ON THE CREAM *

Dear Spike:

A few days back, your grandfather called with some disconcerting news. He’d gotten shingles — an adult skin rash caused by the same virus which causes chicken pox — and feared that he may have been contagious when he came to visit you a few weeks back.

Sure enough, that very night we noticed you had developed some small red dots on your back. And the next day it was worse. Chicken pox isn’t the most dangerous virus in the world, but it’s no fun for anyone — and it can be most dangerous for infants — so we were sure to bring you in to see the doctor that day.

To our initial relief (and I’m sure to that of your grandfather, whom we definitely would have bombarded with photos of your red-dotted back captioned “why, papa, why?”) we learned that you hadn’t contracted chicken pox at all. Rather you were suffering from eczema, a fairly common skin inflammation that can be caused by a variety of factors, including extremely cold and dry weather like what we get during the winters here.

But while chicken pox would have come and gone in a week or so, this equally itchy irritation might be around for a while — likely until you are about three and possibly for your whole life, particularly as your family has a bit of a history with this condition. Sorry kid.

The doctor has prescribed a topical steroid, which already seems to be working to beat down the rash.

No indication yet on how this will affect your batting average, but I’ve already received a letter from the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., indicating that any records you may set while “juiced up on the cream” will be considered null and void.

Love,
dad

Dear Spike’s Friends:
An update on my injuries: It turns out I had it backward — in fact, my wrist is fractured and my finger is sprained. The doctor’s prognosis is a week in a splint for the sprain and up to six weeks in a splint or possibly a hard cast for the fracture. In the meantime, I’m learning that everything — from changing Spike’s clothes to strapping her into her carseat to writing her letters on this blog — takes three times longer when you’ve got two arms in various states of incapacitation.
Sigh.
Love,
spike’s dad