Hand, Foot, and I may quit my job Disease

Let's talk about this.  Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease.  One thing that Scott and I were always relieved that Sean didn't bring home from daycare when we'd get a call that he needed to go home.  Until this weekend on Saturday, when we were forced to take Sean to the Urgent Care in Ann Arbor and the N.P. confirmed our biggest fear.

I will start by saying that NO CHILD should ever have to suffer from this horribly disgusting and painful illness.  Likewise, no parent, especially one that's 7 months pregnant, should be subjected to their child screaming in pain for what seemed like the majority of the day and night for three days straight.

So, here's what we've learned from this experience that the Internet or Doctor might not tell you:

1. The "sores" and "blisters" that are usually found on the hands, feet, and mouth are not exclusive to those body parts.  They can also be found on their elbows, knees, legs, butt, and anywhere else they feel like rearing their ugly head.  See the example below of Sean's lovely "bumpies".  

2.  These sores are not only itch, but can be painful as well.  He had so many on the soles of his feet that he preferred to be carried everywhere and walked funny when he did walk.

3.  Some websites will tell you that HFM can cause children to be very sleepy and sleep the day away.  I'm not sure who those "children" are, but my child was in so much pain that he couldn't sleep day OR night.  Saturday night he slept a total of one hour in our bed, which we've never allowed him to sleep in before.  Desperate times call for desperate measures...including singing the ABC's and Twinkle, Twinkle 100 times in a row while rocking him because he would relax enough to shut his eyes.

4.  Giving him medicine and doing anything that he didn't approve of would cause him to go into one of his "fits" that would involve him screaming and crying for upwards of 45 minutes straight.  He would straighten his entire body, kick, push, hit, throw himself on the ground, and use the phrase "All done" continuously.  NOTHING made him stop.  I was convinced at several points that he was possessed and required an exorcism.

5.  The so-called treatment for this is Tylenol or Motrin according to the Urgent Care N.P.  Since that did nothing for Sean, we were then forced to take him to St. Joe's in Ann Arbor Sunday morning to see what other options were.  I never thought I would be giving my 21 month old baby Vicodin, but that's what this disease demanded to give him enough relief to drink or eat.

6.  Speaking of eating and drinking, I also never thought I'd see the day where Scott or I would be so excited to see a wet diaper.  And I never thought it would be that hard to get him to produce a wet diaper.  Apparently, the sores in his throat are equivalent to razor blades scraping your throat every time you swallow, eat, or drink.  Poor thing...

7.  Lastly, the trail of thick drool sealed the deal on how disgusting this disease really is.  Between the bumps on the outside of his face, the drool constantly running down his shirt, and the blisters breaking open on his feet, he looked like one hot mess.

So, thank you, daycare for providing me with one day a week of freedom where Sean can run, play, sing, and get hand, foot, and mouth with his friends at school while I attempt to do housework, run errands, get the nursery ready, etc.  Instead, one day this week that was productive at home, caused a four- day torture for myself, Scott, and more so, Sean.  I'm pretty sure this one experience has now pushed me into doing what I've always wanted to do - either find a nanny that comes to our house or stay at home.  We'll see...

At this point, Sean is staying home with me the rest of the summer, I will be bleaching all his toys, cleaning thoroughly, doing several loads of wash from this weekend, and hoping and praying that these "bumpies" will go away before we leave for our mini-vacation to Chicago next week.