Faith’s Blisters

On Wednesday my daughter, Faith developed blisters on her hands and feet.The initial grand-parent diagnosis was of chicken pox and the second, a couple days later was a staph infection.I was able to disprove both….or so I thought.

Suzanne was intensely afraid and her voice trembled when we spoke about Faith.She wanted to know what was going on and what can be done about it.I reminded her that having a named diagnosis doesn’t change the situation; and the best thing to do is let Faith’s immune system work for her and not slow it down by administering medical interventions.If I thought it was something serious, we’d go to the emergency room.Suzanne’s fear got the best of her and she made an appointment with the pediatrician.

I knew that just by showing up, precautionary anti-biotics would be administered, so I went along.My being there was the best way to avoid a second coming of the Dennis Quaid saga.Faith has never had a medication in her body so imagine what a full dose of anti-biotics would do to her.

En route we were able to speak to a nurse we know who works at Children’s Hospital in Hartford.After describing Faith’s situation, it was a no doubt diagnosis of Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease.This is an allergic-like rash that occurs (guess where?) on the hands, feet and mouth.There is no treatment and it goes away on its own in a week to ten days.It comes from having a new play experience such as a new sandbox or a new pool or new playmates.Last week Faith was around a dozen or so new playmates and she went into a pool for the first time this season the day before the break out occurred.

This brings up a good discussion about the germ theory of disease and susceptibility.If disease was truly caused by germs, all of the children would have gotten the same disease.Think about it, when many children are exposed to the same germ, why do some get the disease and some don’t?What is the difference between the kids?

The answer is the kid’s themselves.To put it another way, it is their susceptibility.The host needs to be primed for attack.It’s the same reason healthy people take care of sick people without getting sick.They have a strong immune system which fights and a strong nerve system for detection.Sure, germs can promulgate a disease, but the cause is internal.If there were all these dangerous germs on our sinks and doorknobs, humans wouldn’t exist.

How about Faith’s blisters?Why does the body blister?The answer is for the same reason it pimples….because the body is winning the fight and bringing the infection to the surface for release from the body.It is a sign the body is fighting and winning.Remember, germs don’t actually go away on their own…The body fights them off.

It is a popular idea in the medical world to discover new drugs and develop stronger drugs and anti-biotics.How about we all stop living in fear of our body’s God given abilities.Let’s stop running to the MD for drugs with every little ailment we get.That way they are effective when we actually need them.