Hoping Didn’t Help

When Buba got sick with Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease, we hoped Tiny wouldn’t get it. Days went by and she seemed fine. But then, last Wednesday night, she came down with a fever. We hoped she would get a mild case, since the virus took longer to appear in her. And we hoped she’d handle it better than Buba, since she tends be more of a trouper when sick. But, unfortunately, hoping didn’t help.

Tiny’s fever lasted for 3 days and then the mouth sores began to appear. Sadly, she has gotten way more mouth sores than Buba, and to say that she’s miserable is an understatement. Yesterday was so bad. Tiny didn’t want to eat anything, and had a very difficult time sleeping. She woke up in pain five times last night, and each time when I went in she would mumble through her tears, “It’s hurtin’. My tongue is hurtin’.” (She has sores all along the perimeter of her tongue.)

I have continued to give her the generic Children’s Motrin, which she takes very well, but she’s still in a great deal of pain. Today she went through several periods of intense crying where she was completely inconsolable. She screamed and cried so much that she nearly lost her voice. It broke my heart to see her so upset. I can only hope that today was the worst of it and we’ll soon be on the road to recovery.

Fortunately, Buba is feeling much, much better. He’s still eating mostly soft foods, but he is clearly not in much pain (no longer taking any Motrin) and is just so much happier than he was all last week. I’m hoping that HFMD will soon be a distant memory, and that my kids will be the lucky ones who never, ever get it again.