A new challenge

We are facing a new challenge in our little family. Its not necessarily new to us, but after visiting several Dr.'s trying to figure out what is going on, and learning what the future could hold for our sweet Hannah, it has become a whole new challenge.

Back in about March we found a small bald patch on Hannah's hair. She had a sleep over at Grandma Beals house and that morning, Hannah asked Ann to do her hair in pig tails. This is not something I have done for a really long time, so I never would have noticed. Once Ann parted her hair, she noticed a small (dime sized) patch that was completely bald, right in the center of the part. When I came to pick her up Ann asked if I had ever noticed this. A few months prior, we were in Las Vegas and Hannah fell and hit her head on the corner of a bed.. REALLY hard! She had a goose egg like I had never seen. Upon seeing this patch of baldness I just figured it was from that little bit of head trauma. Maybe it caused those little follicles to die. About 2 weeks later I thought about that little spot and looked at it when I was doing her hair. To my surprise it was the size of a quarter. I immediately panicked. I called her pediatrician and we made an appointment for the next day.

Once her pediatrician saw her head they determined it was probably some kind of bacteria or fungus (the same fungus that causes dandruff) and that it could be easily treated with a special shampoo. We started the shampoo and about 2 weeks later this spot was now the size of 2 golf balls side by side.. maybe a little bit bigger. A few days later there was another spot about the size of a quarter. We made another trip to the pediatrician, same thing. They told me not to worry, it will grow back. No big deal. They said hair cycles every 6-8 weeks and it will come back. for the next month or so there was no sign of anymore hair falling out. I thought maybe we had a handle on it, and it was done.

Last week we noticed one more spot, about the size of a quarter. Luckily for Hannah they are all on the underneath side of her hair. They are only visible if you move her hair, or if her hair is wet. I made an appointment with a different Dr. and we went in just this past Wednesday. Immediately, Dr. Eyre knew it was Alopecia Areata. This was my fear.

Alopecia Areata is an Auto-Immune disease. It affects children and Adults. Dr. Eyre said it has a mind of its own. There is NO way to know what it will do. It can keep falling out in patches, it can never grow back, some of it can grow back, she could be completely bald in a matter of days. If she did go completely bald, some of it could grow back, all of it could, you just never know.
It affects 8 in 1000 kids. 60% of kids outgrow this and their hair grows back. 40% deal with it the rest of their lives. 5% will go completely bald, and never have their hair grow back.

I am absolutely sick! I find myself saying a little prayer in my heart every time I look at her. The Dr. is treating it pretty aggressively with topical creams we use 3 times a day. It makes it a little rough to have a cute hair do when you have greasy creams in your hair all day! As for now, Hannah has never seen the patches. I have thought about taking a picture to let her see, but I think its better if she doesn't know what it really looks like. We go back to the Dr. 4 weeks and HOPEFULLY, hopefully we see some progress. He said that all of the follicles are still there, but that doesn't mean anything. There is no cure, and no way to determine what will happen. All we can do is cross our fingers and keep her in our prayers.

We will be having a family/friend fast on Hannah's behalf in a week or so, we will let everyone know when.