Sick & Twisted

On Friday I woke up sick. The day did not progress very far before it became apparent to me that I could not cope. So Dayne came home from work for the afternoon to take care of me and the kids. I had some kind of flu but without the vomiting, just aching body,horribly sore throat, dizziness, and chills. Then it seemed to sign off that night with a "steamy" fever, one that kept me uncomfortable all night. The fever broke the next day after my great sister-in-law, Andrea, came and picked up my two older kids. So anyway, by the afternoon, I was dying to get out of the house (hadn't been out all week). So we went over to Dayne's brother's condo to help him with an issue (that's what the Godbolds do, projects). That night I was feeling hungry again, so Dayne made sushi (Granger and Anne taught us how). By then Dayne was coming down with a soar throat also. Needless to say, Sunday was another day spent at home, and the kids barely escaped with their lives (none of them sick, by the way, just as active as can be and noisy as ever). So now I am recovering and Dayne, being spared from the worst of the illness, is back at work, hopefully not pushing too hard. Now I just have to deal with the aftermath, the house the kids destroyed like a natural disaster.

Meanwhile, amonst all the adults laying around in a stupor and children causing chaos, we found that Dakotah's eczema took a turn. I have been off dairy and sugar now for 2 weeks, and it has been looking like it has made a difference. Her skin turned back to its normal pale, and she had dry skin but it was not erupting anymore. I noticed that her druling left her shirt fronts very wet, but I was watching around her collar. It was red but not too bad. Then last night we found this:

Pretty nasty, huh! It's behind her ear too.

These little blisters have appeared like little zits in random places. At first I thought it was a bug bite, but I soon realized it was the eczema. We don't have insurance until the end of the month, so I am trying to figure out what to do next. We tried corn starch, but it did nothing to stop the oozing, just clumped up, lotions and creams won't stick because of the wetness. She sleeps with her arms up, so we put her to bed shirtless to let it dry out, but it was the same this morning. I figure it got worse in those spots because she was wet from druling and never could dry out. I have never seen skin this reactive before. The other two had a little eczema but nothing like this.

As bad as it looks, though, it's a testiment to what a sweet baby she is. She only cried when we rub the area. The only trouble we've had is that it took a little longer to put her back to sleep the last couple nights. But last night she only woke twice, which is an improvement from what she was doing lately. She smiles and watches the kids and plays contentedly for long periods of time, then cries when hungry, tired, or in need of a diaper change. I couldn't ask for a sweeter disposition.