It's been just over one year...
Since the little red itchy rash appeared on the back of Lucas' neck right before a trip to the lake to celebrate my dad's birthday in June
And that spot didn't stop there...it began an all consuming issue for our family. From medicines and creams to an allergist and dermatologist after seeing his pediatrician with a food trial taking away soy, dairy, and egg...we finally came to the conclusion that Lucas has eczema. He scratched until he bled, his scratches got infected, it was literally from head to toe. My poor sweet boy was miserable, although you wouldn't truly know it, he was still happy, but you could see it. There was one point in which we were at an appt almost every week or every other week. It was hard, taxing, upsetting, and so draining on us all. It was even harder with Andrew being away for work Sun-Thurs for a couple of months, but we pushed through. We prayed, we researched, we made appts, he took meds and we tried different lotions and creams. We literally changed and tried so many things, it was very life changing. When the food trials didn't help, we realized he has eczema, which has no 'cure'. His eczema does flair up more, like when he rolls on the dogs because that is his biggest trigger.
For about 6 months we worked to find what worked or helped, and finally the answer seems to be zyrtec each morning and benadryl each night. We found that the Aveeno Eczema Therapy lotion helped heal the scratches and ease the pain. And somewhere around Dec. it seemed to slowly just disappear. There are still spots that appear and he still scratches but it is NOTHING like what we experienced last summer. We hope and pray it never returns to that level.
Above you can see the difference if you look at our sweet boy. Sadly, in the picture on the left you can definitely tell he doesn't feel well and in fact after our Chick fil A date that day we were headed to the dermatologist. This was one of his really bad days, swollen, red, itchy and yet 99% of the time he had the greatest disposition on it all, but it was a task keeping an 18 month old from scratching. Most of that summer he spent his days and nights in long sleeve, zip up pjs to keep him scratching his skin. Our friends and family were so helpful, especially for my sanity, because most of this fell to me with Andrew starting a new job. I emotionally was so exhausted and then to find out in August we were expecting baby 2 only added to the exhaustion. I cried, I prayed and prayed and prayed, I researched, I made appts and went to appts, (not to mention he broke his arm in all of this in Oct that year), and I cried and prayed some more. In the midst of it all I trusted God.
A year later I can say Lucas and his eczema are much better. There are still days where he scratches and days where he flairs up, but nothing like last summer-and for that, I am so grateful. We are so blessed and I praise God for the relief and healing. Our Lord gave us strength when we felt hopeless, and although we don't have an answer or a fool proof solution, we do have improvement. I also pray he grows out of it, as lots of kids do. I am so thankful for the strides he's made and improvements, and I pray it continues!
