Hand, Foot, & Mouth Disease

Sunday, February 19
     We got back from Disney World at 6 in the morning, so obviously we were way over tired. Plus we hadn't been sleeping well while there because my mom snores and kept us up. Tiredness seemed normal.

Monday, February 20
     Feelings of malaise and tiredness continues, still explainable from coming home to depressing winter from an awesome vacation in Florida. Laura has low appetite.

Tuesday, February 21
     Laura has been coughing for a while and still more tired and clingy than usual. I thought she might still be getting caught up from the lack of sleep on the holiday, but it was getting to be a bit much. She and I napped for several hours in the afternoon, something she doesn't really do anymore. She also was asking for more fluids (milk/ water) than usual, but less food, and had a loose, mucousy stool. Gross.

 Wednesday, February 22

This isn't Laura's hand, but this is what her rash looked like

snuggles for Mom

We both had doctor's appointments in the morning, and while we were waiting to see the doctor I noticed she was starting to develop a rash on her hands. I asked him to check it out since apparently Hand, Foot, & Mouth Disease has been going around, and he said it could be the beginning of it. Either way, they don't treat for it, so there isn't really anything you can do except ride it out and gain immunity from it once it has run it's course. I asked him if I should be concerned if I get it, but he said most adults don't usually contract it, as they have been exposed as children and have immunity.
He also said that I am far enough along in my pregnancy that the baby should be okay should I get it. I called in sick to work because I had been feeling tired still, and Laura needed her mommy. I wasn't sure if I had it or not, and even if I didn't I was still covered in Laura's germs. Later that night, as I was getting ready for bed, I noticed four little blisters had developed on my upper lip. Yay. My mom did mention earlier that we had not had it as children, so I guess I never developed an immunity to it.


Thursday, February 23
     I woke up at 5:30am stressing about this sickness. Laura's birthday party was supposed to be on Saturday, but no one wants to go to a diseased kid's birthday. I couldn't sleep any more, so I got up and checked my lip. A few more tiny blisters had developed. I woke Josh up and we decided we would let everyone know that Laura was sick, and it could be up to them whether they would attend Laura's party or not. We couldn't really postpone the party until the following weekend because we are going away for Grandma Eleanor's 90th. And the weekend after that, well, that would be March 10th already, almost a month after her actual birthday. Seemed kinda silly. The good thing is, HFMD is only supposed to affect kids, so technically we could still have her birthday this weekend with the grandmas and grandpas and aunts and uncles (and any kids who had already been exposed to HFMD). So I started emailing everyone to let them know the situation. When Laura woke up she wanted to nurse in bed with me. For 1.5 hours. I didn't really get to go back to sleep, and was very tired when she deemed it was time to get up.

Watching TV after throwing up :(

She asked for some water. And then burped/ threw it up on the floor. Great. Then I made a bagel for breakfast. She had two tiny little bites. And then threw up all over the couch. Double great. Josh ran out and bought her some gingerale and crackers, meanwhile she was still asking for more "boggo". I had eaten it all, because clearly she couldn't keep anything down, but she was still hungry, so I made her some toast with peanut butter. She ate 1/4 of a piece and some of the gingerale, and seemed okay with that for a while. She was ready for a 2-hour nap by 9:30am. She didn't eat a whole lot for the rest of the day, even stuff she normally really likes. She had gross diarrhea around dinnertime, and went to bed at 7:30.

Friday, February 24
     Lots of people opting out of her party. :( How depressing. The poor kid is probably doomed to having crappy birthdays her whole childhood. Last year the roads were closed and no one could get here, and this year she is too sick to have guests. Ugh.

Making a "Frosty" with Pampa

She coughed/ threw up her cereal this morning. On the couch. Again. Luckily (?) I caught it in my hands and saved the couch from having to be washed again. She also had more diarrhea over night some time that leaked out of her diaper. So she started her day with a bath. Sick kids are gross. :/
After her breakfast, she was lethargic, but ended up being more sociable with Grandma and Grandpa today. Hopefully she is feeling better by tomorrow.
My throat and nose are sore this morning... the lip blisters seem to be trying to resolve themselves.

