A few months ago, I took Aiden to Dr. ENT and his wife happens to be a dermatologist. And I asked about her. She wasn't accepting new patients at the time and was only working part time. We touched on the issue of Aiden's alopecia.
Fast forward a few months.... Chris makes an appointment with a dermatologist in another office. And we went yesterday. While there, I asked if this dermatologist saw children, to which she said yes and we discussed Aiden's hair loss.
Fortunately, she does see a lot of children with Down syndrome who also have alopecia. And the pattern of hair loss that Aiden experiences is common. Unfortunately it is the second hardest to treat - next to alopecia totalis - but there is a treatment.
The treatment for alopecia areata (which the doctor says actually does work) is a series of steroid injections in the scalp. Granted, while she said it does work, the problem is that the back half of his head may not recover hair growth.
Do I really want to subject the child to injections? Not really, no.
While I do feel for the child as he gets older and risks the eventual
total loss of hair, I don't want him to have to go through this. This
will have to be a decision he makes as he gets older.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Bringing in the Holidays with a Bang
The week before Thanksgiving, I had decided that I was going to get my license to be a Zumba instructor. However.... I blew out my ACL in my left knee and well.... I haven't been to a class in 3 weeks and Monday I have an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon.
Last week, Chris was complaining of his ear aching. Then he said his eye was twitching and had difficulties getting a suction with a straw. I made him go to the doctor on Tuesday, only to be diagnosed with Bell's palsy. This has caused a lot of stress and strain on an already fragile situation with his family. I had already decided that Aiden and I will not be attending holiday festivities with Chris's family and this just re-affirms my decision. I'm tired of being blamed for other peoples actions.
The Christmas tree went up today. I went with the big rotating tree this year instead of the little tree. I will not, however, be utilizing the "rotation" function as Aiden attacked the tree twice while I was decorating it. The presents will not be going under the tree until Santa has brought them on Christmas Eve.
I volunteered to take Christmas pictures for Aiden's special education class. For the most part, I am happy with how they came out. All but 2 of the children were cooperative. Aiden of course was a camera hound and wanted his picture taken over and over again between the other children's pictures.
These were our selections for the Christmas cards this year.
There is a full eclipse tonight. I will attempt to stay awake long enough to take a few pictures. Does anyone else plan on viewing it?
Last week, Chris was complaining of his ear aching. Then he said his eye was twitching and had difficulties getting a suction with a straw. I made him go to the doctor on Tuesday, only to be diagnosed with Bell's palsy. This has caused a lot of stress and strain on an already fragile situation with his family. I had already decided that Aiden and I will not be attending holiday festivities with Chris's family and this just re-affirms my decision. I'm tired of being blamed for other peoples actions.
The Christmas tree went up today. I went with the big rotating tree this year instead of the little tree. I will not, however, be utilizing the "rotation" function as Aiden attacked the tree twice while I was decorating it. The presents will not be going under the tree until Santa has brought them on Christmas Eve.
I volunteered to take Christmas pictures for Aiden's special education class. For the most part, I am happy with how they came out. All but 2 of the children were cooperative. Aiden of course was a camera hound and wanted his picture taken over and over again between the other children's pictures.
These were our selections for the Christmas cards this year.
There is a full eclipse tonight. I will attempt to stay awake long enough to take a few pictures. Does anyone else plan on viewing it?
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Shake Rattle and Roll
November is starting off with a bang. Thursday, we left the house at 5am for ear tube surgery. Aiden was the first one of the day. The intake nurse mentioned us staying the night... um, okay. Apparently, Dr. Happy Drugs went ahead and reserved Aiden a suite at the Panda Palace. Shortly after 7am, the surgical nurse came in and retrieved a sedated little boy. 20 minutes later Dr. ENT was calling and letting us know that all went well and follow up in a few weeks. We've been through this so many times now that he doesn't even bother coming in after surgery and talking to us face to face. We went back to recovery around 8am. There was a little girl also in recovery for the same surgery, however it was her first ever surgery, and she was not a happy camper. Aiden on the other hand, really didn't care. Once we were back in his room, the nurse started going over aftercare stuff. Chris and I both stood there and said everything she was telling us word for word. She asked how many times we had done this. Chris answered "Oh, 4 or 5 now" and the nurse asked if we were getting a discount.
