A week Wednesday had come and gone since our visit to the dermatologist and since the lathering of hydrocortisone cream for Ethan. She had advised us to apply liberally for a week or two and then only on red spots as needed after that. Wednesday morning was his last "lathering" and sure enough, he didn't sleep as well that night. Ah who am I kidding, he's not a great sleeper ANY night but at least he typically falls back to sleep easily after his nursings.
Thursday during the day, I watched as his hands began to move subconsciously towards his ears and his head to scratch. He clawed at his chest again when bath time came and his regular lotion just isn't cutting it for him.
After his nap Thursday afternoon, he woke up just screaming. When I went to get him, a pool of blood leaked out from his ear and my heart just started thumping so hard... What is happening now? Luckily, when I cleaned the blood away, he had cut inside his ear from scratching so hard, and not because of a busted ear drum or something more serious. But my heart sure ached for him.
Finally, yesterday, I had to put the hydrocortisone cream all over him again because you could tell that the underlying itchiness was all he could think about again. Toys aren't near as fun for him when he is so itchy because he barely focuses on them. There is a constant distraction keeping him from engaging in his surroundings. Which just SUCKS developmentally speaking.
I am just so grateful that we had a whole week where he could be FREE. His hands were free of socks because he didn't claw away at his skin, he played with toys and reached for his feet. He cooed and laughed so much. But my favourite is being able to rest cheek to cheek or to caress his soft little face and head... things you don't realize you've taken for granted until your son is covered in open wounds and you fear touching him will give him staph infection or worse.
Anyways, he is positively BEAUTIFUL and we've started introducing sweet potato and bananas to his diet. I am SOOOOO thankful that we haven't had to do ANY wet wraps in about a week now... ah the FREEDOM!! When you add it up, we were basically under house arrest for six hours of the day! One hour with each wet wrap PLUS the two hours he needed to sleep in it afterwards. Oh, I sooooo am not missing those days! AND because the underlying itch had gone away, Ethan could actually play with his toys UNSUPERVISED! Oh yes, ladies and gentlemen... I was actually able to ACCOMPLISH some tasks this past week. Feeling good right now. Feeling soooo good.
Our next goal? To establish some form of routine around here. Nothing is getting done because I never know when Ethan will go down for a npa or for how long. Last night he woke up about eight or nine times and I am super duper pooped out. (ah ha, another poop comment... yes!)
At least we have had our faith renewed that this won't last forever, that Ethan won't suffer forever, that there can be breaks of light even if it is the eye of the storm... at least it is a break.
Thanks for your MIRACULOUS prayers! We are RICHLY blessed!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment