I can't even believe I'm going to tell you this.
It's really quite embarrassing.
Here it goes.
A few weeks ago, a little rash popped up on my neck. I didn't think it was a big deal as I have sensitive skin and I'm prone to little blemishes and dry patches here and there, especially in the winter months. I ignored it, and my husband joked that it looked like a hickey on my neck.
Then the rash got bigger. I still didn't pay it much attention until one morning it turned into a ring shaped mark. Dave and I were in the kitchen when he noticed it and casually said "Are you sure that's not ringworm?"
"Ringworm?" I balked. "Uh, NO. Why would I have ringworm?? That's gross, Dave."
"Okay. It's just, that looks like a ring and all..." he carefully replied, "sooooo.... maybe you should get it checked out."
"UH, yea, okay, thanks doctor Dave." I snapped back. I snatched up my coffee cup and stomped out of the kitchen. But now that the idea was in my head, I thought maybe I should do some Googling on my computer. I typed in "Ringworm" and clicked on the Images tab. A series of thumbnails popped up and, to my disgusted surprise, many looked like the mark on my neck. I was horrified as I dialed my doctor's office and scheduled an appointment.
About an hour later, I was sitting in a tiny room in the doctor's office. My regular doctor was off that day, but I was practically gagging when I made the call and told them I would see anyone who was available that day, please! Lucky me, I was being seen by the elderly, surly doctor with bad bedside manner.
"Yep. That's ringworm," he said definitively as he eyed up my neck.
"I just don't understand! I'm a clean person! I shower every day! How could I have ringworm!"
"You know, it's not just dirty people that get it," he mumbled as he flipped through my chart.
"Well, then how did I get it? Did I eat a dirty piece of fruit??" I nearly screeched the question at him. When I was two years old, I ate an unwashed peach and gave my entire family worms. To this day, whenever I reach for a piece of produce in front of my mother, she says "Make sure you wash that!" She doesn't remind any of my 5 siblings- just me! I was TWO! So you can see why I was so horrified at the mention of me having any sort of "worm".
"A dirty piece of fruit? What?" The doctor looked up at me with a confused look on his face. "You know that it's not actually a worm, right?"
"It's not? Then why is it called 'ringworm'?" I asked.
"Because it's shaped like a ring. It's a fungus."
"Ew- yea, that doesn't sound much better to me..."
"If it was on your feet, it'd be called Athlete's foot. If it was on her head," he gestured toward Anna, "it'd be called cradle cap. It's all the same thing." He explained. "The technical name is Trichophyton rubrum."
"Oh. Then how did I get it? And can I give it to Anna??"
"It's everywhere. It's on this door, it's on your shoe, it's on her stroller. It's here and here, and on that there," he pointed to objects all around the room as I recoiled in horror. "It's everywhere. You coulda' picked it up anywhere really. It's in gym mats- do you go to a gym?"
"Yea, I work out at a gym, but I don't really use their mats that often..." I thought about it for a minute. "Oh! But I do take her to a play gym! There's mats all over that place!"
"Ohhhh yea- those kid play gyms are teeming with the stuff." He said this almost too casually as he wrote out a prescription for me.
"WHAT? EW? That's NASTY! Well I'm not taking her back there then!" I exclaimed.
He looked up- "Didn't you hear what I just said? It's everywhere! Here and here and over there," he started pointing at everything in the room again. "Let me ask you something- Does she have a good time at that place?"
"Well, yea... we go like, every week..." I answered.
"So what, are you gonna keep her locked up so she doesn't ever get sick or anything? This stuff doesn't spread that easily. It's really hard to catch it, and you gotta expose her to stuff, the good and the bad. Don't you know it'll make her immune system stronger..." he lectured.
"Ok. But if it doesn't spread that easily, " I asked, "then how did I get it?"
He tore the prescription from his tablet, handed it to me and said "I guess you're just one of the lucky ones."
Ugh. So I walked out of the office and rolled Anna up to the nurse's window to return my file. I stood there feeling gross and nasty and just itching to get to the car where I had my hand sanitizer. I didn't want to touch anything ever again. The doctor walked up next to me to ask the nurse for a file, and as she went to retrieve it, he turned to me and said "You're gonna take her to that gym again, right? It's good for her."
I smiled and promised I'd take her back, thanked him, and left.
And I've already been back to the gym like 3 times since then. And I've talked about this before on this blog- the benefits of a play gym and getting the kiddies involved in activities. It's just that sometimes parenthood is gross. It's not my kid's fault, so why should she pay the price?
So on that note- I actually have a GIVEAWAY! Since I attended a blogger event at Romp n' Roll of Willow Grove a few months back, they've given me a $75 gift certificate to award to one of my readers!! You can use it toward any classes at their location! Here's the site: http://www.rompnroll.com/willowgrove/
Using the comments section below, tell me one gross thing that you've experienced about parenthood! I'll close this contest one week from today- Saturday, March 5, at 12noon. And I'll use one of those fancy pants random number generators on the internet to determine the winner. Please, only one entry per person!
Good Luck!
