The Plague

I've been MIA for far too long, I know. But bear with me, I do have a good excuse!!

Just after my last post we discovered that our brand new kitty had brought more than love into our home, but also ringworm. I'd heard of it, but never realized what a horrible thing it is to deal with.

Apparently there is no "cure" for ringworm, just treatment. And it takes a long time. We are going into our 6th week of treatment for Callie, and our dog Marcy also caught it, and she's going into week 5 (although only 4 for both with oral medication). Daphne has escaped unscathed so far, and we're hoping it will stay that way. Apparently ringworm will usually resolve itself in about 3-4 months, but if you want to shorten that, you must treat it aggressively.

Every week we give the animals two lime dips (a foul-smelling rinse that stains everything it comes into contact with and threatens to suffocate you with its stink!) and two anti fungal baths (that we have to let sit on their skin for 10 minutes before rinsing off). We are also giving them daily oral meds which costs a ridiculous amount of money. It has been an ordeal, to be sure, and all of this in my last trimester of pregnancy.

The vet told us that Callie is a carrier, and doesn't have any actual "spots", so there is no visual way to see if she is recovering. Marcy has spots on her nose which are pretty much gone now. We're taking a gamble and releasing them this Saturday when they are done with their medication. The vet said that they are usually clear two weeks after hair starts growing back into their spots. Marcy's started that two weeks ago and Callie never had any. However, the only 100% sure way to find out whether or not they are cured is to do a fungal culture, which can take up to 3 weeks to show results. Since we don't have the money, nor patience, to treat them for another 3 weeks while we wait for the results (when they are probably fine), we are just going to pray that they are cured and let them out of their cages and back into our lives.

Of course is they are not cured, we risk the chance of reinfecting everyone, including a newborn baby. It is a struggle for me to trust that the Lord can take care of us, and that all will be well. I am frequently tempted to do just "a bit" more treatment just to make sure, even though we've been reassured that they will probably be fine, and it is costly and time consuming. I'm also literally at the end of my strength when it comes to dealing with this. At 36 weeks of pregnancy I want to rest, not give my cat a bath!!

Please keep our family in prayer this weekend as we go ahead and release our pets and reenter "normal" life. And pray that the ringworm truly is gone so that we don't have to deal with this all over again after the baby is born.

Check back soon...we hope to have news on the newest addition very shortly!