It's May 8th, 2014 and we have been super busy with her sister's first birthday and other things. We have had no progress since our last appointment at the Children's Hospital in Philly. So we have been just trying to accept what she has. And she as of know shows no emotion about it but I'm sure once she gets older and see's other people with long hair her aspect of it might change.

She starts kindergarten this fall and I've been panicking and trying to stay positive but in this world it's hard because you just think of the worst. We talked to her about a wig and she said no way but the other day she brought it up I'm not sure if she really wants it or has someone been bugging her about it. There's a couple people in her life that I feel just won't accept what she has and pressures her into wigs ect. but I may be wrong. 

2 weeks into treatment..

My daughter has been taking her steroid for  2 weeks now and ever since she started taking it she's been so hungry lately. The other morning she had a bowl of cereal, eggs and toast and for lunch she ate 3 slices of pizza. Good thing she's a twig and she can afford to gain weight! But next week is the last week of the steroid and next month we will be returning to the children's hospital for a "checkup". The picture I posted is 2 weeks into the new treatment 

Day 2 of taking the steroid.

So today is day 2 of taking the steroid. Kayce has to take it early in the morning because the Dr.s said it will effect her sleep and make her hyper for a little. I forgot to post the before photo of starting new treatment so I will post it on this post. I will keep posting pictures of her progression. Praying it stays in but we're not getting our hopes up this time. 

Time for a Second opinion

We were tired of going to the same dermatologist and we feel they weren't giving us the answers we need so we called the children's hospital in Philadelphia, PA.
February was our appointment we arrived in Philly(about 2 hour drive from our house) and they checked Kayce out very well saying you can tell it's Alopecia from the white dots on her nails but they were wondering why her skin was very dry all over her body. They scrapped some skin off of her head and clipped a toenail and sent them both to the lab just to make sure its not a fungal infection. They said that her ringworm may have jump started the Alopecia so they wanted to try a new treatment. A steroid. They said they usually don't give steroids to children her age but with her case it may very well work. They also prescribed her a topical cream to rub on her head to help the dryness.
I was iffy about the oral steroid medication, but at this point anything to help her hair to grow back!

Today February 13th, 2014 we started the new treatment! Fingers crossed this works!!

Finding out about the big A word

My daughter Kayce at the time was 4 years old who has beautiful long curly blonde hair. In October 2012 things started happening that would make any girl panic. Her hair started falling out in patches and we were worried! We went to the dr.s who took a look at her head and diagnosed it as ringworm and prescribed her oral medication and a shampoo. A few weeks later it just got worse so I called the dermatologist and told them what was happening. At her appointment they looked at her head and among-st themselves they were discussing what could be going on. Saying "look at her head and how the hairs are breaking off here and there" The one Dr looked at us and she we believe she has something called Alopecia Areata. We just stared at each other with puzzled faces. Alopecia Areata? We have never heard of it. The Dr. sat down and pretty much gave us the jist of it. Saying her hair can grow back or it could grow back but fall back out or may never grow back like some. It is an auto Immune disease and they do not know what causes this and there is NO CURE for it but there is treatment. I could feel my heart racing as I was trying not to tear up. They started us on 2 topical creams for her head we had to rub one on in the morning and one on before bed. I as a mother felt horrible; blaming myself for her condition and how I wish I could take the disease for her. I laid in bed crying for a few days thinking of the worse: She's never going to have a boyfriend, people in school will make fun of her and she's never going to have the life she deserves!

That December for her birthday party most of her hair was gone on the top and there was just hair half way down her head and on the sides. Everybody just stared at her.

In a couple months she started showing good progress. In the summer I could finally put her hair back in a pony tail. Kayce was happy it was growing back but she never made a fuss about why she was losing her hair. She did have a patch here and there that didn't have much hair but over all it was coming in great! We had a follow up appointment at the dermatology and they said about trying a new treatment. It was basically poison ivy and we had to rub it over her head. It was now November 2013 and after a few weeks of treatment her hair was falling out and was falling out quick! I was so emotional as I cried myself to sleep a couple times thinking WHY??!! 
The next morning I called the dermatologist and he got us in that day. He looked at her head and said we should still use the poison because at this point he still thinks it's the most effective. I was a little irritated I asked about any tests we can do and he said there's nothing. Well I was not going to continue to use it. She had poson on the back of her legs from her scratching her head and touching her legs. So we kind of stopped using all treatment for a month or two. Well its going on a month and we noticed her eyebrows started falling out and next was her eyelashes! We couldn't believe it. 

Before the Alopecia.