Sunday, July 11, 2010

Shattered Hopes

You would think that someone who spent 10+ years in medical school to be a dermatologist would know the difference between the words "diagnosed" and "treated." After the first couple of weeks of warmish summer weather, Carter's feet were in such bad shape. I called around to all the dermatologists in Spokane, trying to find someone who had treated Epidermolysis Bullosa. Most hadn't ever seen it but I found one who claimed to have treated it. I made an appointment, drug all the kids there (luckily my dad showed up to help with kids and to provide some information). The doctor looks at his feet and says "what he has is E.B." . . . duh. "unfortunately, there is no cure, we can only try to prevent the blisters and manage the pain". . .I've been doing that for 7 years. She did draw us a little picture to demonstrate why he gets such bad blisters, there is just nothing she, or anyone else, can do about it.

1 comment:

Natalie said...

Oh, sad! And...I'm sure the co-pay for a specialist was really worth that earth-shattering and enlightening observation. Too bad Carter has to deal with that. I remember what a pain that was for you in college and I can't imagine having to manage foot pain for a lifetime. Sorry!