Both the kids had colds last week, normal sniffling and sneezing, nothing to worry about. They both have fair skin, so they look really red whenever they’re the slightest bit flushed. I noticed on Monday that Bug had a circular rash on her cheek, about the size of a dime. It looked like the eczema that BK gets on his back sometimes, except hers seemed better in the middle and worse around the edges. Weird. What was it? Heat rash? Scratch on her face? I had no idea.
Over the next couple of days, it seemed to be getting worse instead of better, even though I was putting lotion on it every night. I showed The Agent.
“It looks like she has ringworm,” he said.
Oh, no. Not my child. How could my child have ringworm? She’s not dirty, we don’t live in the country… I needed a second opinion.
I called the Kaiser advice nurse, and described Bug’s cheek. “It could be ringworm,” the nurse said. “But she doesn’t need to come in. Just put some anti-fungal cream on the area, and it’ll kill it. And it’s not contagious as long as you’re using the cream.”
Umm… ok. I had no idea what antifungal cream was, but it sounded like you could get it at CVS. Cool. I took Bug to school, planning to buy some cream that evening.
I hadn’t even reached my office yet when the school was blowing up my cell phone. “You need to come get Bug,” the school said. “Do not bring her back without a doctor’s note saying she can come back.
Ugh.
Luckily, the Agent was able to pick up Bug and take her to the doctor, who confirmed that she did indeed have ringworm. I was really upset when the Agent called and told me. I wanted to know which snot nosed kid got their grubby hands on my baby, which child contaminated my sweet angel. And it is apparently very contagious. I felt worms crawling all over me.
I called my dad, because we had been to his house over the weekend, and I wanted to warn them to be on the lookout for rings. “Poor Bug’s got the jock itch, does she?” he said.
“No, Dad. Ringworm.”
“Oh, she’s got the Athlete’s Foot then, eh?”
What??? Is he not hearing me? “No, Dad. Ringworm.”
My Dad chuckled. “Lovely, you know it’s all the same thing, right?”
Silence. What is he saying? “So, you mean… it’s not from an actual worm?”
My dad roared with laughter. I hung up on him, and then got on google. Yep. It’s all the same virus. If it’s on your foot, it’s athlete’s foot. If it’s in you groin area, it’s jock itch. If it’s on your body, it’s ringworm.
This is the dumbest name for a virus I’ve ever heard of.
The Agent also thought it was quite funny. “You didn’t really think our daughter had worms, did you?”
“Well, yeah. You know, tape worm, round worm… ring worm. My mother used to say I couldn’t go outside barefoot because I would get worms. Why wouldn’t I think it came from a worm?”
The Agent was tearing up in an effort to keep from laughing at me. “So, for the 37 years that you’ve been alive, you thought ….”
I blew up. “Yeah, I thought it came from worms, OK? How would I know any different? It’s not like I’ve ever seen anyone with it before! And why would they call it that? They should call it dime disease, or ring rash, or…”
“Oh, Lovely,” The Agent said, giving me a hug. “You’re so cute.”
Ugh. Get off me. I still feel worms slithering all over me.
You're not alone. Up until I read this post I thought ringworm was to do with actual worms. Thanks for enlightening me!
ReplyDeleteI hope they get better soon :)
I had ringworm like 2 years ago. I seriously thought it meant I was dirty or something and was ashamed.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a virus either, Lovely :) It's a fungus. Cameron had it too. On his scalp. Imagine putting that cream in /hair/, he looked like I never cleaned him! I felt like people would say, "Well yeah, of course he has ringworm, look at him! Does he ever take a bath?" I called my aunt (heck, I called everyone) in tears... and she had some sage advice. She laughed. And said, "Just wait until he really gets actual worms. He's going to, you know, kids do. And lice. Worms and lice. You think this is bad now?"
ReplyDeleteYou can get actual worms from walking in dog poop without your shoes. It's way gross and you can see them moving under your skin. Oh, the things you see working in the ED.
ReplyDeleteRingworm, though...I agree- it's a terrible name. I like ring rash. We should go with that from now on!
Trying to catch up on some past posts and just read this.
ReplyDeleteIt took FOREVER for me to convince people that ringworm isn't something crazy and foreign. I get it once in awhile. It's really not that big a deal. But it does look gross.