Scabies

Tuesday morning when I changed Lilly's diaper I noticed a couple bumps behind her leg. They were red and almost looked like an ingrown hair. The next time I changed her diaper, she had many more bumps on her legs. When I put her in the bath that night, she was covered in red bumps down her arms and all over her back. I worried it was chicken pox, she hasn't had the chicken pox immunization and will not until she is 12 months old. Some of the red bumps were blistery and others were small like hives, I was very worried and waited til morning when I could call in for an appointment. By morning, the bumps had spread to her stomach. Go figure I couldn't be seen until 11:30 the first available appointment. We arrived right on time and waited and waited to see the doctor.

The doctor finally saw us over an hour later. Lilly has also had a cold and cough, I didn't know if the two were related usually with chicken pox (accd to Google) the child has a fever, although Lilly didn't have one. The doctor said I think she has scabies. Huh? Never heard of that.

What are scabies? Scabies are little bugs (mites that burrow under the skin and cause severe itching and little red bumps. They are so small that they can only be seen with a microscope. They rarely attack the skin above the neck, except in the case of infants. Usually more than one person in a family has scabies.Lilly did get 5 or 6 bites on her face but for the most part they didn't attack above the neck.

Scabies can take 30 days to develop after exposure. So where'd she get exposed? Who knows but most likely one us was the carrier and we didn't react like she did. SO everyone living in the house should be treated before they develop a rash.

What's the treatment? We (all 6 of us)  took a bath and then applied permethrin a cream a to every square inch of the body from the neck down, except for sweet Lilly she had to put it in her hair also. Don't forget the navel, between the toes or other creases even leave some under the fingernails.

The following morning we ALL had to wash off the cream with another bath.  The treatment killed the mites now just the fun part.

Oh and you have to clean your house. Machine wash ALL sheets, pillowcases, underwear, pj's recently worn clothing, blankets in HOT water. Scabies cannot live outside the human body for more than 3 days.

So Wednesday afternoon, I started laundry. AGAIN. Tuesday was laundry day.

 

The picture just doesn't do the piles and piles of laundry. I really did laundry for 3 days straight. It's winter and so every quilt sheet and blanket per bed had to be washed. Can you see Lilly in the mounds of laundry? She really has been so sweet and such a trooper, she doesn't know to itch so I've been giving her benedryl to help the itch and applying hydro cortisone cream. 3 days later the redness has faded but the bumps are still there. They could last 4-6 weeks.

I'm extremely grateful for a washer and dryer. Heck they are going on 14 years old. I pray they keep on washing and drying. Scabies has made me appreciate being healthy more. I'm so grateful for doctors and  modern medicine, even at $155 the cream was worth every penny. I'm grateful that we've been healthy this winter, just coughs and runny noses. I pray we continue to be healthy.