and cooing sounds, sometimes for 10 minutes or more. It really cracks N. and me up.

It seems like the eczema on his chin might have hit the limit of what this medication is going to do for it; today it looks a little worse than it did yesterday. I think I’m still going to take him up to Salt Lake see the dermatologist on Monday.

I stopped by my old office yesterday to pick some things up and was amazed by some of the changes. During the 5 years I was there, we didn’t have a break room where you could eat your lunch; you had to eat at your desk. But now there’s a break room AND it has air hockey and foosball tables–no fair! And it seems like they’re trying to go more team building activities now, too. They’re having an office bowling tournament tomorrow which they were nice enough to invite me to even though I’m just a contractor now. I’m a little nervous because even though I took a bowling class in college (best P.E. class ever!), I’m still pretty rusty. I think it’s been over two years since I last bowled. And I have to take E. and I didn’t know what to do with him during my turn bowling. But a couple of my friends from the office are going to go but not bowl, so they said that they would hold E. while I bowled. So he can hang out with his aunties while I embarass myself in front of my coworkers and friends.

Anyway, wish me luck. I just hope I break 100!

Dramatic Results

E.’s doctor’s appointment yesterday was very productive. I went and saw the doctor that started the large group practice we go to. He seemed really competent. He said that calling E.’s rash impetigo is a bit of a cop-out because it trivializes what is really going on, which is that E. has severe eczema with a secondary infection.

The doctor also said that the oral antibiotic that the previous doctor had proscribed isn’t super effective for skin infections and he prescribed cephalexin which is specifically for skin infections. He also prescribed Desonide, a mild steroid cream. The doctor said that the most important thing is to get moisture into E.’s skin and so I need to give him two baths a day and let him soak for a while (no scrubbing of his face is necessary, just getting it wet and some mild washing) and then slather his face in the Desonide cream, the topical antibiotic the other doctor prescribed, and Cetaphil. And I’m supposed to use a stronger topical steroid ointment on any patches of ezcema E. has on his body and then put Cetaphil all over him too.

It’s quite a regimen, but the doctor said that we should see dramatic results and it should be almost all gone in a week. He said that if it wasn’t, it would be good to take him to a dermatologist, and so I’m going to hang on to my appointment until the end of next week and see. I liked this doctor quite lot. It seemed like he knew more about skin infections than the first doctor I saw.

I gave E. a bath last night and again this morning and applied all of his creams and ointments and such and I think he’s beginning to look the tiniest bit better already. His skin’s still inflamed but it’s not as flaky and dry.

We brought the armoire home yesterday with the help of my father-in-law and his SUV. I’ve got to run because Miranda’s coming over for lunch, but I’ll take and post some pictures on Monday. It’s exciting to have it home.

Anyway, have a good weekend!

I don’t zinc so!

First off, E. is still crusty and uncomfortable. I’ve been scrubbing his face and applying the topical antibiotic twice a day, which is very unpleasant for both him and me. Yesterday I thought it might be improving a little, but today it’s still pretty bad. Last night he kept waking up every few hours, writhing in discomfort. I’m going to take him the to pediatrician again tomorrow. Before they said that they would want to run a blood test for a zinc deficiency if it’s lasted a week which, barring a miracle, it looks like it will. If they can’t figure it out, I just snagged an appointment with the only pediatric dermatologist in the region for the 28th. Having the appointment is reassuring because if tomorrow the pediatrician isn’t sure what it is, the dermatologist most likely figure it out. And if it goes away before the 28th, then I can cancel my appointment with no charge. So today I’m feeling less discouraged. We’ll see what the doctor says tomorrow. I want to thank everyone for their support – I really appreciate it!

Speaking of support, my boss is very understanding and has been great. She has two little kids, I think about 7 and 5, and her husband just got sent back to Iraq for another year-long tour of duty. I don’t know how she does it. She’s been very helpful and reassuring about any new-mom worries I have. Anyway, last week I was getting pretty overwhelmed by work (and E.’s condition) and then she wanted me to make a new project my top priority even though I was pretty busy with my monthly reports. It just totally overwhelmed me. I ended up talking to her about it on Thursday and she apologized for dumping too much on me when I was already busy with my reports. And then on Friday, these were delivered with a lovely note.

How sweet is that?

Tonight’s the last day of woodworking class and if all goes well, I’m going to be bringing the armoire home tonight. I first have to get it lacquered during class, though. Keep your fingers crossed for me. Pictures to follow!

Rash Watch ’08 Continues

I am thinking of switching to a new pediatrician. He said to call him in a week if E.’s condition hasn’t improved. It hasn’t improved at all and so I called the office this morning only to find out that the doctor is in Florida this week. Um, really? Why he didn’t bother to tell me that he was going to be out of town when I saw him last week?

Fortunately, this doctor is part of a large group practice. I called the nurse hot line they provide and the nurse is now checking with another doctor to see if he wants to prescribe a topical antibiotic as well. Apparently the bacteria are living under the yellow crusties on E.’s face and so it should help it if I scrub them off with antibacterial soap and then put this ointment on. I tried it this morning with some Neosporin. And do you know what I discovered? Babies with painful rashes don’t particularly like to have them scrubbed!

The nurse said that with impetigo it usually takes a full week for the scabs to go away. If they aren’t gone by Thursday, I think I’m going to take E. to a dermatologist.

*****************************UPDATE********************************
It seems like quite a few people find this entry searching for pictures of babies with impetigo. In case you don’t read the other entries, it turned out that E actually had eczema that was misdiagnosed as impetigo and consequently allowed to developed a secondary infection. It took over five visits to different doctors (including the only pediatric dermatologist in my state) before it was figured out. If you have a baby with a worsening rash like E had and your doctor hasn’t mentioned the possibility of eczema, I would definitely ask specifically about it and/or find a doctor with a fair amount of experience with skin disorders. At the time I didn’t know better and E suffered needlessly for almost a month.
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On an unrelated note, I think I’m going to start using my middle name when asked for a name by restaurants. We ordered some takeout over the weekend, and when I went to go pick it up there was confusion because on the phone they had misheard my name as “Stace.” Even though I spelled it out “F as in Frank, a-i-t-h.” When I got there it took over 5 minutes to sort it out. This morning the nurse also thought I said “Stace.” When asked for my name on the phone, I usually try and emphasize the F sound, but often to no avail. People even sometimes write it down as “Saith.” SAITH? I know that people in Utah are used to hearing all sorts of weird names, but Saith? C’mon!


Better and Worse

Hopefully Better
So what do yout think about the new template? I hope it loads okay. Sometimes the background graphics on the old one would stall a bit on me which I found annoying. I’m still tinkering with this template a little, but then again I love to tinker. My blogroll disappeared when I switched over for reasons I don’t understand and the info at the bottom of each post is in a tiny font that needs to be changed, etc… But it will get there eventually. (And by then I’ll be sick of this design and want a new one!)

Unfortunately Worse
On the rash front, it’s been looking worse since I posted those pictures of him. So yesterday I took him to the doctor. We’ve been there so many times that I know the nurse by name (Hi, Melissa!) Anyway, E. has (drumroll please)…impetigo! It probably started as a rash from his drooling/penicillin allergy but now it’s infected. So he has to be on oral antibiotics again, which I was a little upset about. I just feel badly that he’s been on antibiotics almost every month. I asked the doctor if a topical antibiotic would work, and he said that it wouldn’t be very effective. So now E.’s on cefinir. When I picked up the prescription, the pharmacist told me that cefinir is 8% related to penicillin and so to watch E. for an allergic reaction. Isn’t there some antibiotic that is 0% related to penicillin that they could prescribed?

I whine a lot, but I know that many many kids have much more serious health problems. I’m very grateful that in general E. is a very healthy baby. But with all that said, these minor things one after another wear me out a little.

Let’s not do anything rash

E.’s been having a little bit of a tough time this week, but I’m not sure why. He’s been very tired, but will only take short naps. And last night he woke up crying at 3am, which is very unusual. After I got him back to sleep, he work up again at 6am and would NOT be consoled. The only thing that worked was swaddling him and letting him sleep in his swing. So I did that and slept on the couch next to him.

And the rash! Ever since his allergic reaction to the antibiotics, he’s had a rash on his face that won’t go away. The nurse said that it was because of his frequent drooling and to put some hydrocortisone cream on his chin, which I’ve been doing but it hasn’t helped that much. To top it off, E. has started rubbing his eyes with gusto whenever he’s tired, which is quite often. It’s painful to watch because he basically claws at his eyes, pumping his hands open and closed. I swaddle him when I put him to bed so he can’t scratch at his eyes.

Even though he’s not feeling well, he still tries hard to be cheerful. It’s cute in a pitiful sort of way.


Does anyone have any tips about how to end the rash or the eye rubbing?

What happened to “out like a lamb?”


I guess the saying sadly doesn’t apply to Utah. This morning the wind was roaring around our house so loudly that it woke me up a few times. And before I even got out of bed I knew that the roads were bad because I could heard the cars’ wheels crunching on the ice as people dove off to work.

Sigh. Spring is SUCH a tease.

I haven’t taken any new pictures of E. since Easter, but here’s an animated gif (aw, yeah! animated gifs–rocking it in style circa 1999!) I made from pictures of him wriggling around in bed. He’s a squirmy worm.

Yesterday I spent some time mucking around with a new blog template. I like this blue background but I thought it would be fun to change it up a little. Hopefully it will be finished sometime this week.

Who has two thumbs…

…and is allergic to penicillin?

–This guy!

Yes sir, the hits just keep on coming. A while ago E. picked up a strep infection on his skin (I think he actually got it from his 4-month visit to the pediatrician) and so a week ago the doctor put him on amoxicillin to clear it up. It worked, but his stomach was very upset and then today he broke out in hives all over his chest, arms, and legs.

I took him back to the doctor today and they said that he’s allergic to penicillin. So now he’s off of the amoxicillian and he’s taking Children’s Benadryl to clear up the hives. I don’t like giving him so much medicine when he’s so little, but it seems necessary in this case.

I think that E. has suffered more than his fair share of aliments this winter. I know that kids get sick a lot, but come on! He’s really been a trooper throughout it all, though. Poor sweet little guy.

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling…

E. rolled over yesterday! He was laying on his tummy, kicking his feet out behind him when his head started leaning to one side and slowly (ever so slowly) he rolled onto his side and then onto his back. I got out the video camera and tried to get him to do it again, but to no avail (of course!). I tried it with him again this morning, but he was tired and having none of it.

However, I haven’t given up hope and will continue trying to capture footage of the elusive rollover!