Saturday, February 25

Clingy birthday girl :(

     We woke up to diarrhea diaper again today, and this morning Laura threw up AGAIN. Breastmilk, this time. I guess she's still getting some. She's been pretty lethargic most of the day, and barely made it through her party. She had a quick nap on Daddy before it started, but clung to me for pretty much the entire duration. She did play for awhile downstairs, around dinnertime so I guess she had some energy.

Sunday, February 26
     No puke this morning. That was good. We were finally armed with towels this time. She drank TONS of orange juice today, probably close to 1.5 - 2 cups. She really didn't eat much, though, even less than she has for the past few days. :S I feel like she is getting ribby. Laura does seem like she is possibly marginally improving today, though still quite whiny, and she did sleep for close to three hours this afternoon.
My sickness has resolved itself to a mild but annoying cold. Josh is still sick, too, and was snoring all last night so I really didn't get a good sleep at all. My ability to cope with everyone being sick and whiny when I don't get enough sleep is not good.

Monday, February 27
     Laura threw up in the middle of the night last night. And had more diarrhea in her diaper. I'm not even positive she was woken up by the puking, but I heard her because I was sleeping in the next room. She was still lying on her back when I got to her. Ack. That is how people choke on puke and die. Anyway, we re-bathed her at 1am and changed her. Big Al advised having her seen this morning, which I was leaning towards, as well, since she doesn't actually seem to be improving much after several days. You don't have to tell me twice. Plus, I was concerned she might be getting dehydrated. So, Josh called in sick and we all trooped off to the ER at 8am. The triage nurse seemed especially concerned when I mentioned the rash/ blisters on her hands, and decided we needed to be isolated. :S... But, at least it got us seen sooner. The doctor ordered chest x-rays for pneumonia and had the bloodwork done that Dr. Lowry ordered on Wednesday. We had all the tests done fairly promptly. I couldn't go in for the x-rays, but I could hear her screaming from the hallway the whole time. Josh said they put her in some sort of clamp with her arms above her head. :( Poor baby. She also threw a complete fit for the bloodwork, too, but, she's two, it's to be expected. Then we waited. And waited. And waited.

Getting sick of trying to keep a 2yo entertained while waiting

The ER was bursting at the seams, and every time I asked Josh to poke his head out the door he told me there were several new patients that had arrived by ambulance. Ugh. We had brought 5 books with us, and that was it. Those kept her occupied for maybe half an hour, if we're being generous. So after repeatedly asking the nurse how much longer we would be waiting, and Laura demanding "Boggo! Boggo!" (burgers that Josh had promised her after we were done) for well over an hour, I asked the nurse if we would be able to leave and just have the doctor call us at home with the diagnosis. Then the doctor magically appeared and took literally one minute to tell us that, "The x-ray came back fine, she does not have pneumonia; her bloodwork came back fine, she is not diabetic or anemic; and her ears and throat looked fine, too. She just has a virus that she needs to get over herself." Ok, thanks. That's all we wanted to know. You'd think they would have had him take the one minute to tell us that a lot sooner so they could work on emptying the waiting room.

Snuggles for Daddy, too

So, we happily trucked off to McDonalds for some celebratory boggos. Laura ate half a McDouble. And half a bag of chips. And a handful of mini oreos. I'll be sorry if she throws that all up, but for now I'm happy she's actually eating food (if you can call that crap food). Josh is going out for some pedialyte, too, because Big Al says all the juice is contributing to her diarrhea. She also had another nasty poop when we got home. It seemed like it was trying to firm up a little, though.



Tuesday, February 28
     Laura ate a banana and a half, a quarter of a piece of toast and some pedialyte for breakfast. She even ate a reasonable amount for snacks, lunch and dinner, too. She was pretty much magically back to her normal self today behaviour-wise, too. Fingers crossed we are finally all done with this.