Changes

When I wrote last month, I never dreamed of the changes in my children that would come so quickly. Almost overnight, Nate's feet turned terribly bad - blisters everywhere that need popping several times a day. The blisters were extensions of his regular calluses and turned his feet into a raw, mushy, painful mess.

I thought maybe the warmer spring weather might have affected Nate, but since Sam was actually walking much better, I couldn't totally attribute Nate's problems to that. There were also no noticeable changes in his lifestyle, no new shoes, shoes, nothing. Nate limped terribly and it broked my heart to see him in so much pain. This is the worst I have ever seen his feet. For the first time ever, I watched as he sidelined himself from activities he loves. I also hated the hopeless feeling I had because everything I was trying wasn't working (and I was trying everything I could think of!) and his feet remained in awful shape.

Nate's feet showed no obvious signs of infection - no redness around the blisters or red streaks in the skin, no thick, colored pus. (The fluid from the blisters was always clear and we tried to keep needles sterile and the blisters clean.) However, because I was feelings so helpless, I made an appointment with Dr. Leachman, our family dermatologist to have a look at Nate's feet. I wasn't sure what she could do because I could see no obvious infection, but I was out of ideas.

But then, I was almost embarrassed when we went to the doctor's because Nate had been home from school for a few days and the mushy blisters were starting to dry up. I was starting to wonder if it was a wasted trip. Fortunatedly, it was the best decision of all. Dr. Leachman saw signs I didn't see. See also took some cultures of his feet. As it turned out, Nate had two different strains of infection in his feet. The infections might not have been obvious to me, but they were there, causing havoc.

This totally knocked out my belief that an infection is only manifested by redness and colored, stinky pus. Nate definitely needed an antibiotic to get his feet under control. Within a week, his feet looked much better - back to his "normal" calluses. He was even walking again without the terrible limp he'd been walking with for the past several weeks.

Interestingly enough, Sam was walking around quite well. My boys really did switch places in the way PC was affecting them. Another thing, though Sam's feet had been doing really well, he did have a toe that was red. I couldn't tell for sure if the original problem was with the nail or the skin around it but they both areas looked bad and there was some pus in the thin layer of skin surrounding it. It was such a small spot, I wondered if it was worth a trip to the doctor. But I figured since Dr. Leachman was seeing Nate, I might as well make an appointment for Sam at the same time. It was a good thing I did because Dr. Leachman took one look at Sam and pronounced he needed an antibioitic too. This one was red and it was close to the bone. She explained once again, the importance of not messing around with infections.

You know, I often think because I have PC that I know quite a bit. This experience has taught me that I'm still learning. I also still need the help of a doctor on occasion, and I should never feel badly about taking my kids in and trying to get the best help for them. I also need to remember that regardless of what I see with my eyes, and whether or not what I see fits with my current knowledge, my mother's intuition is often the best "advice" to follow - even if it means getting help above and beyond what I can give.