Unfiltered Raw Honey

I read that if you apply Unfiltered Raw Honey to your skin if you have a cut it will act like an antibiotic. So last night we tried this on Lynda's skin where she has these staph pustules. Then we covered them with wet socks and then dry socks. This morning to my surprise the pustules were just a red spots on her skin. A pustule basically looks like a pimple. The yellowish head on the pustules were gone. We are going to do this again tonight. Now that I know this works when we just see one pustule we will pull the honey out of the cabinet put some on her skin and then put on a bandaid.

Take care and God bless

Skin Infection

Lynda does have a staph skin infection. We are keeping her skin covered and she is on antibiotics.

The First Day of School- 2009!

The first day of school is an anxious one for any parent. The rush of emotions, glee, sadness, excitement, worry and pride. But for a child with food allergies (and their parents), all these emotions are multiplied. A new teacher, kids and maybe even a new school that has to get used to your child, understand their "rules" and learn to live with the differences. We are very blessed to be in the Center Point-Urbana School District (CPU) and they have a wonderful staff, and excellent nurse and kitchen staff as well as understanding parents and classmates. That being said it does not mean that all is always rosy. Lynda's skin flared 2 days before school started. With this mild summer we have had we have been blessed that she has not had much to report on the eczema side of things, but the humidity hit like a freight train a few days ago when the reality of Aug finally hit. So through careful planning and enacting "the plan" Lynda looks great on her first day of school. (see picture above) It took 2 days of wet wraps, face included, and her daycare provider doing the same while her parents were at work. You never know what each day will bring, except the smile of your beautiful child. So those with allergies, eczema or asthma please know your hard work is worth it everyday. It can be frustrating, hard emotionally for your child if they are teased or made fun of, but know that you and the strength of the Lord will pull you both through.

Check List for the Start of School:
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* Meet with the Administration- share your story, what it takes to keep your child safe and what you would like to see
* Be flexible- the plan you had may not work for the school as a whole- work with the staff at your school to come up with an alternative or compromise.
* Know your school nurse- make sure she has a list of your child's allergies, triggers and issues
* Make sure the school knows how to get a hold of you. Cell Phones, Pagers e-mail etc.
* If your child is highly allergic to certain things and they could come in contact with them in the course of their education, have a plan for gloves or masks to protect your child.
* Find out if there are other children in your school with the same issues, maybe you could start a small support group or have someone to discuss issues or ideas with.
* Suggest to your school that rewards should not be about food and to use food items as little as possible in their curriculum. i.e. using M&M's to learn counting.
* Start a PAL program in your classroom- your child's classmates need to understand how to help keep your child safe as well.
* Use on-line resources- share them with your district- they don't know what they don't know. This is your time to be an educator.
* Take Epi-Pen trainers to the school- Give them to the teachers, lunch staff and nursing staff so they know what to do should that time come.
* Create a safe zone for your child in the lunch room- Don't segregate children with food allergies, just create a safe zone on your child's table.
* Meet with the District Nutrition Director and staff, chances are they have not been trained in cross contamination. Help them help you- teach them how to keep your child safe.

I hope these back to school tips help. If you ever have any questions- post to the blog, send us your e-mail we will do what we can to help.

Have a great new School Year!

The Taylor's

Eczema flare and possible skin infection

Lynda's skin has flared up. It also looks like there might be a skin infection starting. Of course this would have to happen the weekend before school starts. We are wet wrapping and bathing three times a day to get her skin under control before school starts. We don't want her to miss the first day of school, but to keep her physically and emotionally healthy that might just be the route we take.

Lynda is becoming very aware that her skin is different from everyone else. She prefers to wear long sleeve shirts and pants. Her arms and legs are easy to cover up but when her entire face is affected that makes life much more difficult for her to deal with. She will ask to have her hair down to cover her face. She wants to wear her big sunhat and glasses.

Lynda needs a friend that goes to her school that has eczema too. Someone she can relate too. That way she does not feel like she is the only one that is different.

Callie's Birthday Party!

Boy the summer has flown by and we have been so busy we did not mention Callie's birthday party. We had a blast and Callie wanted a cupcake cake, so dad found one. We invited over all the cousins and kids from the neiborhood. The picture shows how center of attention Callie was. Did I mention she is a Hanna Montana superfan? She had a blast and fun was had by all. We had a record July as no place in the state of Iowa reached 90 degrees on any day, so with nice weather we were able to have the party outside on the 20th of July without melting away!

Have a great summer, we will be talking Back to School tips shortly- 2 weeks until school starts... whew, where did the summer go?


The Taylor's

The Blank Park Zoo

A couple weeks ago the family took a day trip to Des Moines and the Blank Park Zoo. Sean & Laurie had both grown up in Iowa and never been there. It was a pretty impressive zoo by all accounts. Lynda and Callie had a blast watching the sea lions, the feeding penguins and see the Lions and Tigers and Bears. We walked around for hours checking out the various animals- birds and general wildlife. We had a snack at the snack bar and enjoyed the cool July weather.