The Newest Bridge To Cross

About a month ago, I got Daisee out of the bathtub, dried her off and dressed her, and sat her down to fix her hair for the day.  As I was combing through, I noticed a patch of hair was gone.  It was about the size of a quarter, and the spot was just as bald as could be.  I really didn't think a whole lot of it.  Little kids lose hair a lot, and part of me just figured that she'd probably rubbed it off or something while she slept. 

A week later, I noticed another spot on the side of her head.  I got to really looking, and noticed that there were lots of these spots, mainly confined to the right side of her scalp.  We called her pediatrician the next day, and he thought it may have been something fungal, going by the information that we had given him.  He wanted to see her the same day, so Craig took her in early on a Friday morning. 

After an exam, he determined that it wasn't a fungal infection, but his initial thoughts were that she had something called Alopecia Areata.  I had already done an internet search the night before trying to figure out what might cause a 2-year-old to have these big spots of baldness and this condition came up repeatedly in my searches.  Its a condition that's kind of all over the board.  The possibilities with it are endless, going from not losing any more hair, to losing ALL of your hair.  You can try steroid injections, or not. You could have patch bald spots, or not.  See what I mean?   The one thing that was consistent was that the earlier you're diagnosed (and 'early' was defined as in your 20s. Daisee is 2), the greater your risk is of losing all of your hair.  So, by the time Dr. Phillips had made his initial guess, I had a little bit of an idea of where we might be going. 

He made a referral to a dermatologist in Birmingham.  Our appointment was yesterday, and Daisee, indeed, has Alopecia.  The doctor did her own exam (...and even during that exam we found a  spot that was brand new.  Dr. Curl could tell based on the amount of redness that was there.) and going on that and her age, she will probably have to deal with this in some form for the rest of her life.  As I said before, its going to be pretty sporadic.  Dr. Curl said that she could wake up one day and have lots of hair gone, or she may go for a year or so and have no change.  The cause of Alopecia is unknown, which makes it hard to treat.  The best way I know to describe it in everyday terms is to say that the immune system, for some reason, sees the hair follicles as foreign, and attacks them, causing them to lose hold of the hair.  So...it falls out. 

Dr. Curl prescribed a routine of a steroid 'wash' to put directly on these spots for the next two weeks.  After that we'll use an anti-inflammatory ointment for two weeks.  We carry on this process for a total of two months and then go back and see her again to see if any progress has been made.

The happy news is that this isn't something that's going to make her sick.  Dr. Curl does have three pediatric patients whose Alopecia was a symptom of an undiagnosed thyroid disease.  She's going to speak with Dr. Phillips about doing some lab work to make sure that this isn't the case with Daisee.  I really don't expect to see anything like that, but you never know.    For now, we'll go with the diagnosis  that doesn't involve real sickness. 

Some people are a little offended when you use the phrase 'it could be worse' when it comes to their child.  However, for us, we've been through the worst with our children before, so I think we have a leg to stand on when we say just that.  Of course, nobody wants to hear that anything is 'wrong' with their baby, so if we had the choice then we'd definitely choose to pass on the whole Alopecia thing.  But, this is what God has given us to deal with, so that's exactly what we'll do.  I realize that hair is important to girls.  I sure don't want Daisee to have to deal with the meanness that sometimes comes with having a condition that affects her looks, but there's lots of options out there these days, you know?  There's all sorts of cute little hats and headbands, and if it gets bad enough she'll get to create her own little look with a wig.  Perfect hair day EVERY day :).

So . . . this is just our newest 'thing'.  Its gonna be ok, just pray with us that we can keep this under control.  Ultimately, how much hair she loses is up to God, and I trust him with that.  My Daisee is such a pretty little thing (if I may say so myself) and no matter what happens, she always will be to her mama and daddy that love her so much.

Love,

I Like The Simple Life . . .

Simplicity - to be simple

Even the definition itself has no flash to it, and it does nothing to draw attention to itself.  Its just a word that has an itsy-bitsy meaning.  Three words . . . that's it.

We've been trying to learn the art of simplicity.  Stuff around our house got CRA-ZY a couple of weeks ago, and it was time for a few things to come to a screeching, whiplash causin' halt.  Really, people.  We just couldn't take it anymore.  Life had really starting wearing all of us down, and we were just too busy with school, church, housework, activities . . . get the picture?  None of this stuff is bad, it was just all driving us crazy.  Craig and I sat down together for a few nights (after a Hiroshima sized emotional outcry from me sitting on the bathroom floor) and tried to come up with some ways to make life not-so-crazy around here . . . and guess what?  These little resolutions are working!  I've learned that I don't have to crawl around on my knees wiping up every little spot on the kitchen floor.  The boys have learned that it really won't leave them oxygen-less if they make a few trips up and down the stairs helping with laundry.  Craig has learned that the receipts can usually pile up for one more day, and Daisee has learned that, well, sometimes its ok to eat tortilla chips for supper (just keeping it real, ok?).  My super-duper mom came over one day and gave me a hand with the school session of the day and helped me kinda get a jumpstart on trying to 'keep' everything done.  By using the word 'keep', I don't mean that my laundry basket has been totally empty or the bed was neatly made every single day, but everything has been manageable.  And as far as our schedules go, don't be surprised to hear a 'no' come from us for a little while.  We've got all the love for you our hearts can hold, but we're in the process of retrieving our minds back from the little green people that took them so try and understand, k?  We've just gotta SLOW DOWN!

