i frequently brag about the fact that caylin has never had more than a runny nose/mild cold. never had a fever that lasted more than a few hours, and we’ve never had an issue with anything really keeping her up at night. to get through the first 2 years of her life without even a hiccup or unscheduled trip to the doctor’s office is… incredible.
that said, she doesn’t go to daycare or preschool yet–much easier to stay away from cooties. but, i knew our luck would run out eventually.
our neighbors’ little girls go to a nanny every day with a handful of other kids. i don’t know if that’s where she got it from, but their youngest got HFMD (hand, foot, and mouth disease) about 2 weeks ago. it started out as a rash on her hand/thumb. she’s a thumb sucker and ashley just thought it was dry skin or a rash from sucking her thumb too much, didn’t think anything of it at first.
the next day, i got a text from ashley saying that reagan had HFMD, and to watch caylin for signs since they had just played together.
sure enough, caylin got it. but it was actually really mild. she had a little bit of a fever one afternoon, had a mild breakout of red bumps in a few places, runny nose. but basically that was it.
everything i read about this disease said it would run its course in like a week, and there was no need to take any medicine other than to help with annoying symptoms. so that’s what we did. it also said it was rare for parents/adults to catch it. i went on my happy way.
i went out wednesday night with a bunch of friends, and on my drive home that night, a fever hit me like a brick wall. the last 20 minutes driving home were spent trying to hold the wheel straight while i was shaking practically uncontrollably. my head was throbbing, and i could feel a sore throat coming on. i crawled into bed shivering so bad that i was shaking our bed, scared the crap out of brett, and had a fever of 102.
woke up the next morning, fever of 103, not shaking. mild headache, and the fever broke that afternoon. i started feeling much better. out of it, but much better. lots of fluids, ibuprofen, and laid around all day.
then, later that night, i couldn’t even eat because my throat hurt so bad. even soup hurt to swallow. as it turns out, you can get throat ulcers from this. lovely, right? thought i had a sore throat–nope. ulcers! hooray! i went to bed pissed off and hungry.
woke up the next morning and felt much better! i showered and got ready for work. at this point, i thought it had been a 24 hour bug and had no idea it was HFMD. went to work, everything was peachy, went to lunch. 3:30 rolled around and i couldn’t stop sweating, started feeling light-headed and feverish. i left work in a hurry because i couldn’t believe this thing came back to bite me in the ass.
got home and took my temperature, no fever. but no matter how much i blasted the air conditioner, i kept losing water like crazy. i was burning up. the sore throat and headache came back. i called brett on the way home and we were both pretty much like, WTF IS GOING ON. he said he’d bring home pizza–hooray for no cooking. i was able to eat a piece but after that my throat was like on fire. i stayed up probably later than i should have because i’m smart like that.
woke up this morning–no sore throat, no headache, no fever, no sweats. NOW my hands hurt, even my fingernails. my thumbs hurt like a sonofabitch as i’m typing this–WHY IS THAT A SYMPTOM? the bottoms of my feet FEEL like they’re covered in blisters and walking feels like a million tiny needles are digging into me, but they look completely normal. there are tiny red dots ALL over my body, and my face started breaking out.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, HOW MANY STAGES DOES THIS ILLNESS HAVE?
being sick sucks, yes. but of all the weeks to have this happen, of ALL the weeks, this had to be it…
monday is the first day of my next red hat training class. it’s another week long training with a certification exam at the end. it is not on my dime. i have less than 48 hours to kick this disease in the ass. i’ve waited almost a year to be able to take this class in charleston, and this happens.
next week, i’m gonna be the weird (and i’d be willing to bet the only) girl sitting in the back with red speckles and cowboy boots.
i’ll be damned.