Hand, Foot and Mouth

Ugh. Where to start? I guess I should start by reminding you that the Friday before last, Blair got pink eye from school. Fun times. The good news with pink eye is that after about a day of the drops, her eyes clear up drastically – like there was nothing ever wrong.

Last Wednesday, Blair’s cough (which had been progressively getting worse since the beginning of the week) had gotten so bad that I decided to take her in to see Dr. Kavin. Luckily he determined that it was just congestion (see posts below).

Then, on Thursday, Gammy and Grandpa picked up Bug around lunch time from school, to play. When we got to their house that night for dinner, they told us that she wasn’t feeling or acting like herself and wouldn’t eat. I could tell she was super tired from playing all day (and in about 2 mins swinging, she was out like a light), and wondered if this was part of her congestion, some teething and just being tired.

Fast forward to 9pm, we went from a soundly sleeping girl to a screaming, crying baby. She had a fever and wouldn’t stop crying. I finally got her fever down and had her sleeping again. By this time, it was after 10pm and I was hoping that the Tylenol would help her sleep better. Not the case. Bug was up again about an hour and a half later, crying and inconsolable. She did this through the remainder of the night. My Mom came over in the morning and watched Blair so I could go into the office for a few hours to get some work done.

When I got home around 1pm, Blair was happy to see me, but really let me know she didn’t feel good. She cranked at me a lot and wanted me to hold her no matter what I did. The evening and night was much like Thursday night and Trav and I were exhausted. Truly sleep deprived. I had to host my company’s family picnic at the zoo and Travis took Blair to the pediatrician. The verdict was Hand, Foot and Mouth disease, a common day care virus.

There had been signs up around the school that another child had it, but Blair only had a diaper rash (which is common when they are about to cut teeth), was drooling and had a low grade fever. I chalked up these symptoms to her one year molars coming in. By Saturday morning I had convinced myself that something was wrong, that this wasn’t just teething. By mid-Saturday, the rash began to spread to her arms and legs. I was devastated because the doctor said her little throat had blisters in it (thus the reason for the drooling and refusal to eat)! I felt awful! I had been giving her milk and yogurt because it was the only thing she would eat or drink – and no wonder!

The worst part about this virus is that there is no way to treat or prevent it. And it is extremely contagious. Adults are usually only carriers, which is good. The only thing we can give her is Tylenol. The doctor gave us this remedy of Mylanta and Bendryl to help coat her throat, but she is not a fan.

Poor, poor Bug. The day care will not let her come back until all of her symptoms are gone (which is mainly the rash). Travis stayed at home with her today, and I will stay at home with her tomorrow and hope our girl gets better soon. Today was the first day in about 4 days that she has tried food other than yogurt. I tried to give her a bite of a Wendy’s frosty the other day and she gagged and made this awful face! Haha.