hand foot and mouth disease | Dear Crazy Kids,

Dear Kids,

It’s been an interesting afternoon. However, to really set the scene, let us back up a few days.

About ten days ago Buddy was the owner of a rather impressive blister, which then exploded in my face. The next day I developed a few blisters of my own, but only in a small area where I’d been having a bought of eczema on my palm. Awesome. Thanks for sharing.

A few days later you had about 15 of what looked like bug bites. We changed your sheets and gave you a bath.

A few more days later there were more. We started to suspect these might not be bug bites. We have experienced eczema with you (lots and lots) and we’ve experienced hand-foot-and-mouth disease with you (ew). This did not look like any of that.

We decided to wait it out. That is, until we changed your clothes last night and discovered you were covered in little bumps on your back and legs. You still had scattered red bug-bite-ish things all over, but when we added it all up there was way more than could be brushed aside.

To the pediatrician!

Guess what you – WE – have? A brand new strain of our beloved hand-foot-and-mouth disease. Yay.

This new strain does not cluster like the typical strain you had when you were a baby. This strain spreads out and doesn’t necessarily focus on the hands, feet, mouth, and butt like the typical strain. It can be accompanied by a low-grade fever and mild upset stomach (you had neither). It looks like bug bites at first, especially if you don’t catch any of the sores in their ‘blister’ phase. If Buddy didn’t have ridiculously sensitive skin and gotten a full-blown rash, we might not have thought anything was wrong.

The doc said it’s really going around right now, but it’s much harder to spot. When I told Buddy’s school what he had and that it basically looks like a lot of bug bites, three teachers in the room perked up and said, “Oooooh! I bet that’s what this other kid had!” Well, at least you aren’t patient zero.

Treatment – like last time – is…nothing. The virus runs its course. The doc recommended slathering him down in Neosporin to prevent infection of any of the sores. She also recommended oatmeal of baking soda baths to alleviate the itching.

Addendum: Don’t think just because you don’t have symptoms that you escaped unscathed. Adults frequently contract HFM disease but show no symptoms; they are carriers. If your kid has HFM chances are you are walking around spreading it too. Stay away from babies and those with weakened or suppressed immune systems.

Removing Buddy from the general population at this point is futile. You already Typhoid Mary’d your whole class all last week. Good job. I feel bad about that, but who knew? You aren’t contagious anymore but you are still at risk for infection, what with all the healing booboos. So, we shall be making a neosporin-greased pig out of you for the next few days. Won’t that be fun? 🙂

So, spread the word, folks. There’s a new virus in town. Gross photos at the end of this post. Enjoy!

You think we’re done, huh? Nope! Misery loves company doesn’t it?

After finding out that both Buddy and I had HFM disease, we went back to school to share the news and pick up Kitten. She had woken up from nap with a headache and looked a little green. We loaded up in the car and about 5 minutes down the road Kitten announces, “Momma, my tummy hurts. I think I might throw up.”

Cue: screeching of tires and scrambling for that random plastic bag that’s been floating annoyingly around the car for days.

Kitten vomits four times in to the plastic bag, which we then discover has a huge hole in it. She looks awful and my heart breaks for her. At home we discover a fever and she slurps back some meds. We settle all three of us in to a peaceful quarantine in the den and turn on How to Train Your Dragon. Is there anything better when you’re sick than a comfy couch and cartoons??

No. No, there’s not. 🙂

The first blisters and bumps.

The healing blisters and bumps.

The spread. This is what the spots over the rest of his body looked like. This was as clustered as they got (besides the entry point at his elbow). Most were very far apart.

*A small note to the several women that I am hosting overnight on Wednesday: No worries!! I promise! Buddy and I aren’t contagious anymore and Kitten will be right as rain tomorrow morning. I promise to completely sterilize my house before you arrive! Please don’t freak out!

Dear Buddy,

Obviously I’m being sarcastic here. Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease is disgusting. If you’ve never seen it before – and I hadn’t before you got it – it looks like little red bumps or bubbles on your hands (palms included), feet (soles included), mouth, and bottom (they leave that particular gem off the name). Because you had/have sensitive skin and eczema all over the place, you were particularly susceptible to HFMD. Not to mention, you were 10 months old – the age group affected most by HFMD. So, when you got it, you got it BAD.

It started at your ankles because that was where your eczema was worst at the time and it made a lovely entrance point. It was a particularly nasty case, as your doctors and teachers pointed out. It’s always comforting when a doctor calls in a colleague just to impress them with how bad something is.

“Never fear!” I was told, “It will run its course.” Run its course? You looked like you had leprosy. I won’t kid you, I truly thought something was going to fall off. There was nothing I could be injecting, administering, or applying? I was told I could apply Neosporin if I liked. I did. Apparently this helps prevent impetigo, but doesn’t actually move along or improve the HFMD.

You were quarantined in our house for a week, away from all other children and as many adults as could be prevented from contact with you. We were constantly telling Kitten not to touch you. No one had a whole week to take off of work, so we split it between Daddy, me, and some gracious grandparents with strong stomachs.

You could have cared less. You looked like a radiation accident, but were as happy as could be. It was the one thing I was grateful for.

We were nervous about bringing you back to school once you were cleared for re-introduction in to society. What if the other children caught it? How would we ever forgive ourselves for unleashing this scourge on to your unsuspecting classmates? Which is when we found out that you were actually in the last wave of HFMD that had struck every single child in two classrooms. Well then. In you go, Buddy! Back in to your petri dish!

Update: Read about our latest run-in with HFMD here! The new strain – yippee.

(Don’t look at the pictures if you’re squeamish!)