My daughter is four years old and she loves me to pieces. She knows about my chronic skin condition and says “eczema” in the cutest way possible. She supports me - tells me not to scratch and that she’s sorry for my flare-ups. But nothing made me feel more overwhelmed by her love than on this day:
My daughter and two-year-old toddler son played in the pool in my patio, which is next to my bedroom. I brought them in and I decided to bathe them in my room’s big spa tub. The tub is fun for the kids, since it’s extra big, but it’s hard to bathe them in it, since it’s so deep and wide. I had to step into the tub myself. Well, the tops of my feet and front of my ankles have been flared-up for weeks and my skin burned a ton when my feet hit the water. I had to give myself a few seconds to adjust to the stinging and my daughter wanted to know what was happening. I told her the eczema on my feet and ankles was hurting me. She became so sympathetic and immediately put her tiny little hands over my flare-ups, putting pressure on the spots. 🖤And it helped! The burning cooled down with her hands protecting my skin. I felt so loved and grateful for her support.
A few days later, I was nervous about taking a shower, because I had flare-ups on much of my body, including my legs, arms, back, feet and neck. My husband hung out in the restroom while I showered to support me. I gave him a play-by-play of my shower, because, really, I just needed to talk out loud to myself to motivate myself to put water on my flare-ups and clean my body. “Okay, I’m going to put my leg in the water … okay now I’m going to wet my back … my thigh is burning - that’s okay … my arm doesn’t hurt - awesome … okay I’m done!”
I feel very lucky to not be alone when my eczema flare-ups are painful. Though I may want to hide from the world at times, I’ll never hide from my family. They help keep me strong.
