Yours severely

Today morning we had a heated debate on the best way to treat Ash's skin ailment. It has meant untold suffering for the poor child (an adult would have hit the roof if so afflicted) inspite of our applying oils all the time, bathing him in neem water and shikakai powder (which he hates as it burns his bruised skin) and giving medication thrice a day. But so far there has been no respite and the child continues to be a ghost of his former self - scales peeling off on his face everyday, hair falling and the eyebrows almost disappearing.

I and mil strongly suspected that it was some allergy - medication or food - that was the root cause. V said it was the Enterogermina acting on his body and making all the bacteria come out. I said we go to the allergy clinic of Dr. Nagaraju in Child Trust Hospital here but V didnt sound keen on allopathy again. His parents too supported an indigenous cure though mil thought allopathy would be wise for external application. In two hours, V made various suggestions:

• that I call up the Siddha doctor (since my Tamil is better than his) and ask her what to do now,
• that we call up the Ayurveda dr and ask for an oil to apply,
• that he fly him to Trivandrum to an Ayurveda skin clinic next Friday,
• that we visit a Kottackal doctor living nearby, who was out of station the last time we went to him
• that we take him to the allergy clinic.

But I was skeptical of

• calling the Siddha lady because she would say that we persist with the oil she has given
• Dr. Shaji wouldnt give any oil
• next Friday was a long way off
• why visit too many doctors and subject Ash for experimentation.

He finally left for work in a huff but cooled down in an hour's time to call me and say that he wanted to take Ash to the allergy clinic.

The doctor, when he saw Ash, was shocked beyond words as he said he hadnt seen such a severe case. He took a photograph for records. He said the allergy could be because of cow's milk and prescribed some tests, the results of which are not ready yet. For now, he prescribed a steroid tablet among some other regular syrups to bring down the inflammation. He advised against Siddha, same as our regular paediatrician Dr. Thomas when V met him in the evening for a 2nd opinion on the tablets.

We need to bring his skin to its former state before resorting to possibly Ayurveda, which most Keralites swear by.