Why I Write

Hello, my name is Jen.  I am a realist, and glass half full kind of gal.  I always root for the under dog and still want to believe in happily ever afters.  My life is an open book, filled with  laughter, pain, mistakes and love.  I am a wife to a wonderful man, we celebrate 18 years of marriage next week.  I have 4 beautiful children.  Tyler is our oldest, he's an athletic preteen, Leighton is our 10 year old scientist, Addison is our 6 year old who is waiting for us in Heaven, and lastly Joe he's my 5 year old bonus package.  I recently have become a dog person because of our puppy, Penny!

The reason I wanted to start this blog because I needed an outlet.  I am a believer that when you go through something it's only to help others.  I am by no means a self proclaimed writer, nor do I profess to have all the answers.  I believe that success is not in the destination but rather the journey.  I would like to share with you our bumps and success in our journey.

My youngest was diagnosed with severe eczema, asthma, food and environmental allergies.  The past 5 years has been a tough road.  Yes, having children is a blessing and I am grateful for mine.  As a parent I want the best for my kids, and to protect them, and keep them from anything that causes pain or discomfort.  The most horrific feeling is when your child is in pain and you are helpless.  I've spent countless nights awake trying to figure out a way to help Joe.  I've spent hours upon hours surfing the web trying to find him relief.  I've read many books, and have been to several doctors.

Thankfully we have a pretty good handle on his diet.  Joe is gluten, milk, egg, goat milk, tree nut, peanut, rye, and barley free.  Our family has adjusted our diets according to what Joe can eat.  For example, I make gluten free pasta, tomato sauce and ground beef for everyone.  I'll make a salad with dairy cheese and dressing on the side.  And make garlic bread for the the rest of the family.  I will expand more about his diet in another passage.

The asthma is pretty well controlled.  He has spent a couple times in the ICU because of it.  His biggest triggers are when he gets a cold.  Again, we can chat about that later.

Recently, his eczema has been out of control.  The dermatologist wanted to put him on a drug called methotrexate.  This drug controls rheumatoid arthritis and is a chemo pill for cancer patients.  I couldn't believe my doctor became upset with me when I declined the treatment!  All I kept imagining was my little boy in his tiny body receiving such a powerful scary drug.  If you have used this drug I am not condemning you, please don't think that.

After declining the methotrexate drug his doctor talked to me about light therapy.  Light therapy simply put is the good UVB rays from the sun.  How does it help?  It helps reduce inflammation in the skin.  It looks like a tanning bed that you walk into and has a door.  You are only inside the chamber for seconds or minutes depending on your skin color.  Since Joe is darker complected he was started out at 2 minutes.  They say it takes 10-30 treatments to see results.  We are committed to 12 weeks.

Day 1 of Light Therapy:

Light therapy is a tremendous time commitment.  You have to commit to two or three days a week to go to therapy.  We live about 25 minutes away from the doctors office, and their parking is crappy.  However, the nurse that helps us is very patient and helpful.  I would love to tell you that all went well on our first visit. BUT...I don't like to fib!  Our first appoint we waited an hour to be seen.  Now an adult is capable of waiting an hour, Joe's 5!  Thankfully he was pretty reserved during our wait, but I on the other had was like a caged lion.  When it was our turn the nurse quickly defused my annoyance for them running behind schedule.

We get back to the tiny room, with this huge chamber that looked pretty intimidating.  The process to get into start the light therapy is to under dress to your skibbies, and put on a pair of  protective googles.  I also lathered him up with coconut oil.  Then next several moments took my breath away, because he's so small and those light bulbs were huge!  He began crying and screaming.  I did my best to keep my composure.  Tho, he was only in there for 2 minutes it seemed longer.  It was pretty warm in that room, and they turned a fan on for Joe, but the noise made him pretty unsettled.  The nurse calmed him down and gave him stickers.  I assured him we were trying to make the itchiness to go away. Here are a couple before pictures.

Day 2 of Light Therapy:

It was a tough morning getting Joe to the doctor.  Leighton rode along with us, I thought having a big brother tag along would help ease the scariness.  This visit we didn't wait long to be seen.  It quickly became a war zone back in that little room.  Poor Joe looked at me and said "I love you, please don't make me go in there"  Talk about breaking my heart!  After a few minutes we got him to go in, and he cried the whole two minutes.  I promised him a toy for his braveness at the end of each week.  So after the doctor's appointment off to Target we went!  Don't judge me, everyone likes retail therapy.
Our next appointment is Monday.  They told me it would take about 10 treatments to see results, but his skin is starting to soften up already!  I am also a believer that with God all things are possible!

I hope you all are having a great weekend!  I will update you later on next week about our treatments.

Thanks for reading!

xoxo,
Jen