Hand, Foot & Mouth Virus

Somehow, through 2 years of daycare and 3 years of mother's day out, Jake never got the hand, foot & mouth virus. It has been going around everywhere lately, so I figured our time virus free was limited. We had a great time the Auburn-Ole Miss/Halloween weekend. We could tell on Saturday, Hollon was not feeling the best, but overall, she seemed fine. Then Sunday she woke up with a rash on her face. I immediately thought HFM virus, but since she didn't have any bumps on her hands & feet. By Monday, when it wasn't any better I called her doctor's office. I described the last 72 hours and she said that she was 99.9% sure it was the HFM virus. There is nothing you can do to treat it and by the time the symptoms show up you are no longer contagious. So unless I just really wanted to bring Hollon in for a checkup, there was really no point. You just have to wait it out. Ugh.

I asked the nurse if it was contagious to adults and she assured me that it is rare for adults to get it. It mostly just strikes children ages 5 and under. Um, yeah. Since then, everyone I've told, has mentioned an adult they knew that got the virus. 

To make the whole scenario more fun, I was supposed to leave that day for a work function in Atlanta and my mom was going to watch Hollon. There is nothing more enjoyable than feeling like you are abandoning your sick child to go be terrified to drive in Atlanta traffic (I am deathly terrified of driving in large cities. Like panic attack terrified.) while sitting in a fraud forum with other people from the financial industry waiting to see if your face breaks out in bumps. I felt sick to my stomach and that is when it was proven for the thousandth time, that Rob & I have the best moms in the whole world.

~~Sidebar for some thank yous~~

My mom assured me that she didn't mind watching Hollon. Bad mood, gross bumps and all. And when I say Hollon's face looked gross, that was disgusting. (I love you sister bear, but it was the truth!) My heart broke for her though, because I just wanted to fix it and make her feel better. But thankfully my mom cuddled her, loved on her, played with her and made me feel at peace leaving Hollon. 

To try to avoid hitting Atlanta during rush hour traffic, my plan was to drive at night (much against everyone's wishes). The forum was only 2 days, so I just had a hotel for one night. My plan was to stay with my sister the other nights. But once Hollon got the virus, I was scared that I might have the virus and just not show symptoms and then pass it on to my sister's little boys that are the perfect age to get it. Rob's mother offered to ride with me, and in fact even offered to drive. She convinced me by telling me that she was wanting to do some shopping and this was the perfect excuse to get away and do that. But it meant the world to me. So we were able to just leave Tuesday morning (I didn't have to be there until the afternoon) and come back Wednesday once the forum was over. I know Judy was offering because she is one of the most thoughtful and considerate people in this world, but I did love the company and I enjoyed us getting to spend some time together. 

And while I am thanking people, I have to thank the dads. Rob's dad kept Jake in the afternoons once school was out and my dad took an afternoon off work to keep Hollon when my mom had to attend some prior commitments. 

Basically, I would write a thousand posts on all the things our parents do for us and help us out with, and it still wouldn't cover all they do. I can never thank them enough and I hope they never feel like we take them for granted. Rob & I realize how lucky we are to have 2 sets of parents that go above and beyond the call of normal "grandparent" duties. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

~~Back to our lovely virus~~

Thankfully, the virus never spread to Hollon's feet, hands or inside her mouth/throat. She never ran a fever again, ate & drank like normal and had normal wet/dirty diapers. But my goodness, that rash on her face. I hated it that there was nothing you could put on it, to make her feel better or it look better. So we just waited it out. 

This was early in the week at my parents.
You can kind of see the rash/bumps in the picture.

My mom sending me pictures like Hollon smiling like this helped immensely.

I went and got her on Thursday and her face looked just as bad. It didn't start looking better until Sunday. You can't tell in these photos because they are my iPhone photos (I do not have a fancy iPhone6) and blurry.

And her pigtails are a joke.
Jake wanted me to make Hollon's hair "look funny"

Finally by Monday, we could venture out. Hollon's teacher call me early in the previous week to let me know that the entire class had it. So their little class just took that whole week off to recuperate and for Mrs. Kathy to Clorox EVERYTHING. She already wipes down everything at the end of the day, but she said she took every toy and every square inch of the room and disinfected it. Some of the other kids had it a lot worse, so I'm grateful that our case seemed mild.

Jake's take on the whole situation:
He was very concerned, very loving, but from very far away.

Jake's prayer before dinner one night, "Dear God, please make those horrible bumps go away off Hollon's face so we don't have to look at them anymore. And please don't let them get on my face."

I also overheard him telling Hollon one afternoon, "Hollon, even though you have gross bumps on your face, we still love you."

And that is a motivation speaker in the making.