If you’ve been around us, or looked closely at all, you may have noticed something sad happened. Our beautiful littlest child has traded in her shockingly beautiful blonde locks for the “Joe Exotic.” She has a full blown mullet, and I’m somewhat brokenhearted. Ok, I’m a lot brokenhearted.
Before all of this…
And now.
In the recent weeks, Wavy seemed to grow bangs. We didn’t think a lot of it, honestly. On one hand, she’s still growing fresh crops of hair under her already thick mop. And on another hand, she has easily been the MOST sensitive to bug bites of all of our children, and I viewed some head scratching as an allergic reaction/irritation. She probably broke a lot of hairs in that time, I figured.
But more recently, she began pulling hair out by the handful. I started to put it up in a ponytail to deter her from playing with it. Yet she still managed to get handfuls out. She would hand them to me on and off. I’d say “Oh no, Wavy, don’t pull your hair out!” And she’d happily say “Okay!” and go about her day. But the day I went to her bed to fluff her blanket and found SEVEN hairballs, I freaked out. I scheduled a phone appointment with our doctor and I did some research.
I reached out on a Facebook group for large families, thinking they might have tips. Those women have seen it all! I was surprised that, while it seems the majority of those women don’t care for western medicine, most of them who responded said she needs to see a doctor.
A couple suggested a fungal infection. Waverly’s scalp looked perfect, but I figured I’d treat it with coconut oil in the meantime, like I have with fungal/yeast rashes. It was then that I really took her hair down to oil her scalp that I saw how bad the hair loss was.
It was awful. Felt like a buzz cut in places. I was SO upset. My phone appointment was a week down the road, but my mom had one the next day, and she lovingly offered to trade appointments with us. Thank you LORD for giving us the same doctor!!
When Dr. Guselle called, I could’ve cried. I was SO relieved to talk to her about it. But I’ll admit, that appointment weighed hard on me. My mama heart just aches. I choked back my tears as I told her Wavy basically had given herself a skullet. She asked what a skullet was, and I laughed at her, as our references almost never line up. I described it, and she said “Ooooh, I’ve always called that the Friar Tuck.” It was JUST the laugh I needed! So now and forever, a skullet WILL be called the Friar Tuck. Take note.
Its really nothing big or bad. Here’s what we think.
Do you remember recently when Wavy had a really bad rash? I kept it to myself for a while, until it was under control, but I’ll share pictures now.
Here’s the craziest one. Rash number one…
Rash number twooooo…
And rash number three.
All three rashes at once, because why not, right?
We worked HARD to keep her comfortable, but she was miserable.
No amount of over the counter meds and lotion and baths could help her. Poor articulate Wavy would approach us, scratching her feet, crying, saying “Itchy. Lotion. Medicine. Feet. Hands. Helping me?” It was horrible. The belly rash passed with time, but her hands and feet would NOT let up. She was scratching her body, and her hands were in NO shape to be spreading whatever they had going on. So we made the bold move to put her on a STRONG steroid, Prednisone, as well as a steroid cream. On top of that, she still needed Benadryl, and all of those things together just kept her itching at bay. That being said, four days on all of that and her rash was gone. But MAN! What an ordeal. And we never found out what she had. No one else caught it. It was something we were glad to see go.
Dr Guselle believes that the timeline of the crazy virus, and now the hair loss, is no coincidence. She thinks Wavy’s body was SO stressed in its illness that her hair is now falling out. As adults, we know sometimes that happens after a high-stress or traumatic event or illness. It often comes 2-3 months after the fact. She said this seems a little bit early, but the 2-3 month timeline is just a guideline. Wavy has always played with her hair, and it makes a lot of sense that it pulls out easier now. Unfortunately, its just something that is going to happen until her body sorts itself out again. Like the postpartum shed.
All of this being said, Waverly has an in-person follow up appointment down the road to look for improvement, and she has a referral in for a dermatologist. The derm referral will get cancelled if it all sorts itself out, but it takes months to get in, so Dr Guselle figured she’d get ahead of the game and send it now.
I feel a little nervous sharing this kind of thing because I don’t really want a bunch of opinions. And I don’t mean that in a rude way! When I shared it on that one Facebook group, I was given lots of things to look into. I did my research, and I spoke to my doctor about ALL of them. They were ALL eliminated for reasons that make sense to me. If you have firsthand knowledge, I’d LOVE to know about it!! But if you’re going to just comment “covid,” I’m going to roll my eyes. Lol! You’ve been warned.
My sweet little Wavy may look like Joe Exotic these days, but she’s a LOT sweeter. Don’t let her new ‘do fool you!