Our Little Trooper

During our staff retreat to Napier Hudson over-heated on the first night and he itched the back of his legs raw! We noticed after this night that he was developing more and more itchy spots on his body, starting behind his knees and moving up towards the rest of his body. Long story short, after a week we took him in to see a Dr. and he was diagnosed as having chicken pox. We gave him oatmeal baths, used chick weed gel on his itchy spots, and wrapped his legs at night to keep him from itching himself raw. After 14 days of itchiness, I figured that he did not in fact have chicken pox after-all. We took him to a different Dr. and she agreed. Turns out that Hudson got a staph infection during that first night in Hawkes Bay when he over-heated, which is very common with kids that struggle with eczema as Hudson does. Staph (pronounced: staff) is the shortened name for Staphylococcus (pronounced: staf-uh-low-kah-kus), a type of bacteria. These bacteria can live harmlessly on many skin surfaces, but when the skin is punctured or broken for any reason, staph bacteria can enter the wound and cause an infection. His infection lead to itchy spots all over his body. These lasted about a month, and his body finally faught off the infection on it's own and the spots went away. Whew. Hudson was such a little trooper through it all. He stood on the counter each night and waited patiently while we wrapped his legs and bandaged him up. He is so precious.