Just One Question

Logan had his first visit to the allergy specialist this morning to have his stubborn eczema checked out. While I was relieved that he didn't need to get poked a million times (as I recall pretty clearly how delightful painful that was when I had it done at age 9), I feel a bit silly, because it turns out that the best solution for really dry skin isn't less bathing, as I had always thought. It might be helpful to note that even our pediatrician, a wonderful doctor, dropped the ball on this one because she had previously confirmed my misconception and I had continued to do the exact opposite of what the allergy specialist said to do: "hydration therapy." I know, it sounds like something you might do after a particularly tough week, but apparently it's a fancy way of saying "give your kid a bath every day and then slather him with lots of moisturizer 6-10 times a day!" And apparently, the moisturizer of choice is something called Vanicream, which I have not heard of before, but he says they use it to cure the most horrific sounding cases of eczema and it's by far the best available. His second choices were Eucerin or Aquaphor, both of which we have tried so I guess it's time to bring out the big guns. He also has a prescription for a different steroid cream than the one we tried from the pediatrician and advice to try chewable children's Zyrtec for the itching. We tried the liquid kind previously, but he always spits it out, so I am hopeful that it will work. The problem with the itching is that he opens up the skin. Not fun.

The odd thing about this experience is that I left the office with only one question tumbling around in my head, and it had nothing to do with eczema. Once we were in the room the kids wanted to eat something (no big surprise to any moms reading this), so I got out some Goldfish crackers (can't go anywhere without those). That was when the nurse told me that food wasn't allowed in the office because of all the different allergies that their patients have. This made sense, of course, and I quickly put the snacks away. Then I noticed a small sign near the doorway stating that food wasn't allowed. I just wonder why they don't post that prominently in the waiting room so that people see it when they first walk into the office? There were at least three signs asking parents to make sure their children don't "pound on" or "kick" the "bug table" because it "is for everyone to enjoy" and I even remember reading a little plaque that said, "Laugh and the world laughs with you. Snore and you sleep alone!" But I don't recall any warnings about not bringing food into the office. Isn't making sure people don't become violently ill or go into shock more important than a toy?