Lindsey on steroids

Yeah, as if Lindsey weren't interesting enough just as she is, we've now got her on steroids.  For months now, she's had these odd sores or rashes on the back of one leg.  I thought they'd go away after the winter when the air wasn't so dry, but they're still there.  A few weeks ago, I took her to the pediatrician, who kind of threw up her hands and said that maybe it was an infection.  I didn't think so, but I dutifully gave her both the oral and the topical antibiotics that the doctor prescribed.

Nothing got better.  The next step was a dermatologist, who also kind of threw up her hands and said, in essence, "Dunno.  Maybe some type of eczema, although it would be odd for someone to suddenly develop eczema at nine years of age.  Does she have a family history of eczema?"  And thus we faced a challenge that's going to come up from time to time for the kids.  It's easy for us to find out the answers to those questions for Lindsey, but it will be pretty much impossible for Tanner.  He'll just have to assume he has a family history of everything.  Maybe genetic screening will become widespread in time for him to avoid having a colonoscopy when he's thirty years old because we don't know if he has a family history of colon cancer.

Anyway, the dermatologist prescribed a pretty powerful steroid cream and said, "Now, the pharmacist is going to tell you that you absolutely shouldn't use this for more than a week, but go ahead and use it for two or three weeks.  It'll be fine."  Uh, okay.  In the meantime, I'm checking with Lindsey's birth parents to see if there's a family history of eczema.  If these steroids don't work, the next step is a biopsy, which I expect won't be particularly fun.  Fingers crossed for the steroids.