This might help you

Thought I would make a small list of things that the U told us when our kids had their appts. I know some of these things have baffled other families that have adopted out of Congo.

- If your kid had scabies and you treated him, be on the look out for tiny, little pimple type bumps. We noticed these on Moyz and he would scratch at them. They would pop out randomly on his body. What his were/are is proteins leftover from the scabies mite still in his body. So while he doesn't have scabies anymore, until the proteins break down they still irritate him. There's some fancy name for it, but I don't remember what it was.

- I know I mentioned Moyz's impetigo before, but I'll put it here again. If you child comes home and has small blisters that pop and look like craters and he itches at them, take him in right away and get Mupirocin for him. It's an antibiotic cream they prescribe to put on the sores. It's caused by Strep and Staph bacteria. You probably want to put band aids over the sores until you can get them to the clinic.

- Kembia coughs almost every night, most of the time not very bad. She tested negative for Tuberculosis, so we knew it wasn't that. Turns out it's reflux. We're just keeping an eye on it, so no medicine yet. I know several families who's kids ended up with reflux as well. the cough puzzled them and doctors for quite awhile.

- Moyz has what's called atopic skin. Basically what this means is that it is sensitive to the max. He has dermatitis on his face that we are treating, and his legs get so dry they turn grey (I think this is pretty common for darker skin), plus he has these little black circles on his legs. They almost look like freckles. Turns out it's just his sensitive skin. The derm said use CeraVe lotion and aquaphor. These are both fairly impractical. CeraVe is $16 at Target, and if you slather your kids in Aquaphor then they are one giant, greasy mess and they touch everything which in turn becomes greasy. Our awesome doc at the U said she also has atopic skin and uses Curel Intensive lotion, and if she's really bad, then a 1:1 Curel and Aquaphor. This is much more economical. A big giant thing of Curel is only $9 (still expensive for this household!) or she also uses Vanicream which is a little more expensive then Curel, but both are cheaper than CeraVe. Vanicream is sold behind the pharmacy at our local Target, but it's not prescription.

- While at the U, we met the first white person/foreigner ever allowed to adopt out of Congo. They made an exception for her 9 years ago! She had lived and worked in Africa for a long time, and she adopted two little girls that were conjoined twins. They were separated in London, and then went back to Congo to finish their adoption. They are both doing awesome and we got to see pictures ot them. Their mom is one of the docs. at the adoption clinic. It was neat to be able to talk briefly with her. We asked her about hair care and she said straight up Olive Oil and coconut oil, and Carol's products, which are expensive but last a long time.

Anyway, hopefully this will help some of you. All of this medical stuff has been interesting to say the least. I think we are finally on the up-swing! Although we're headed back to the Derm for Moyz's face, poor kid, we're still trying to find the right concotion to help his sensitive face!