Some Answered Prayers

I'm sure you're dying to know the latest in my skin crisis. Let me give you the lowdown:

First of all, let me just say that it feels weird to be spending this much time and energy thinking about my skin, but I can't help it.

After posting about it on my blog, my SIL left a comment with some very practical and helpful suggestions. I think in the midst of my emotional breakdown I didn't think about what I could do BEFORE my Dec. dermatologist appt to advocate for myself a little bit. So, I called the derm office on Sunday afternoon while I was in tears and left a long message about what was going on and basically begged them to call me back and see me sooner. On Monday morning, I truly had an answer to prayer and the office called back and they were willing to see me... THAT SAME DAY! Yes! I got into the derm TODAY! What a major answer to prayer, considering it took me almost 8 weeks to get the December appt. His conclusions are:

**I originally had perioral dermatitis (a college friend left a comment suggesting as much. Lisa, maybe you should quit your day job and become a dermatologist!) He doesn't believe I ever had pregnancy induced eczema.

**I should have never gone on the topical steroid. My skin became addicted and is now going through withdrawal. This addiction combined with the original dermatitis condition has caused my skin to flare and "wig out". (My words, not his.) Steroid induced rosacea is what he's diagnosing.

**I'll stay on the tetracycline, but now he's replaced the metrogel with an ointment called protopic, and has also added a lotion called clindamycin.

**Timeline: he says within 2-3 weeks I should notice quite an improvement. I am praying that he's right, and that things might begin to recover sooner than that.

**Breastfeeding: Some info I read online conflicts with what I was told about not being able to breastfeed. I've got a call in to the pediatrician to see what she recommends. In the meantime, I'll continue to pump (and save rather than dump just in case it's okay). The dermatologist said that when I see him in Dec., he may pull me off the meds that are preventing me from bfeeding if things are looking good.

**UPDATE**

The pediatrician called me last night at 10:15 and spent almost 40 min with me on the phone. While there are some possible side effects associated with the tetracycline, she said the benefits of bf FAR outweigh the risks of the small amount of medicine that gets passed on to Luke. Her quote, "The only reason I would recommend stopping bf for you right now would be if your breast was going to fall off because of it!" Such a relief and another answer to prayer!

Bring on the boob...and hopefully the skin healing, too!