There has been a bit of drama since my last post.

Last time I wrote here, I was still waiting for my GP to discuss Gaelle's infection with the dermatologist. On Friday, i.e. after a whole week, I rang him for some news. He replied that my call was unnecessary, as he hadn't managed to get hold of the consultant. I wonder how hard he actually tried to do so...

The week after, the consultant went on annual leave for two weeks!

During that time, Gaelle's spots got really big and the spreading had continued, reaching her upper chest and covering the second leg too.

I then called the consultant's secretary to reschedule (again) the routine appointment and have it earlier, basically as soon as she'd come back to work. Her diary was fully booked and I was told to stick with the original appointment. Of course, I was not happy, feeling completely let down and genuinely concerned for Gaelle's skin by then.

A few days later, and after off-loading to my family and friends at great lengths, I reached the conclusion that 'enough was enough'!

I grabbed the handset on a Friday and dialled, once more, my GP's number during his very limited telephone consultation time. I asked for Gaelle to be seen by another dermatologist who could have her earlier. I didn’t care who or where! Just asap, please. I explained the situation and made it clear that we were very worried and that the situation was getting worse by the day.

I should have guessed that nothing I could say would make any impact… The GP replied that it was not an option, and basically finished the conversation. I thought: 'how do people do in case of an emergency??'. There must be a way to see someone sooner.

So I went online and desperately googled: ‘dermatology emergency’. It stated the option of a emergency referral to a hospital based specialist locum… by the GP! I am sure you can guess what I did next. I indeed phoned the GP a second time, so that was just 20 minutes after the first call, requesting such referral. He first refused. I insisted. He refused again. I insisted a bit more ‘assertively’. He finally gave in and said: Ok, Madam. I will refer your daughter now. But I want to tell you that this is wrong!’.

No comment.

It turns out the emergency appointment was actually quite useful and helped us stop the inoculation until the normal appointment came along. Some medical photographs were taken for Gaelle’s file. These same photographs were proof that the infection was still worsening instead of going away, so the dermatologist eventually gave Gaelle a treatment over the summer.

This is a photo of the upper thigh, which is now under treatment since last week (the red holes are where the initial spots used to be and then dropped due to the new cream).

It is a very strong one, not normally used for children or even this condition, but finally someone realised that we couldn’t just ‘wait and see’ any longer! The cream seems to be working on the trial patch of skin, so hopefully we will be able to apply it to the rest of Gaelle’s body soon.

Fingers crossed Mr Molloscum will go after a year instead of 10…

Oh and by the way, I changed GP the week after the emergency appointment episode. Such as relief!