HFMD
Greetings to all.
When one plans their future and they think of children, there is the expectation that once they start school some diseases will come home with them. One thinks of colds and upper respiratory infections, ear infections, pink eye. Other diseases are also considered, like measles, mumps, chickenpox, all things to which, as adults, one has immunities to or vaccinations against.
During Xavier's first week of school (which began Monday, August 29th) we kept him home Thursday (he goes Monday through Thursday this year) because of what we thought was a head cold. He ran a slight fever and was stuffed up.
Xavier also developed two sores on his face, one on his lower lip and one just below his lip. Rebecca thought these might be cold sores; she got these as a child. We thought nothing more about it, though we kept an eye on them.
Then we noted small sores on Xavier's legs, not too many. We thought bug bites. We cleaned his room thoroughly, changes his sheets and blankets and gave him an extra bath. We found nothing in his room, so maybe mosquitoes got him at night when outside.
Labor Day weekend, Xavier developed blisters on his feet, mostly on his toes. We looked these over and thought gravel from the playground at school and at church were rubbing his feet. We bought him a new pair of shoes to keep out the gravel.
The following Wednesday, Xavier and I sawed up a large branch for the trash. The blisters which developed on my hands I thought were because I did not wear gloves.
Thursday I felt weak and oddly tired; by three o'clock in the afternoon I could barely keep my eyes open. Rebecca was out of town Friday through Monday, leaving me in a pickle if I could not get ahead of what I thought was a cold coming on. I thought it weird that I had a sore throat (like a cold), but no sinus congestion or stuffiness.
Friday, I woke with several new sores on my face and hands, the ones on my hands similar to my "blisters". The bells started ringing; this seemed familiar. I had something like this when I was a boy. It was off to the all-knowing Google.
We diagnosed the problem. Xavier did not have cold sores, nor bug bites, nor blisters on his feet. Nope, he brought something home (not from school, ironically, but from church) he could share.
When one ponders raising children, I think it would rarely cross their mind to consider Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease.