Thankful Thursday - Medication!!!

I AM SO SICK OF RINGWORM!!!

One of our children came to us infested with ringworm.   I am sure this is fairly common - but only one of our kiddos has brought this lovely condition to us. 

Thankful #1 - None of our kids have brought home lice.

This has been quite the fighting condition.  Typically ringworm spreads easily, so between all of us it's somewhat understandable that we keep passing it back and forth, but not at this rate and not the way it pops up.  It's somewhat atypical in that it doesn't appear to show up in places of contact - right now I have one on my breast...isn't that pleasant?  And poor little one seems to have 4-5 at a time at all times, as soon as we start getting some cleared up they come right back.

Turns out little one is infested intestinally and THAT is why they keep coming back.  (which means at this point I probably am - I catch everything and based on how I keep having them sprout up it works out).  Thanks to a poor 6 week old at daycare who caught it and had the immediate signs of systemic infection, we now know what the cause is.  Thanks to a stool sample that I had to put together for little kiddo, we now have an official diagnosis.

Thankful #2 - We have an official diagnosis so we can get it taken care of!

So after thinking we're finally in the clear - or headed there - I was super excited.  The dr. notified me (or the lab did), then dr. called in a medication to the pharmacy (or the nurse did), and then I picked up the medication (or the hubby did). 

Thankful #3 - YAY for the prescription!

Except, when hubby picked up the medication it was 1500mg of an oral anti-fungal in the dose of 500mg pills, 3x a day for a total of 1500mg per day.  You can imagine how big those PILLS are.  This would be difficult enough if it were for our older children (or us), but it was for one of the younger children.  So my sweet hubby asked the pharmacist who confirmed it was the right prescription (really?) and recommended maybe we cut the pills up and give it the child.  Yeah, that'll work.

I wasn't convinced.

Thankful #4 - YAY for mom instincts!

I didn't feed the meds to the baby over the weekend and instead waited to talk to the doctor (the nurse) who OOPS! confirmed that the correct dose for an 18 month old is 1/150th of the dose that was prescribed.  Yes you see that right, .6% of the dose that we received from the pharmacy.  LESS THAN 1%.  This medication can cause severe liver and kidney damage and I'm sure at that dose for that small of a patient would have probably killed her.  I was furious.

So we went about getting the right prescription filled, a medication that is actually a syrup by-the-way not horse pills, and waited a few days to pick it up due to busy life circumstances.  The pharmacy called, presumably to tell me it was ready but alas it was not.  They were calling to tell me that they didn't have any and they tried to order some but the manufacturer is out indefinitely.  So, 2 more weeks went by while I waited and called a few other pharmacies with the same story.  No one carried it and it could't be ordered.

I was about to call the dr back and see if there was yet another prescription that might be available when I got the bright idea - Childrens Medical Center.  Seriously, if any pharmacy were to have it then Children's would right?

Thankful #5 - Yes Mam, we have that in-stock and it will be ready by noon!

So, around 2pm that day I left work and headed down the road to pick it up. Things went off without a hitch, I "paid" for it ($0 - Thanks medicaid!) and then I headed back to work to finish the day. That night I was so excited to start dispensing the medication.
Wouldn't you know the pharmacist forgot to mix it before sending me home.
I had 60 mg of crushed pills (strawberry flavored).
Thankful #6 - The instructions to mix it were on the package, which the pharmacist provided me.
So, I mixed my own medication. Pretty easy or I would have taken it back to have them do it. I've been giving her the medication now and should finish the dosing tomorrow morning.
Hopefully soon I'll be able to post Thankful #7 - NO MORE RINGWORM!
(By the way - another symptom of this condition is persistent diarrhea. Since we didn't have this child from birth we just figured that's how she pooped. She would blow out 2-3 diapers per day and that lasted most of her life with us). Now you know!