Hand, foot and mouth disease, slap cheek virus, scarlet fever - just to name a few of the colourful and exotic sounding childhood diseases that I’m learning more and more about all the time! They sounds like a list of old testament blights or a page from a medieval medical handbook but are daily life for us with babies or toddlers! Before kids, the only health issues likely to arise were a dose of the flu or a hangover (sometimes masked as gastro)!
Poor Little Bro has been diagnosed with hand, foot and mouth disease, the symptoms of which are blisters on, you guessed it - the hands, feet and mouth. I commented to DSO that I haven’t seen anything so veterinarian since Dr Ob walked into Big Sis’ birth wearing gum boots (true story)!
Seriously though, Little Bro is doing ok as he has a very mild dose. Basically just ulcers without the high fever. The most inconvenient thing is that he can’t drink from his sippy cup as it pushes on his sores - so he has to consume all liquids on my lap with a straw delicately perched in his mouth. We’ve also had to cancel all social arrangements involving other kids until his blisters go away, so its looking like a long slow week!
Big Sis is perfectly fit and healthy and slightly bemused by the cancellation of all her regular play-dates. I heard her yelling to the neighbors over the fence today that we couldn’t go to the park because Little Bro has blisters - so at least she doesn’t feel any stigma!
childhood illness, hand foot and mouth virus, sick kids
