Lotrimin Incident of 2012

It has taken me a while to draft this post.  Now that a month or so has passed I can finally write/talk about it without spewing obscenities but it's hard.

So, here goes...

As you know we decided to let Rogan attend a 2-3 year olds class this year a couple of half days a week because he begged and pleaded to attend.  If I am being honest a couple of half days would have been helpful for me as well.  I would be able to get things done that are difficult to accomplish with a three year old in tow.  He was so excited.  He got a new backpack and we took first day of school pictures with Rogan and his big brother.  Everyone was stoked.  It lasted two days, well two class days.

Rogan has had difficulty potty training.  Really it's more of a refusal to cooperate (gotta love age 3). Since his little sister arrived I have not pushed him to use the potty assuming he was reverting a little bit because a new baby entered our lives.  No worries, except he is very prone to yeast infections.  Yeast infections that are very difficult to clear up.  We have found the best treatments to be oatmeal baths and either Lotrimin/Monistat creams on his bottom.  These two creams clear up his infections faster than any diaper creams available.  My doctor suggested them and although expensive they work.

So, on his first day of school he went with a red spot on his bottom.  I knew he would require an application of the cream during attempted potty breaks/diaper changes.  I also knew asking a school to give any kind of medication is sort of a big deal.  I anticipated forms, permission requirements, etc.  Therefore, I planned ahead and phoned the school administrator and told her Rogan would require a cream.  No problem she said come by my office and sign a form on the first day of school.

The first day arrived and Brian and I walked Rogan into class.  We hugged our big boy and wished him good luck on his big day.  I mentioned to his teacher he need to use his Lotrimin cream and showed her the tube.  She said she couldn't apply the medicine.  I replied, no worries I spoke to the admin and I am stopping by her office to sign all the forms.  His new teacher didn't say a another word about it.

Rogan attended school that Wednesday and the following Monday.  His teacher reported he was doing great, he was even attempting the potty with his classmates.  She sent home some potty training pamphlets to "help" me with my failed attempts.  All seemed good, then Tuesday came.

Tuesday evening as we were rushing out the door to get Brice to riding lessons the phone rang.  We were waiting on background checks to be completed for Avenn's adoption so when I saw "State of Oklahoma" on the caller id I decided to go ahead and answer.  It was DFS but the lady was not calling to speak about our background checks.

Ms. DFS began to ask me questions about Rogan's school and the use of medications and/or creams on the children.  It took me a few questions to realize she was speaking specifically about our child.  At first I assumed, oh so wrongly, that she was simply calling because someone had complained about the school and they were investigating.  People complain about anything and everything all the time so I thought little of it.  Then I realized she was only speaking about our child.  Someone had complained about our child and his use of Lotrimin specifically.  Holy crap!  I couldn't believe this was happening.

I was able to determine (because of course complaints are anonymous) that his teacher (knew it was her because no one else was putting Lotrimin on our child) was not comfortable applying Lotrimin on Rogan because it's not a diaper cream.  Lotrimin is made for athlete's foot and jock itch.  After answering Ms. DFS' questions and becoming angrier by the minute I told her that her investigation was the craziest thing I had ever experienced.  She said the cream was not made for infants and it was being used inappropriately.  I told her my doctor suggested it during an office visit and it was the only thing that worked besides Monistat.  She asked if I had a prescription note from the doctor.  I said no it's OTC.  We argued back and forth about that for a while.  I also told her that I felt my child was going endure enough therapy simply by having me as his mother that I didn't need to add to his therapy bill by sending him to school with vaginal cream that a cream for jock's itch seemed more appropriate.  I also told her she was crazy that her investigation was pure lunacy and I was appalled, completely appalled.

The next day Rogan was due back in class.  He didn't go.  We were flipping out because we were afraid with our names now associated with a DFS investigation that our background checks would never be approved and Avenn's adoption would never be finalized.

After several phone calls with the school administrator to let her know the position her employee put our family in and to say Rogan would no longer be a student at her school unless her employee was no longer employed there.

Obviously, an employee cannot be fired for making a complaint to DFS but she definitely handled the situation totally wrong.  I mean totally and completely wrong.  Had she said she was uncomfortable applying the medicine I would have said, okay no problem.  I would have just taken care of it at home.  He only attended school for a few hours anyway.  It would have been no big deal really.  She also could have approached the admin and voiced her concerns, never happened.  She went straight to DFS.

The school administrator was disgusted by the whole incident and knew what a predicament we were now in and spoke to DFS and confirmed our names would not be affiliated with the file in any way, shape, or form.  Our background checks would not be affected.  We did finally receive approved background checks last week.  It took months to complete our background checks but the Lotrimin incident DFS was all over that investigation within hours.  Impressive.

So, that folks is why Rogan is no longer in school.  Never in my wildest dreams would I ever imagined someone would call DFS on us.  Never ever.  Technically, DFS was called about the school not us as parents but still we were involved and I can't believe it.  We go through a home study, pre and post placement visits, state background checks, FBI background checks, we have to prove we have insurance, steady paychecks and so much more to become parents and all it took was one phone call to send us into a tailspin.  We now refer to it as the "Lotrimin Incident of 2012".

Life goes on, we'll try preschool again next year when he's four and potty trained.