Happy Mummy and Happy Mommy!

Halloween is just around the corner, and like most kids mine are trying to decide what they want to be.  For the most part I think it is decided, but with a child you never know when they will change their mind!  This week my youngest son got to dress up as a mummy, but it was not for Halloween.

My youngest son is 6 (and a half as he would say) years old.  The day after he was born he was diagnosed with Atopic Dermatitis, or basically severe eczema. From the day he was born and the doctor handed my little baby over to me he has never had smooth skin.  He has always had what I have called “alligator skin” because that’s what it looked and felt like, so rough and hard and dry.  We have tried so many products and nothing has ever given him relief.  He has itched and scratched his whole life. His skin is so dry at times it would crack open and bleed. He is also sensitive to allergens and products with fragrances or dyes.

This week I am so happy to say his life has changed! We have met an amazing woman who has suffered through the same things with her own son (who is now 3 and who’s skin was so much worse than Levi’s).  We were put into contact with this woman and began talking back in the summer.  She explained to me who she was, and what the process would involve and I got with our doctor to begin the process of getting the prescribed medications and everything he would need for treatment.

This past Sunday, we were finally able to meet.  My son was so relieved, he had been waiting and asking all summer when we could meet her and fix his skin.  And we have not been disappointed!  After using what she has taught us based on her own experience of many doctors and hospitals, I can say for the first time, “My Baby is Smooth!” It has brought tears to my eyes so many times this week watching him and listening to the excitement in his voice.  To hear my little man say that his hands don’t hurt anymore has been amazing!

I asked him how he felt the other day and he told me, “happy.”  I said that’s good, but how does your skin feel?  He thought for a second, then he said, “Well, since it doesn’t hurt or itch it feels like nothing.”  And I began to realize the importance of that statement to a child whose skin has never felt like nothing. For him to not have to think about how he itches, or how it hurts is just unbelievable!

When I met with his doctor this summer and talked about what I was wanting to do for him,  she explained that this treatment would work but that he would hate it, he would fight it, it would be so uncomfortable he wouldn’t want to do it since the process involves sitting in wet clothes for two hours at a time.  WRONG!!!  From the first wrap, he has never hesitated.  (Because of the severity of his dryness he has needed a total of 7 wrapping sessions.) He has even been excited each day to get the process started, that in itself is a statement to how much better he feels.

So while my son does not want to be a mummy for Halloween (even though he sure made a cute one) we are so blessed that he has finally found relief.  We are so blessed for wonderful people in this world who, instead of taking their troubles and hardship and getting upset because of them and turning away from the world, have instead opened their lives up and made it their mission to help as many other children as possible. We thank God for her and her kindness and the change she has brought about in our son’s life. We thank God for our little angel, who despite the roughness of his exterior for so long, has the softest, gentlest heart of anyone I have ever known.  We thank God for him and his happiness!!  This week we have had one happy mummy and one very happy mommy!

God bless you all and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Tiffany