Saturday, March 29, 2014

And. . .A Plague Is Upon Us

Adults aren't supposed to get the Coxsackie virus.  So on Thursday afternoon, when my head felt like it was going to split in half and my brain felt warm and mushy and my skin felt like it was going to jump out of itself, or at least out of my shirt, and my throat hurt, and my glands were swollen, and I had a suspicious spot on my right hand, I was PRETTTTTY sure I had it.  But yesterday morning when I saw the nurse practitioner, she laughed at me and said she thought I was "just the mother of two sick kids."  I was kind of offended, actually.  Did she think I was sympathy sick?

She's not my usual doctor, but rather filling in for someone on maternity leave.  She was nice enough, but I don't event think she seriously considered that I might have it.  Because, adults don't get it.  That's what she told me.

And yet, somehow I still woke up with little tiny sore spots on my feet and hands.  There aren't that many of them, and they aren't very big.  But they are very sore.  It feels like I burned my hand (and feet!) on a hot pan by accident. . .in a bunch of spots.  Sigh.  Suckage.

Miss M is hacking up a storm, but seems better. She never really got the full on rash.  SB got a massive rash (face, hands, feet, arms, legs, and diaper area), but it's starting to clear (we are 5 days out from when the rash appeared).  She's been acting normal.  Actually, they both have.  In fact, a little too normal.  They are super hyper and bouncing off the walls, because they have not been outside in 5 days.  We didn't want them to infect anyone else, though.  Boy, do they need to play in the park!

I'm letting them watch a movie right now on Netflix because I just can't take the utter chaos of quarantined children any longer.  The Incredibles is okay for toddlers, right???


3 comments:

Jane said...

My son has had HFMD twice here in SE Asia, and my husband got a mild version of it the first time (spots on the hands and feet, sore throat). So yes, adults can get it. Load up on tylenol, drink lots of fluids, and all will be better in a few days. My son had fairly mild cases both times (diaper area hit the worst with the rash, fever gone within a couple of days), so was also a ball of energy.

By the way, HFMD is very common in our parts, and the doctors here say that kids can play outside as long as others aren't around, since they really pass it through contact with bodily fluids (mostly through schools, child care centres, indoor playgrounds). So we always go to parks while other kids are in school and just run them - with balls, scooters, bikes, foot races, bubbles, balloons, etc. - in ways that they release energy but won't pass it to others.

Lollipop Goldstein said...

Can't speak to the Incredibles because we haven't seen it, but wanted to offer sympathy for the sickness. Hope all of you feel better soon.

Paardgek said...

Hello, I don't normally post on blogs but my children had it. One ended up in the hospital. The PA on duty gave us mouth wash which the formulated at hospital. Magic Mouthwash they called it. It was a mouth rinse mixed with lidocaine. In case it gets really bad you might want to ask for it. All the best.