Sierra & Lyme's Disease: Part 4

Well, we made the trip to UTMB in Galveston to have Sierra checked out. This actually ended up being an opportunity to get my oldest daughter, Savannah, in also to be seen for a mole that we have been trying to get her seen for for months.  I will write a separate post about that, so that I can focus on Sierra for this post. 

We did not get a diagnosis for Sierra but what we did get was assurance that this rash is NOT:

• Lyme's disease -- Although, she did test positive for three markers of Lyme's back in January and go through the first treatment for it this rash is not characteristic of Lyme's.  It has also come to my attention that having three markers for Lyme's is not always confirmation that Lyme's is truly present.  Maybe it was.  Maybe it wasn't.  We took the treatment of antibiotics and have since gotten the negative test results so I have no regrets about that.  I would rather be safe than sorry later. 
• Lupus -- This rash is also not characteristic of lupus.  What a relief!  They said the rash would be much different on the surface or it would be more of a deep tissue skin issue.  I don't claim to totally understand that but they are the dermatologists.  We only had pictures and our descriptions to go by so they could not give us total clarity, though. 

What they said it COULD be:

• An allergy to past medications -- I don't really feel this is likely to be the case since we rarely do meds and Sierra was not sick or receiving meds during these times.  They assured me that the meds could be in her system and the rash show up at times that she has not taken the meds.  I don't buy this completely.  Actually, I don't buy it at all BUT again they were only looking at photos on my iPhone and our description.
• A giant hickie of sorts -- Obviously, we are not talking about a kiss hickie (and they did not say the word "hickie") but rather the type of thing from a child sucking on a cup on their face.  We assured them this was not the case.  They seemed to think we could not be certain that she was not doing this to herself.  You could tell they did not believe us totally.  I could see this with a small child but with a twelve year old she is old enough to discuss this with. 

The OUTCOME:

•  They will but a note in her file, so if it flares up again we should call immediately and they will try to see Sierra right away.  Meanwhile, they wanted to treat her acne since she was there and set her up for a return visit in three months so we did that and she went home with instructions and meds for that issue which I am certain is a good thing, also.  
• I am not completely satisfied but I am satisfied that there is not BAD news.  We wait and we see.  Time will tell this story but I have not worries.  I am also suddenly getting lots of feedback from people that are telling me they have been through this very thing with food or food additive allergies.  Being that these are real personal experiences I honestly think this is probably what the issue is.  We may never pinpoint this but we will write down a food diary of the all items consumed if it flares up, again.  We will obviously not if she has taken meds near that time. 

Following our appointment we made a fun day of it in Galveston!  We headed over to the Rainforest Cafe for a ride on their jungle ride, picked up some more picnic foods at the local Kroger, and headed down to the beach below the seawall.  After getting nice and nasty we did a little exploring while driving and headed back across the ferry.  My two littles got too nasty at the beach to have proper clothing on so we could not go into public places so I drove around and talk to them about the hurricane damage from recent years and while doing that we stumbled upon Fort Travis.  It looked like nothing as we passed and curiosity got me, so I turned around and found a gem!  I am so glad I turned back because it is really a wonderful place.  In the future I will plan to have our beach picnics there and enjoy the history of all the old buildings that are still standing.  We later figured out a way to dress the littles in jackets and blankets so we could go in and enjoy a dinner at Denny's with the most "green" water ever... I was patient and kind having been a "green" waitress myself once.  Off topic completely, but they had an amazing salad that kept me on track with my THM journey, also.  I can't remember the name of it but it had chicken breast, bacon, cheese, and avocado.  I just had to take off the really weird potato chip sticks.  All in all, we had a great day!!