Friday, June 27, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Hello everybody! Just wanted to update y'all on what's going on......
A number of times this season I have been bitten by large numbers of fire ants, which I'm allergic to. As happened once before this has caused scalded skin syndrome (also known as Ritter's disease). The previous time, at age 3, every bit of my skin just came off. This was in the early 70's when toxic reactions like this were not completely understood. I almost died while various doctors tried to figure out what was wrong with me. Luckily my mother was only briefly suspected of burning me herself, so we didn't have to go through accusations and separation.
I'm not totally out of commission but have low grade fever and really unpleasant body aches, not to mention pain from the burns. Nothing life threatening at all this time around. The reason I'm writing about this in such detail is because of the misdiagnosis/child abuse accusation angle.
I'd like everyone who is or would like to be involved in Family Advocacy to know that this is a condition most common in children pre-school age or younger. (But since I already had it, I win again.) Scalded skin syndrome is often mistaken for child abuse, as there are actual burns on the body and nobody believes at first it had anything to do with insect bites - basically you burn from the inside out.
It's not uncommon for the parent to be unable to pinpoint the onset...to use myself as an example: I was bitten almost constantly over a period of time, scratched and cussed, and didn't suspect anything worse until I started to see the burns. It's important to lead the parent gently backwards to pinpoint the exposure - this is important in the case of an accusation. Parents need to insist that their child be tested, and advocates and others can be a great source of support to the whole family.
Tags: Dorothy Kernaghan-Baez, AFRA, family rights, DFACS, Georgia, fire ants, scalded skin syndrome, child abuse, burn
A number of times this season I have been bitten by large numbers of fire ants, which I'm allergic to. As happened once before this has caused scalded skin syndrome (also known as Ritter's disease). The previous time, at age 3, every bit of my skin just came off. This was in the early 70's when toxic reactions like this were not completely understood. I almost died while various doctors tried to figure out what was wrong with me. Luckily my mother was only briefly suspected of burning me herself, so we didn't have to go through accusations and separation.
I'm not totally out of commission but have low grade fever and really unpleasant body aches, not to mention pain from the burns. Nothing life threatening at all this time around. The reason I'm writing about this in such detail is because of the misdiagnosis/child abuse accusation angle.
I'd like everyone who is or would like to be involved in Family Advocacy to know that this is a condition most common in children pre-school age or younger. (But since I already had it, I win again.) Scalded skin syndrome is often mistaken for child abuse, as there are actual burns on the body and nobody believes at first it had anything to do with insect bites - basically you burn from the inside out.
It's not uncommon for the parent to be unable to pinpoint the onset...to use myself as an example: I was bitten almost constantly over a period of time, scratched and cussed, and didn't suspect anything worse until I started to see the burns. It's important to lead the parent gently backwards to pinpoint the exposure - this is important in the case of an accusation. Parents need to insist that their child be tested, and advocates and others can be a great source of support to the whole family.
Tags: Dorothy Kernaghan-Baez, AFRA, family rights, DFACS, Georgia, fire ants, scalded skin syndrome, child abuse, burn
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
On the way to the courthouse to file Rickey's adoption papers!
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