CERT and Moluscum

Great title, I know. First thing is, I LOVE my CERT class! It's Community Emergency Response Team. It started in CA about 15 years ago. Not very many states have embraced it, but it has federal recognition. The idea is to train the community how to handle large scale emergencies. Look at what happened during Hurricane Katrina. People waited for rescue, but there just simply isn't enough help available to get to everyone at once. If every neighborhood has at least one person trained, it's helpful. And to any afraid that they'd get called away from their own families to help out, it doesn't work that way. It's completely voluntary. And, you are not helpful if you spend the whole time worried about where your spouse and kids are.
Our first month was spent on learning how to triage. Yikes! We had a small simulation. It was dark. People were moaning. One lady had a bone sticking out of her arm. How is it that I can handle any number of childhood diseases and injuries, but completely panic when it's an adult situation? I was supposed to be the funnel person at one point, but found I couldn't get to my yelling voice, which (my kids could attest to) I use every day.... frequently. I really wish we had more training that just 2 months.
This last week we did fire training. We even got to put out small propane base fires with the extinguishers. Hooray! Fun times had by all. In Nampa we had a fire plan in our home. Someone near and dear to us freaked Morgan out about fires, so we got the plan and it was gold. It also was in a one story home. We have a basic plan now, but of course we haven't practiced it, nor have we taught our kids basic fire safety. Of course it all makes sense that we would be well prepared with only one kid, but add four more and another level to the house and we are done for.

Now on to the moluscum. Anyone else know what this curse among skin ailments is? I hear Utah has an epidemic of it as well. So our saga started the summer we first moved here. Malynn's first jaunt into a neighbor's kiddie pool. (red film starting at the back of the eyes... they didn't say anything about it) Moluscum is also known as water warts because, you betcha, it spreads in the water. It started all over the insides of her thighs. Then it spread to her trunk. Then it spread to Morgan. Then it spread to Sophie. And baby Alison. You can either let it peter itself out, which takes anywhere from 9 months (spreading insiduously, taking over the whole body with little white bumps) to 2 years. Meanwhile, you have to clean your bathtub after every use and keep your kids out of water with anyone unaffected. We opted for the painful, burning, child screaming approach. The warts can either be burned off with liquid nitrogen, which has a high fail rate on these puppies, or with some kind of bug venom that blisters the skin causing the wart to die. Poor little 4 year old Malynn looked like we'd wrapped her legs in bubble wrap. Morgan's didn't seem to blister quite as badly, but he still looked pretty tough. Sophie was two at the time and only had a couple and I didn't have the heart to inflict that kind of pain on a baby. Alison had one wart and she really was a baby. I should have been heartless. For the next two years we have been in for several treatments since the warts had an unrestricted field day. Sophie's skin is pockmarked all over. Alison got the last three warts treated yesterday.
Heidi was about 7 months old when a patch of them appeared on her forehead-- her forehead for pete's sake! 7 months old, for crying out loud! I took her in this past Thursday full of trepidation. So, Sophie's the only one who has scars, but there's nothing saying Heidi wouldn't get them as well. On her forehead. As a baby. And a girl. I guess she could always wear bangs, but still... The decision was taken out of my hands as to whether or not we'd use the blistering stuff. Due to WA high moluscum rate, the doctor's office had run out. So, I laid on Heidi's body, the nurse held her head tightly, and the doctor dabbed the warts with liquid nitrogen. The silly little girl actually tried to go to sleep until the pain kicked in. Hopefully (fingers crossed) this works, because I'm not looking forward to fighting another battle.
SO, long story made longer because I can't help myself-- Lesson # 1. Don't use other people's kiddie pools unless you know their health history. Lesson # 2. Unless you want the whole family to get it (okay, so it's not as bad as a lice epidemic), be heartless and get it treated immediately, no matter how little the kids are or how sensitive their skin is. #3. A clean bathtub is a joy forever.
Side note. Alison caught ringworm from somebody's cat. It WILL NOT be our latest epidemic.