Our Family Practice

For a long time, our focus was simply on getting through each day.

When your child is uncomfortable in their own skin, survival mode takes over. You’re not thinking big-picture, you’re thinking about sleep, about relief, about how to make today a little easier than yesterday. You’re desperate and looking for any way to help your child live normally.

We saw doctor after doctor, hoping someone would finally have the answer.

So Many Appointments, So Few Answers

Each visit followed a familiar rhythm. Her skin would be examined, her discomfort acknowledged, and then the conversation would turn to the next step. Always a prescription for stronger topical steroids, or eventually, Dupixent. It came to the point where doctors almost looked at us as though we were willingly watching our child struggle, knowing that we could give her a shot every other week and “fix” the issue.

I don’t believe the doctors we saw were careless or unkind. But I often left appointments feeling unsettled. It felt like we were being offered ways to manage the symptoms, without enough time spent understanding why her eczema was so severe in the first place.

At the time, I didn’t know how to question that.

When Parenting Decisions Create Distance

One of the quiet struggles during this season was that my husband and I didn’t always see things the same way.

He wanted to dig deeper, to understand the cause, to explore environmental or lifestyle factors, to look beyond medication alone.

I wanted to trust the professionals. I believed that following medical advice was the safest, most responsible thing to do. I also was desperate to help my struggling sweet baby. I saw a solution and felt foolish not to take it.

Those differences led to difficult conversations and emotional tension not because we disagreed about our child, but because we were both broken, scared and trying to help her in the way we each understood best.

Learning to Question Without Rejecting

I was born and raised in Canada, where I had never really thought about healthcare as a business. Living in the United States, I slowly became more aware of how quickly conversations could turn toward long-term medication, and how little space there sometimes was for deeper investigation.

That realization didn’t make me distrust doctors but it did make me realize that I needed to become more involved, more curious, and more willing to ask questions. It helped me to understand that it was my place to advocate for my child and to find the solution for her, and I couldn’t expect doctors to care more than me.

Looking Everywhere, One Step at a Time

Once we ( more me than we ) allowed ourselves to widen the lens, we began exploring more thoroughly:
Standard allergy testing
Extensive multi-day patch testing
Blood work
Stool testing
Looking into homeopathic and holistic approaches
Examining environmental factors
Investigating every single product that came into contact with her skin: clothing, detergents, soaps, surfaces, even the air quality in spaces she spent the most time.

There wasn’t one moment of clarity but rather, slow understanding, built over time.

The Decision We Almost Made

There was a point when we came very close to starting Dupixent.

Not because we were certain it was the right choice, but because watching our child struggle was heartbreaking. She would look at herself and ask why her skin couldn’t look like her sister’s, or why her face was always red. She would ask if she was beautiful and wonder why people were looking at her.

Those questions stay with you.

We ultimately decided to homeschool her because we didn’t feel confident she could manage long hours away from us, not just physically, but emotionally. We worried about her scratching in private, about questions from other children, about the toll it was taking on her confidence.

Those were not easy decisions to make.

What This Journey Changed in Me

The biggest shift for me wasn’t about medicine it was about mindset.
I learned that it’s possible to:
Respect doctors and still ask thoughtful questions
Use medical support while also seeking understanding
Change your approach as you learn more

We didn’t find progress by choosing one side or one solution. We found it by paying close attention, working together, and staying open to learning even when it was uncomfortable.

If You’re Walking a Similar Path

If you’re feeling uncertain, torn between advice and instinct, exhausted by decisions that never feel clear-cut. You’re not alone.

Parenting through chronic skin conditions asks more of us than we expect. It stretches our patience, our relationships, and our confidence.
But it also teaches us how deeply we can advocate, how fiercely we can love, and how much strength grows when we choose to truly understand our child.

This was not the path I imagined, but it’s one that changed how I parent in ways I never anticipated.
💛