Misdiagnosis, confusion, and a bit of anger...

So after my last post about eczema, I was applying vaseline to Jakey's neck as often as I could hoping that the before the weekend was over, he'd have a "normal" looking neck. We went bowling on Saturday night and his neck looked like it was on fire. Very, very red. Very, very blotchy. He kept tapping it because it itched and then told me that it was burning. I had my Mom and brother look at it (my Mom has eczema) and they both frowned, tilted their heads, and said "That looks like ringworm." WHAT?! My house isn't dirty, I'm overly anal in that department. My kids aren't dirty, they don't go to dirty houses, Jakey doesn't wrestle, how could it be that?! As soon as we got home from bowling I jumped onto Google and started my research and sure enough the pictures of ringworm looked just like his neck. I was shocked. I didn't want to put anything else on him to make it worse, so we went to bed and woke up and headed to the urgent care where they confirmed Dr. Nana and Dr. Hubba's suspicions. Jakey was put on another low dose of steroid cream (during my research I found that the thinning of the skin normally happens when you are on high doses of steroid cream for longer than a month. If the skin does thin, it regrows once the cream is stopped.)and away we went. After the 2 treatments that day, he looked so much better! I'm just in shock that his doctor would tell me for 2 weeks that it's eczema when clearly it was not! He had the typical round blotches and a missing patch of hair from all the itching. It was a textbook case. And to have the doctor tell me to stop bathing him every day and smear vaseline on that neck was so asinine! That right there made it flare up and become that much more irritated. I was in fact spreading the fungus all over his neck each time I applied that vaseline. That part feels like such a HUGE Mommy fail to me. I understand doctors aren't infallible, just like the rest of us, but I do expect a little more from someone who went to school for SO long. It's not like we are in there all the time wanting answers to minor coughs, dry skin, runny noses, etc. When I take my kids to see the doctor it's because something is clearly wrong. I don't want a quick answer and to be pushed out of the door. Now that I had the diagnosis, I had to start contacting the people I babysit for and let them know what was going on. I had decided to keep Jakey home from school on Monday to get 2 more doses under our belts. One of the ladies I babysit for is a teacher at the kids school and she said there were a few kids in Jakey's class that had ringworm. BACK THE TRUCK UP!! A few??? And I didn't hear a thing about this?! This could have been nipped in the bud long ago, had a I known what was happening. Next call, leaving a voicemail for the principal. I know the principal very well and I was a bit upset that nothing had been sent home so I wanted some answers. I'm not a confrontational person by any means, but when it comes to my kids health and safety, I want some answers. I got the call early the next morning and he informed me that he knew nothing about the ringworm in Jakey's class and would be sending a note home that afternoon. The policy is to inform the parents as soon as something like this (lice, chicken pox, etc.) occurs. Ringworm, or a fungal infection, can actually be treated with athlete's foot cream and as long as the kids have been treated for 24 hours they can be sent back to school. Well if parents call their kids in absent and don't specify the reason, the staff have no idea. I don't hold the school responsible at all. I'm just angered that maybe the parents weren't truthful and now we are suffering because of that. As of this morning the count was raised to 5 kids with it, just in Jakey's classroom. The kids it's affecting are not from "dirty/bad" houses and they are some of the advanced students. I still feel weird telling people about it though because it is thought of as a dirty person's issue. I don't want my sweet boy getting picked on or made fun of, so I'm hoping his school day is going well.