High Maintenance Mom

We hope to have just ended our recent weeks of Hand, Foot, and Mouth. I was sick with something else first. Then N (the scavenger) was sick for a week. My husband was home last Monday followed by B, who was home for the rest of the week. It sucked. We all had sore throats and were cranky. When I took N to the doctor, he was so upset and crying so hard, he threw up all over the two of us...

It was possibly the worst doctor's appointment ever. N had been super clingy the day before and did not want to go to the doctor's office. The doctor, not the guy we normally see and love, moved quickly towards him and he cried more so she left the room. I asked if she could just hang out for a few moments and let him get used to her but she only stood still for about 15 seconds. Then I was told I could wait while she saw another patient. I didn't think 30 minutes in the room would help out so I was told my only other option was to hold him down or have yet another person he didn't know hold him down. Because N had viral meningitis at 5 weeks and we spent 3 days in the hospital, I wanted to make sure he wasn't really sick again, so I helped hold him down.

There are certain people kids love and others who just don't have it. Maybe my standards are too high but I'd like to have a pediatrician who doesn't make my kids cry by walking into the room.

So the doctor didn't diagnose it as Hand, Foot, and Mouth. The rash was on his legs too and they were just red dots. He had sores in his mouth but I was told they didn't look typical. Not to be rude, but all I could think was, "they don't look like they did in your textbook". Because N didn't eat for several days, when he threw up I was thinking, "damn, there's the only waffle I've gotten into him all week" instead of "wow, he never throws up". I was also told to bring him back if he got worse in any way - somehow I knew it would and I wouldn't. A few days later the red dots turned into blisters filled with pus on his hands and feet. He didn't want to wash his hands, his eating didn't improve but he did drink lots of juice, like the doctor said he could, and he continued to be cranky.

On Monday, when I was finally taking N back to school but my husband was staying home sick, B asked if he could stay home too. He said he didn't feel well but I thought he just wanted to watch tv. When I picked him up, he wasn't his normal self and I heard that he had spent part of the day sitting on a teacher's lap - not something he does very often. He slept all day Tuesday and Wednesday. We thought he might go to school on Thursday but he woke screaming in the middle of the night and still wasn't eating. During the day on Thursday he was up running around and didn't even nap. So we assumed he'd go to school on Friday but he again woke screaming and it was obvious that he wasn't well enough to go in. We took him to the doctor, this time we saw his normal pediatrician, who diagnosed it as Hand, Foot, and Mouth. He also told him to avoid juice until his mouth healed.

I'm not a doctor so I can't say anything about it other than my kids have been diagnosed with Hand, Foot, and Mouth in the past and every time I get a sore throat and am completely wiped out. I was wiped out when I was home with N and then two days ago my whole body ached along with sores in my mouth and a sore throat. B's doctor says it manifests itself differently in non-toddlers so it can be hard to diagnose. Regardless of the diagnosis, I'm hoping for a more healthy May.