HF&M

Hand, Foot and Mouth.  A condition I have called Hoof and Mouth in the past.  A condition that 3 of my 4 children have had in the past week.  Blech.  It started with Honey.  He was feverish and super cranky (a side of him that we rarely see nowadays).  I thought it was another ear infection.  He had his first 2 months prior.  And then as I was trying to give him some liquid relief in a syringe (Tylenol) he lost his dinner, lunch and something else all over the changing table.  He's done that in the past ... coughed or cried so hard he vomits.  I clean him up with a bath.  Throw all item in to "Sanitize," and tuck him into bed (with his fake blankie since the other was busy for 3 hours ... fake blankie has origins with his first vomit fit ... but that's another story).

He continued to be fussy for 2 more days, all the while not really eating much.  Four days later Little C gets feverish.  And I begin to question the previous ear theory.  Sunday night, while we were eating dinner and Little C was moaning on the couch, he called my name with that certain pitch and strange look in the eye.  "He's going to throw up!" I said as I grabbed a bowl and ran to his side.  "No he's not," said Dr. Dad.  "He just feels crummy and he'll be fine."  Then he barfs, into the bowl I proffered (and not the couch, phew).   Fever for 2 days.  And then came the sore throat.  One look by my resident pediatrician and it was declared HF&M (not the designer store).

Then Miss A came home from school yesterday.  Feverish and miserable.  We got through the day and night without incident but there were several touch-and-go queasy moments.  This morning, while she watched nearly every episode of "Sonny with a Chance," she declared, "My head feels better.  My tummy doesn't hurt.  But my throat kills."  Love that older children can really give you the 4-1-1.  A quick check and she's got it too.

Now I'm just crossing my fingers that after 7 days, 1,500 hand washings, 15 loads of laundry and a complete Lysol-ing of the house, I don't get this.  Apparently, it's quite the rage right now.  Dr. DH tells me he's seen several in his clinic with the same symptoms.  I'm just amazed that we haven't had this in all our years of church nursery and gym daycares (which is where I think that Honey picked it up).

Conclusion: That's what I get for trying to be healthy and exercising.  A week of uninterrupted illness.  I just hope that it's not the rage where you are.