After surgery, we went to breakfast at Braums and then did a little bit of shopping. Aiden was starving and ate a side of scrambled eggs, bacon and some hashbrowns. Since he was doing so well, he went to school on Friday and had OT after school.
The weekend was supposed to have been uneventful. However Oklahoma sits on a few fault lines. And we had earthquakes. Not the typical magnitude of 3 or less we normally have and no one feels. Nope, big ones. The record earthquake in Oklahoma was a magnitude 5.2 in El Reno (western OK) on the Meers Fault line back in the 50s. Was being the operative word here. Saturday morning, I woke up and watched the news in which they informed me that we had a 4.7 shaker that I apparently slept through. Okay fine, didn't feel any after shocks the rest of the day. Then I went to bed....
Did you know that an earthquake starts off sounding a lot like thunder? Then it gets freaky sounding. Oh crap, here we go. Now keep in mind, I know that OK has earthquakes all the time. I keep track of what the United States Geological Society posts. I'm like addicted to their website. I also knew that we weren't scheduled any thunder storms over the weekend.
The next thing I know the equivalent of a freight train is passing through the bedroom, right next to the bed. I get up, pull up the USGS site and lo and behold an earthquake of 5.2 unofficially struck. How the child managed to sleep through it is beyond me. A few minutes later, the seismograph recording had been reviewed and it was upgraded to a 5.6 making it the largest earthquake in recorded history for Oklahoma. That was also time change night, where we were supposed to get an extra hour of sleep. Pretty sure that didn't happen for most people living in the states that felt it - TX, KS, AR, and reports some in NE.
Sunday night was pretty quiet, but Monday night brought us another earth moving experience and a few tornadoes, which yes the child managed to sleep though. Oklahoma is now officially the home of the Quakenado.
Personally, I am ready to move.
After surgery, we went to breakfast at Braums and then did a little bit of shopping. Aiden was starving and ate a side of scrambled eggs, bacon and some hashbrowns. Since he was doing so well, he went to school on Friday and had OT after school.
The weekend was supposed to have been uneventful. However Oklahoma sits on a few fault lines. And we had earthquakes. Not the typical magnitude of 3 or less we normally have and no one feels. Nope, big ones. The record earthquake in Oklahoma was a magnitude 5.2 in El Reno (western OK) on the Meers Fault line back in the 50s. Was being the operative word here. Saturday morning, I woke up and watched the news in which they informed me that we had a 4.7 shaker that I apparently slept through. Okay fine, didn't feel any after shocks the rest of the day. Then I went to bed....
Did you know that an earthquake starts off sounding a lot like thunder? Then it gets freaky sounding. Oh crap, here we go. Now keep in mind, I know that OK has earthquakes all the time. I keep track of what the United States Geological Society posts. I'm like addicted to their website. I also knew that we weren't scheduled any thunder storms over the weekend.
The next thing I know the equivalent of a freight train is passing through the bedroom, right next to the bed. I get up, pull up the USGS site and lo and behold an earthquake of 5.2 unofficially struck. How the child managed to sleep through it is beyond me. A few minutes later, the seismograph recording had been reviewed and it was upgraded to a 5.6 making it the largest earthquake in recorded history for Oklahoma. That was also time change night, where we were supposed to get an extra hour of sleep. Pretty sure that didn't happen for most people living in the states that felt it - TX, KS, AR, and reports some in NE.
Sunday night was pretty quiet, but Monday night brought us another earth moving experience and a few tornadoes, which yes the child managed to sleep though. Oklahoma is now officially the home of the Quakenado.
Personally, I am ready to move.
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