Diagnosis: Eczema

Charlotte's rash was getting worse and worse. We saw her pediatric nurse practitioner on Monday, she prescribed on oral and topical steroid, told me to keep her on Benadryl every 6 hours for the next 7 days and to keep her inside, and they'd check on her in a week (when she was in to get vaccinated, no, they said, vaccines would still be fine). It wasn't getting any better. Wednesday I woke up and called every dermatologist in Columbus, Auburn and Newnan. The soonest I'd be able to get her in anywhere was July 17. I called her Pediatrician, to see if they could pull some strings somewhere, no go.

Noni & Popi got on the case. At 1:05 Popi calls to tell me he's got Charlotte in to see his genius dermatologist at Eagles Landing, but to hurry because her appointment was at 3:00pm (they had just had a cancellation). I grabbed Charlotte, her medicine and left. I mean, cantaloupe left the cantaloupe out, didn't send Mo-Ellie outside, nothing. Just LEFT. Got in the car, plugged in the address and called Popi to gripe about how this was ridiculous, there was no way I was going to make it. Well...we made it by 3:15 (I guess there were enough people praying for us).

Dr. Cheng was great. Charlotte wasn't afraid of her, which was super. Charlotte had a fun time running round and round the exam table and pushing the up, down, right, left lever buttons for the table - fun drum!

So, it turns out Charlotte has a eczema. We first noticed it on Father's Day, after spending a day at the pool at Noni & Popi's. Charlotte was hardly in the water at all but, apparently, sudden temperature changes can cause it to start, heat aggravates it, water aggravates it, so on and so on...She had been prescribed the wrong medicine by her pediatrician, and giving her benadryl every 6 hours was insane. We're on the right medicine now (3). She cannot play outside, she cannot take more than a 3 minute lukewarm bath. She can only wear cotton, clothing has to be washed in special detergent. She cannot play on rugs and she CANNOT be vaccinated until the eczema clears up.

At least we know now what it is and how to treat it.