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WordFUL Wednesday

I started spray painting Jordan's furniture last night. Not fun. But, part 1 of the desk is done. Tonight, I am moving on the nightstand. This is going to take me longer than I thought.


I have not been doing great on my exercises and I have figured out why. Avery is waking me up about 4-5 times a night these days. I really spend my whole day very tired and it doesn't help wi

th I exercise because it's as though my body feels like it's just not having any rest. I really don't know why she's doing this, all of the sudden. I have heard around 5 months, they start to wake up to play because they've learned how to babble and play with their feet. I am waiting for her to turn over on her belly because I've heard from a mom that went through the same thing that once her son learned how to do this, he started sleeping much better.

I have had a hard week this week. I know I don't know many of you, so here is a little about me. For as long as I can remember, I've had a skin condition known as psoriasis. Mine is located on the base of my scalp. This is a hereditary condition, so it runs in my family. I have been fortunate enough for mine to be only located on my scalp, but it can show up anywhere on your body and can range from light to severe.


Psoriasis is an auto-immune disease in which the skin on a person's body sheds more quickly than it should. Normal skin sheds every 28 - 30 days, mine sheds about every 3 - 4 days in the affected area. The best way I can think to describe it is to a scab. Do you know how when you have a cut, your skin repairs itself and forms new skin until eventually the cut is gone and new skin is there? This is psoriasis. Do you also know how itchy it is when a scab is healing? This is also psoriasis. My head itches 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It flakes constantly. I used to be very embarassed about this, so I would keep my hair very long. Now, it just is what it is. The scratching sound can get very annoying to other people, though. And for me, hormones, stress and weather can trigger more intense outbreaks, so being pregnant and after I had Avery, my head has gotten much worse. While shampoos and treatments will help and some can clear it up for a time, it will never go away. It is not curable. And since this disease is not life threatening, it gets very little funding from the government to research. Psoriasis looks like scales and lesions on a person's body, and can range from red blotching to white spots. Every person who is affected looks different. I am not even going to link in pictures, because honestly, they aren't pretty.


I had noticed that Avery was starting to get some red spots on her chest and tummy when I gave her a bath. I thought perhaps it was an allergic reaction to something, but nothing has changed and the "rash" has been there for a while. I was holding her the other day and looked down, and I saw scales on her legs, arms, elbows, tummy back and chest. It's hard for anyone else to notice them, but I could see them. I wanted to cry. I still want to cry. They call psoriasis the heartbreaking disease because the spots are ugly and the itching is maddening. It's a hard disease to live with. And to think that Avery is going to have to go through that breaks my heart. I did some research and it seems as though infantile psoriasis is very rare, so before I get too ahead of myself, I am going to wait until her 6 month check up in 3 weeks to see what the doctor says.


Sunlight does seem to help with psoriasis for some reason, as does fish oil, salycitic acid, and menthol shampoo. When I was a kid and I was out in the sun alot (and in the chlorine pool) my head was much better. I actually found a dermotologist a year and a half ago who prescribed this foam that made it go away, almost 100%. But since I got new insurance, it doesn't cover dermotology. Once Jason's kicks in in July, I will be going back. It was magical. I know that there are alot of things out there that help, so I am hoping that the doctor tells me it's something else or that if she does have it, it is not severe. She doesn't seem bothered by it, but I just don't know. We will see what the doctor says.


Anyway, enough depression. I will leave you with an Avery picture :-)





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