The Life of a Potter's Wife: the adventures of hand, foot, and mouth disease

Oh, the joys of hand, foot and mouth.

If you don't know what it is, you basically need to know it sucks. Its a VERY CONTAGIOUS disease that causes high fever, sores on around the mouth, hands and feet (hence the name). It can be extremely uncomfortable, and very painful. I'm writing this post to share of a wonderful remedy that helped us tremendously! There was literally nothing online on how to help heal, nothing even the mommy blogs. I taking it upon myself to write this to be helpful to someone in the future!

I had heard stories of this stupid disease. It happens to even kids who stay at home with their parents, as well as daycare kids. It can be on any surface and it's easy to contract. I was praying to the good Lord Rowan wouldn't ever get it. Well, that dream was shattered.

It all started when a preschool mama friend sent me a text about her daughter, Rowan's mate. She had left preschool early on a Friday due to a high fever that came on suddenly. Then, her mama noticed she had a blister on her mouth. Fearing the worst, she texted me so I knew, and to prepare myself it could HFM disease.

At that moment, Rowan was fine, but I was praying nothing would happen. Saturday came and she was fine...till nighttime. Rowan was tossing and turning, and being super whiny. Sure enough, she had a fever. Come Sunday, the bumps came around her mouth, and the fever shot up to 103. Rowan was miserable, She wasn't very hungry and very clingy. Poor baby! Hubby made lesson plans for work, while I made an appointment with her pedi for Monday.

Monday morning at her appointment, it was confirmed she had HFMD and there was nothing they could do, just motrin for pain. She also saw sores in the back of Rowan's throat. We were told to be even more diligent with cleaning and anything that goes in her mouth has to be washed! It was so stressful! Rowan was very miserable, but ate better than the day before. We were beyond frustrated as to what to do, especially since we could possibly contract it.

I am an ~~expert~~ at consulting with Dr. Google (LOL) but even with extensive research, there wasn't any good remedies to help with the sores. Literally nothing at all. We finally read somewhere that Milk of Magnesia was good for the skin. This was after combing through pages of google results!

We weren't sure about it, but my mom found a bottle and gave it to us. Soon enough, this beauty down here became our BFF :

We very carefully would apply this to Rowan's sores 3-4 times a day, using a washcloth. Poor sis had so many around her mouth, hands and feet! Even her tummy! We had to be really careful and make sure she didn't put her hands in her mouth, as it can cause crazy poo (since it's a laxative). However, the sores were calming down, even disappearing after a day's worth of consistent use! It was amazing! By Wednesday, her sores were nearly gone! Rowan was much happier and way more comfortable!

So, what did we learn?

1. HFMD sucks. Duh.

2. Milk of Magenesia is your BFF for this disease. Buy the actual Phillips' kind. Apply 3-4 times a day. Rowan doesn't sit still to save her life, but watching Mickey saved us. Use whatever you need to keep them distracted when you apply it.

3. The fever comes first, but usually goes away by day 2 or 3.

4. Smoothies were king in our house. I packed mine with extra peanut butter and even spinach for iron and protein.

5. Clean, clean and then clean some more. This made my OCD shoot through the roof. Again, anything they put their mouths on has to be cleaned. It can be so hard, but this HELPS in spreading it! We are proof of it, because neither of us got sick!

6.If a grown up gets it, it shows up more as a fever and sore throat.

7. This one can sound yucky, but toenails and hair can fall off, even after 4 weeks after exposure. This can happen though it doesn't happen often. So far nothing weird on Rowan!

So there ya have it. We lived to tell! My sister and husband remarked that they were proud I wasn't a basketcase! I think I am starting to finally toughen up a little!!

As usual, there's a photo dump. I know its ridiculous that I took pictures, but I know seeing pictures of other kids with HFMD helped me as to know what to expect! Hopefully none of you will have to deal with it!

Before she got her sores, day 1. She was so miserable :(