Kwan Family Adventures

Hand-Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Mommy's corner: Within a few days after returning home with Jason, we discovered that the children at Nicole's preschool had been exposed to the Coxsacksie virus, which causes Hand-Foot-and-Mouth Disease. On this day, Nicole began running a mild fever and began to lose her appetite. Soon enough, we began to see some blisters appear on her hands, feet & buttocks area. But the worst were the many ulcers in her mouth. It was painful for her and prevented her from eating hardly at all. We resorted to jook, jello and ice cream, plus any liquids she would take, with variable success. Sometimes she would repeatedly ask for something to eat, but just start to cry when the food was presented to her, since it was too painful for her to put the food in her mouth. Out of concern for our newborn, Jason, we quickly isolated Jason & myself in my bedroom, allowing Po Po to take care of Nicole almost exclusively. It was very hard for Po Po, especially when Nicole was crying/whining literally nonstop - for days, was uncooperative and/or wanted my presence. Naptimes were especially difficult time for Nicole. If I went out of the bedroom to help Nicole, I would take every precaution not to bring the "germs" back to Jason. I'd change my clothes and wash my hands, my face or evenshower before I would pick up Jason again. We may have been extremely cautious, but can you imagine how awful it would be if Jason got sick as well & had to deal with painful ulcers in his mouth? For a newborn, the resultant dehydration may very well send him back to the hospital. Needless to say, today was the start of a very miserable time for all of us.
The only bright spot was the brandnew big screen TV that Daddy had just bought & installed. It would ocassionally help to distract Nicole from the painful blisters & ulcers.

posted by Becky at 8:41 AM