My Poor Baby

Alexis has officially been sick more of her life than she has been well. The poor thing just when she gets better she gets something different. Last week she had two bulging ear infections, a mild case of RSV, and an eye infection in both eyes. By Saturday she was back to her normal self and happy and healthy...for two days! Monday afternoon I noticed that she had a little rash on her neck and arm. I figured it was just dry skin, applied some lotion, and I put her down for a nap.

When she woke up I went in and found her like this:
It kind of looked like chicken pox and she had gotten the chicken pox shot two weeks before so I figured it was just because of that. Trent and I talked and decided that if it was worse the next day then I would call the doctor and get her in.

Tuesday morning I go in to get her out of her crib and her fingers are swollen and her little eyes are swollen shut. The poor thing is now covered in a rash and has more red rashy skin than white! In the picture below I didn't just happen to get a picture of her with one eye closed...That's just how it was...swollen shut!I got her in for an appointment and the doctor takes one look at her and says "Wow I have never seen a case this bad before. Your daughter has a minor case of the measles." Um....what?! Are you serious? I'm pretty sure no one has had that disease in like 70 years!
Apparently when she got her MMR (measles shot) 2 weeks ago, instead of fighting off the disease like most children do her body was overwhelmed with it and wasn't able to fight it off so she now has the symptoms of the measles but it isn't contagious or deadly like full blown measles is. Thank goodness!

Instead we just get lots of stares from parents wondering why I am bringing my disease ridden daughter out in public. Believe me...I have gotten LOTS of dirty looks from Mothers. I need a sign to wear that says "She's not contagious...quit staring at us" When I was in the waiting room at the dr's office people would walk in...take one look at us...and then sit as far away on the other side of the room as they could. Awesome.
Good news is she should be all better in no more than 4 days. Bad news is the measles brought back the ear infection that was almost gone so she has bulging ear infections in both ears again. Bring on the drugs! Oh another good thing is the doctor said that she will be able to travel and come in contact with the measles and not get the full blown disease. Which is really good news because we were planning a trip to Nigeria this month and now I won't have to worry about her getting measles.

In the last month we have spent almost $500 in medical bills, co-pays, and medicine...so retarded! So much for a tax refund!! Funny thing is that when the doctor was reviewing her medical history he said "Wow you guys are making it quite the habit to show up here every week for the last 2 months" Here's hoping that the girls get healthy and stay healthy for the rest of the year. Is that really too much to ask? At the rate we are going Erika should come down with polio in the next 2 weeks.