We knew it was going to happen sometime while we were here. A Hospital visit!
Zander started getting little bumps on his back around his birthday (May 26) after having a wicked stomach virus. Our doc. in Iowa City said that they were Mollescum and they would go away within a year, but to keep on eye on them. 7 months later, I have noticed that they are NOT going away and in the last week actually spreading quite rapidly to his chest. Then a couple days ago a woman was playing with him (like everyone does here) picking him up, squeezing his cheeks, etc. Then she noticed his back, and just like that as if he had leprosy, wanted NOTHING to do with him. Set him down on the ground and turned her back :( Talk about breaking a mama's heart!
Anyway... we know a pediatrician here who we showed Zander to, and she directed us to a dermatologist that is actually a mom of one of the students at CSM. Which was a huge blessing. We wanted to share about this experience. Mainly, so you would see (Grandma's especially) that the care here is wonderful! So we took our little sweetie love buns to Azadi Hospital.
A very nice man showed us the way. No English just implied "This way" with a head nod. We went through the security gate, and the check-in procedure. Which was much easier than in America. Basically "Oh your boy needs to be seen, give me the equivalent of $.50 (500 Iraqi Dinar) and go to the skin clinic." So we proceeded down the crowded hallway each person rushing to get to their clinic to get in line to be seen. We finally arrived at the Skin Clinic! Thank you to the kind man who got us here, for without him, we would not have found it :)
We were the first ones to get to the skin clinic (meanwhile the eye clinic was bustling with people trying to nudge their way to the front of the line in order to be seen first. We sat down and within 15 seconds the dermatologist came out and said "Mr. Andy?" Implying she knew we were coming because of the connection we had with CSM. "Come in"
She looked at his back and knew without question what it was. "Unfortunately at his age we don't like to do anything for treatment because its a painful treatment especially with so many lesions for a child. But I will ask the Senior dermatologist what he thinks. Please wait."-----5 minutes later.
A very nice man with about 5 students following him asks us to come in. (Azadi is a teaching hospital just like U of Iowa)
We showed him and again, very confidently told us the same thing. But added that if they are left alone there would be no scarring because the lesion is only on the top layer of skin, if they were to do the procedure (basically cut and remove the bump) they could cause scarring so it's best to leave the virus heal on it's own.) He was a very kind man, spoke English (even to his bright students) and said if we had any more questions or concerns to let him know. He suggested doing some research online.
So even though no medical treatment, ointment, etc was given. I have confirmation knowing that we just need to do our best treating it (wash clothes more often, less baths/showers, rough housing or anything else that would cause them to break open and spread.) and wait for the virus to pass. But I know that if we need anything, where we can go to get seen and cared for and believe it or not, pretty quickly, and cheap. (First thing that seems to take LESS time in Kurdistan than in America)
*** Please pray that these will NOT spread anymore, and they will start to heal.
