Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Recovering from HFMD

So this fun little post is brought to you by the enterovirus "coxsackievirusA16", most commonly known as "Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease" (HFMD).  And both my girls got it.  And here's the kicker, I didn't even know they had it until Kinsey was over it and Brielana was halfway through it.  Big ole #momfail.  And what makes it more shameful is I have dealt with HFMD in my own classroom over the years.  Doh!

Let me start at the beginning of this embarrassing tale.  Kinsey got a new pair of Native's and loves them.  They are lightweight, Princess pink and easily slide on and off.  They also have "air holes" and after a day of romping around the park, we noticed some blisters on her heels that night.  She didn't complain about them and she said they weren't painful, so we kept an eye on them and applied some antibacterial ointment and a band aid and called it 'cased closed.'

A week later they were still there but the blisters were reduced and were starting to turn into just little pinpricks of red dotting her heel.  Still no extra thought about it but we were more strict about wearing socks and shoes outside.

Well, Brielana was helping me weed the backyard last Saturday and she was wearing some cut-out moccasins with no socks and that evening I noticed her little heel had a blister too.  I felt like poop that I hadn't put socks on her and promptly put those shoes in the consign pile.  
Monday we met some friends at the park, had a grand time and by Tuesday, Brielana had a couple of strange blisters on her fingers.  Well, she's a pointer-and-middle-finger-sucker and I figured since she's cutting 4 molars all at the same time, maybe her sucking was more severe?  (This whole replay of my logic is so embarrassing.  But these are seriously all the things that I attributed to this episode.)

Well, on Wednesday Brian got a good look at Brielana's blisters, connected Kinsey's blisters from 2 weeks prior, did some WebMD diagnostics and insisted she go to the Pediatrician because she probably had HFMD and he was really grossed out(!!!)  We actually got an appointment with the Infectious Diseases Specialist at the Practice, Dr. Dubray and she immediately agreed that it was definitely HFMD.

BUT, both girls displayed very mild forms of the virus because there were no blisters in their mouths, and Kinsey didn't display any hand blisters whatsoever, so she made me feel so much better.  And because it's a viral illness, no antibiotics are given, so it just has to run it course anyway.  So, worse mom of the year award recipient?  The worst part of this whole ordeal was having to call my friend and tell her that I may have exposed her 3 daughters to HFMD :/  She was also super understanding so that soothed my guilty conscience.  And thank goodness, none of her littles has contracted it!

So how did Kinsey get it?  No clue.  How did Brielana get it?  From sharing a drink with Kinsey.  It was spread through their saliva by the straw they both used. 

I'm happy to report Brielana's blisters have almost all faded away and she is her usually happy self.

Some facts about HFMD:
1) it is the second most common childhood virus next to the common cold.
2) it often starts with a fever and sore throat and then blisters can appear at the back of the throat (neither of my girls displayed this symptom.)
3) a rash will develop on hands and soles that range from faint red spots to painful blisters.
4) it lasts 7-10 days and no antibiotics are prescribed. 
5) this virus is not dangerous if contracted.

The handout Dr. Dubray gave us about HFMD that she wrote.

It's almost the start of a new school year so be on the lookout for HFMD.  Stay healthy, friends!

Let's end on a high note: don't forget to enter to win an item from You Little Loves here!


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8 comments:

  1. Awww, poor girls!!!! My kids have never had this but I always see the sign up every year at preschool warning that one kid had it and that it's super contagious! Sounds miserable :(

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  2. I'm so sorry your littles BOTH got HFMD!
    Marcus caught it when he was younger, and I had no idea until he woke up one night screaming and grabbing at his heels. Poor guy was dealing with some serious blisters, and I didn't know about it until he was in pain. :(
    Aside from the blisters looking nasty, it's thankfully something that clears up relatively quickly.

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  3. Aww poor things! I'm glad they're doing better. Thanks for sharing the information!

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  4. Aww, poor things, at least they got a mild case of it. Glad they're recovering well.

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  5. I had no idea this was a thing let alone a big thing until blogland. I've seen it all over over the course of the past few years. Who knew! I would probably have not known either. Aria is always getting mystery bumps and bites and she does have this dry skin thing on her foot atm. Half the time I'm just like beats me, she seems fine. I'd probably be right there with you on the clueless mom train.

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  6. Oh heavens! I sometimes think parenting is a lot of guessing. Connor is suffering from some allergies right now (as am I) and has a bit of a cough. I'm giving him medicine as directed (by Dr. Mom of course) and my husband is all like "let's get him into the doctor, stat!" and I think we should wait it out. It's like sometimes a blister looks like a blister and other times it's something more, like your case. I don't think it makes us clueless as much as we don't want to be that mom who is taking her kid to the doctor for every single thing.

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  7. Oh no!!! Poor girls! Honestly, the way you described it makes total sense. I wouldn't have connected the dots either and would have just assumed that she had rubbed her feet on the shoes and irritated them, so don't feel bad! Glad everyone is on the mend and feeling better!

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  8. Oh no :(. HFMD seems so common now days and so easily mis-diagnosed or missed. Glad everyone is feeling better now.

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