A little rain

I don't get to blog as much as I used to. It probably has to do with three very active little ones and a love of sewing that gets in my way. I do love using the blog as a memory book to record all of the funny stories and cute pictures that make up our daily life. We have so many blessings and I don't want to forget any of them. Along with the sunshine of life, a little rain must fall and I am going to share with you a letter that I just sent out to our family and friends.
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Dearest Family and Friends,

I am writing you today to fill you in and keep you informed about a recent event in our family. A couple of months ago while brushing Emma Kate's hair, I noticed some hair loss. Since that day, we've seen it get worse and have mentioned it to her asthma and allergy doctor who referred us to the Pediatric Dermatology department at  Duke Children's Hospital. Today was our appointment; we had a wonderful doctor who gave Emma Kate a very thorough examination and arrived at the diagnosis of Alopecia Areata. This is an autoimmune condition where your body attacks its own hair follicles. It can be very small in scale and hardly noticeable or can be as widespread as total hair loss of the body. It can go into remission or it can cycle often; there is no rhyme or reason and you cannot predict the behavior of this condition. There are no known cures or treatments, however, there are medications and steroids that can help hair growth when hair has been lost. Although losing hair is not obviously something that we are happy about, we are  glad that this is a condition that does her no other harm (it isn't dangerous to her and hair loss is the only symptom). I am including a link the the national foundation of Alopecia Areata in case you want to do any reading (there won't be a quiz) or want more information. 

While the news of this is obviously upsetting and scary to us, we are confident of the medical care that Emma Kate is receiving. We are very optimistic for the future and have hopes that Emma Kate will not ever have total loss of hair. We plan to be encouraging and positive and build up her self esteem and let her know that she is perfect just the way God made her. At this point, all she knows is that she has had some hair fall out but it is growing back (and we are excited about pony tails when it does!). We wanted to let everyone that loves us and prays for us know what we might be facing and what you might at some point outwardly see. 

With Thanks and Love,

Matthew and Kristen Dellasega

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. Psalm 139:14

www.naaf.org/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002421/