Daisee has made the transition from her baby bed to a 'big girl' bed.  I so expected the worst, seeing as how when we first put it in her room she gave a hearty 'get out' while she pointed to this foreign object being placed in her territory.  We left it in there for about a week before we realized she wasn't even thinking about closing her eyes on this contraption as long as her baby bed was still in there.  So, what to do?  We took the baby bed apart and hauled it out of there.  Time to get a little 'cold turkey'.  We braced ourselves for a long night.  However, to our 'could've-knocked-me-over-with-a-feather' surprise, the kid has slept on this thing since the first night her baby bed took the hiatus.  Check out my FB page for the first-day video ( I would post it here, but see FB for the sad story of my phone).  This was taken after she kinda became accustomed to seeing this in her room.

Ryan got his first promotion in CAP.  He's now a cadet airman.  He's been trying to pass his PT's (physical training exercises) for a couple of weeks, so when it got down to the wire, I started taking him out and running with me.  This was the last step he needed for his promotion, and we were determined to get his mile-run time to where it needed to be.  We were still short by a few seconds, but he did so well on his shuttle run that they gave it to him.  I ended up going to the airport and running with him the night of his test (no, I'm not a 'copter mom . . . they encourage parent particiption) and I kinda think they were impressed with his effort, 'cause he definitely worked hard.  I was super proud of him.  He'll be able to attend the official awards ceremony in December, and I probably won't have ANY pictures of that . . . whatever.

Gavin attended his Upward basketball evaluations tonight.  Craig said he did a really good job, and tried super hard at everything.  Gavin wanted to play as long as Craig could be his coach, so we've tried to make sure those things both happen.  This will be the first time that he's participated with any kind of sport, so I'm excited to see what how he does.  Y'all know that Gavin is my 'little big man', and his size may make it a little tough for him to play this particular sport, but I can assure you that he'll put his heart and soul into it.  Gavin knows to do nothing less with most things he does.  Sweet, sweet kid, he is.  I can't wait for his first game in a few weeks.  Wait for the world-famous underdog video when he gets the winning shot :).

Craig still enjoys his new job.  He's really having to get used to being in a smaller office with less, however, much more close-knit co-workers.  He says everybody there has a character from 'The Office'.  I won't go into a whole lot of detail on that, but if you know any of those characters, well, then you might actually would like hanging out with Craig for the day.  Seriously, though, he enjoys working with everybody there and is continuing to enjoy NOT driving to Birmingham every day.  Most days he's able to pick up Daisee from dayschool and bring her home, so we're all able to have lunch together.  Good stuff.

So, as for me, I'm totally excited to see some size 10 pants in my dresser drawers.  I'm so not being over-dramatic when I say that I absolutely can't remember the last time I wore a size 10.  I mean, did I EVER?  Last January I seriously started an effort to try and get healthy, and thanks to the support of a fabuloso man, the staff and equipment at Fitness One, and especially the GOOD LORD, I've reached my goal.  That's not to say that I wouldn't mind shedding a few more pounds, but my main plan right now is just to maintain.  I'm hoping that doing this won't be too hard to do.  I've purposely tried not to change the way I eat, simply because I like to eat and I LOVE to cook.  Restrictive dieting puts so many limits on you, and that just wasn't realistic for me.  I guess I just started making myself more aware of what and how much of what I eat, and just doing that made a little difference, I think.  The biggest contributor, though, was just starting a consistent exercise program.  I combined weight training with lots of cardio, and now I can't imagine NOT doing any kind of exercise.  I just feel better, you know?  I know that a size 10 isn't what the models are wearing, but a size 2 or 4 just isn't me.  If I looked like that people would wonder where the rest of me was hiding.  My goal is just to be healthy according to my own standards, and that's what's important. 

Ok, so my plug for today is for you guys to sit down and re-evaluate life.  If you've left your keys in the freezer at any time during the last week, you may be too busy.  When you find your keys, take some time with somebody you love, or, even better, just with GOD, and go to the park.  Walk around, look at the changing leaves, and resolve to find the enjoyment of just BREATHING for a while! 

Love,