18 Months Later – The Crazy Eczema Mom
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| Before Dr Aron |
I can’t believe it’s been 18 months already! I really did mean to write this blog post earlier, it was supposed to be an “Aronversary” post (Dr Aron Anniversary) but life happens. Funny how much time I now have on my hands, not having to constantly worry about bleach bathing, wet wrapping and smearing on every cream under the sun! When people ask how on earth I managed to enjoy life when Tomato had severe eczema? I can answer quite honestly that I didn’t enjoy life at all, it was an endless struggle of coping, by putting one foot in front of the other, but no more! The “dark days of eczema” are behind us. It has now been a year and a half since I discovered Dr Aron and his amazing regimen, and our lives have changed completely, so it’s time for a fun, happy post, where I throw myself under the bus (for your entertainment) and share all the cray-cray things I did in an attempt to get help for my little girl before finding Dr A.
Tomato does not like to talk about her eczema, so it really has become a distant bad memory. What brought it home for me today, and prompted me to write this follow-up, is that the mornings are getting cold here in South Africa, so Tomato wore tights to school for the first time since starting the Aron Regimen. When she got home she took them off and looked incredulous as they slid off her legs! I laughed at the look on her face and asked her what she was thinking and she replied “look, they just come right off!” I was puzzled and asked what she meant. She reminded me of how the tights used to stick to her eczema wounds and I would put her in the bath after school, with her stockings on, to soak and soften the scabs underneath and then gently peel the tights off trying not to damage her skin and make her bleed too badly. Sometimes, when it was too painful, I would be forced to cut the material off around the wounds, cutting slowly around each stuck area with tiny nail scissors and she would walk around with black bits of material stuck to the wounds. I had completely blocked out forgotten this horror and had no idea that that is why she didn’t want to wear stockings last year, like her sister. Look how far we have come!
My story has been well-documented in various blog posts that I have written, prior to, and after finding Dr Aron. Some of the earlier posts were really horrible, I battle to read them myself and the photos take me back to a time that I would rather forget. Click on the following links if you’d like to see them or catch up on our eczema trials and tribulations:
Is Avene the Miracle that we’ve been waiting for?
The Day I found Dr Aron and Our Healing Journey Began
3 Months Later after starting with Dr Aron
Crazy Mom
I’m not completely mad, I promise but remember desperate times call for desperate measures, and we were desperate!
The time when Tomato was put under anesthetic to have a tooth filled and I begged the anesthetist if I could come into the theatre while she was knocked out and put cortisone (steroid) cream on her bleeding skin so that she wouldn’t be aware of it burning. After a quick psychological analysis (later I learned that I was being assessed to see if I would freak out seeing my child lying lifeless on an operating table, because once the anesthetic kicks in and the child goes limp, some parents can’t deal with it) I was allowed to apply the steroids all over her and the nurses helped! [note to self: it is VERY freaky to see your child under anesthetic, when their limbs are limp and heavy and they look dead!]
*****
The time when, because of Tomato’s eczema-induced anxiety, when the Naturopath needed 21 vials of blood, I asked the same anaesthetist mentioned above (she’s never forgotten me) to put Tomato under anaesthetic to draw the blood. I felt like I was on Gray’s Anatomy, suited up, passing blood vials to the anaesthetist, who was taking the blood, and I was re-attaching the mask on my daughter’s face every time she began surfacing (it was a light anaesthetic) all the while watching her heart rate and oxygen levels which couldn’t dip below certain levels. Then I grabbed the samples and ran outside to hubby who was waiting in the “getaway car” to get the blood to the lab within the 30 minute window period for one of the more sensitive tests. We were both nervous wrecks!
*****
Then the time I told a well-respected Dermatologist that he was “sick in his head” when he told me to hold my screaming 4 year old down and cream her even though it burned her! When I looked horrified and Tomato started sobbing and crept further into the corner of his room with big eyes, he condescendingly asked who the adult was in the situation, making out that it was my fault as I was bigger and stronger than her so it shouldn’t be a problem to overpower her. I almost left without paying – how cruel. On the upside, as I was paying Tomato was clinging to my leg and shaking and said “Mommy that doctor was very scary” and I said loudly so that the whole waiting room could hear “Don’t worry Sweetie, that doctor is an idiot and we’re not going to do anything he said we should!” (Maybe this is why people remember me, and not in a good way!”)
*****
The times when I was so desperate for time out, I would leave the house as soon as hubby came home to take over and go to the supermarket. I would take a trolley and walk up and down the aisles of the supermarket crying my eyes out. I’m sure the staff thought I was insane as I would be in the store for ages, covering every square inch many times, but never buying anything, just crying for my little girl who was screaming from the bath water and ripping her skin apart at home.
*****
Then the time when I was convinced that Tomato was allergic to water because she was fine until she put a toe into the bath and then the itching would start. I was investigating different ways to clean her little body without water. She was getting dirtier and dirtier while I tried different waterless techniques!
*****
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| Spraying Avene Thermal Water on her mythical RSS |
Then the time I was told she had Red Skin Syndrome (RSS which is a total myth) because her skin looked sunburned, but her skin was red and sore because of the bacteria. I spent hours putting tissue paper all over her body and spraying her cool with Avene thermal water to cool her down. She looked like a wet mummy!! Great in summer, but winter was not so much fun.
*****
Then the time when, twice daily I would hide a big squeeze of steroid cream in the Vaseline jar (because they look alike) so that Tomato couldn’t see that it was Advantan Fatty Ointment (steroid), as I applied it to her many bleeding areas. She hated all the creams, so I had to be devious.
*****
Then the time I took Tomato to a spiritual healer. Tops were swung, mirrors were waved around, stones were thrown, energy was moved around and there was a lot of “hand swishing”” around her. She was sent home with natural probiotics and herbs.
*****
Then the time I took Tomato to a hypnotherapist. She would NOT look at the pendulum and refused point blank to even try. She just kept her eyes shut. Money.Well.Spent. I then Googled hypnotherapy scripts to read to her while she slept (which was hardly ever) telling her that she should be calm and not scratch – haha.
*****
Then the time I took Tomato to an Iridologist (they check your eyes). Prognosis: she needed more sleep. Duh!! Seriously??? Don’t you think I know that? She’s scratching all.night.long. She was sent home with Melatonin.
*****
Then the time I had to cut a lock of Tomato’s hair and give it to an exorcist who would remove the bad spirit that had entered her body. This would take place from afar! I’m not kidding! When I say we tried everything, we tried EVERYTHING! I only agreed to this because she didn’t have to go there. Seemed very woo woo to me, I don’t like dealing with this type of thing as I was brought up as a church-goer, but we were desperate.
*****
Then the time I took her to a Body Talk practitioner. I was told to bath her in Avocado oil to heal her skin. I did that and she had a massive flare while still in the bath! But to be honest, I am thankful, as that was the day that I broke down and started looking online for a solution.
*****
Then my absolute favourite blunder of all time…….. telling Dr Aron on the phone that he sounded like a used car salesman because he promised me that, even though everything else I had tried hadn’t worked, his cream would. And when I told him that I had heard it all before and I didn’t think it would be any different this time, he told me I was going to eat those words and I said I would do so with pleasure (because even though I hoped it would work, I didn’t want to be disappointed as I had before.) Today I am happily eating those words and admitting I was wrong!
The crazy list goes on and on and on…….. thank you Dr Aron for not only giving me back my sanity, but giving me back my happy, smiling, itch-free little girl who was lost for 5 and a half years!!
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| Before eczema |
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