When will I learn?

I keep waiting for things to "calm down" around here so that we can enjoy a respite from discomfort, sickness, crises and drama. HA! I think I'm finally getting it through my head that life, especially with two little guys, a husband that works 14 hours a day and an extended family full of its own issues, will never provide more than a moment of external peace.

On Friday, Sir H has a rash behind his ears that was itchy, and we went in to Dr. Jesus, Jr., who pronounced it a heat rash and gave us a topical cream. By Monday, it had spread to his forearms and elbows, his knees and lower legs, his lower back, his feet, including the bottoms of his feet and his fact - including into his ears. So sad. It was abundantly clear that it was eczema, and we haven't seen an outbreak of eczema since he was about 2 years old (he's 3 1/2 now). So, back we went to Dr. JJ. He's also been having spontaneous nosebleew (excuse me, The Bear is helping blog) nosebleeds for weeks, sometimes three in a night. On top of the seasonal allergies with which he's already struggling, the eczema was the proverbial straw. So, I made an appointment with a doctor who will, I hope, prove to be an ideal amalgam of allopathic and natural medicine. He is an MD, so is able to prescribe and has Western training, but also believes strongly in what has been termed "complementary medicine", a term that encompasses the best of herbal treatments, accupuncture, supplements and chiropractics, among other techniques.

The hardest thing will be changing our diet. From what I understand, the most common triggers of eczema and allergies are dairy, an overgrowth of candida (caused by many things, including too much added sugar) and wheat. Instead of getting terribly overwhelmed and trying to throw away all our food and start from scratch, my first step will be to phase out dairy, and cut back on sugar. I already try to be diligent about buying foods without high fructose corn syrup, so I'm hoping a gradual approach to our new diet will be relatively painless.

So, last night (Saturday), the family went into the city and when we got back, Sir H inexplicably decided to wrap his hand around the exhaust pipe. I think t'was the scream heard 'round the world, poor boy. After a few phone calls to Dr. JJ and the hospital nurse line, we decided to take him to the ER since the burn is on his palm. He's so brave, he sat and waited like a trooper. We took my laptop and watched movies while we waited for the doctors to help us. They were so sweet and complimentary and kind to my precious boy, and slathered him in some silver sulfadiazine cream and dressed his hand up in some gauze. We went to a 24-hour pharmacy to fill a prescription for some helpful pain medicine and cruised around the aisles, randomly picking things up in order to buy them while we waited. $40 of crap and fifteen minutes later, we were on our way home. Today, he's racing around like he's Superman, which is quite possible. Apparently, burning hot exhaust pipes and mummy hands are not his Kryptonite.