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,