Where did I leave my white flag?

Chalk it up: One more diagnosis for the list.

Kinlee’s been a grouch (more than her normal grouch), not sleeping more than about an hour at a time—day or night—for a few days.  It’s exhausting, to say the least.  She hasn’t wanted to eat, though she usually is all about food.  She had a fever on and off the last few days. 

A few days prior to that, Braska had fevers on and off, and she had labs for blood and urine done last week as well.  She’s got some stuff going on around her mouth that I’d attributed to her sucking on her lip or something… shows what I know.

Kinlee started to have little spots yesterday on her arms and legs. Not raised, but there.  Last night, she went to Rachel and Patrick’s place while the other three of us attended an Easter Egg Hunt and party with friends.  When we picked her up, there were spots that were becoming more clear and defined.  She didn’t sleep much again last night, and I mentioned at one point that I wondered if her throat was sore since she was not even wanting her binky sometimes.

Today the spots were still there, but some were blistering badly on her hands. So I called the pediatrician and they wanted her in pronto.  I took her while Braska played at Jack’s, and whatta ya know… hand, foot, and mouth disease, including a throat “full of bad blisters”.  Poor thing. She’s been in horrible pain and we didn’t realize. 

I have been giving her Tylenol and ibuprofen on and off, but not consistently.  It all fits, though, the sleep issues, the eating, and the spots… so there it is. 

BUT the kicker is that the pediatrician said, “Does Braska have spots around her mouth?”  I told her that she had some stuff there that was from where she’d chewed her lip or had alot of saliva, but not spots like KiKi’s.  She then pointed out one of KiKi’s blistery spots and said, “Do they look like this?”  And yep, they do.

She also asked about bumps on the girls’ rear ends.  Kinlee doesn’t have any that I’ve noticed, but Braska has a couple largish ones that I’ve noticed the last few days and I wondered about.  Again, all things in one basket and it equals something.  Taken separately, they’re all just cause for “hmmmm” and that’s it.

So now we have an answer for the last week of fevers in both girls, irritability beyond the norm with Kinlee, and sure enough, Braska is showing up with spots more as the day goes.  I’m about to give up.

Dr says Braska probably brought it home from school, of course, that it’s almost always from a daycare or preschool setting.  Can’t be sure, but it’s probable.  She passes everything to Kinlee, of course.  And in turn, it affects us all, as M and I lose sleep trying to deal with Miss Grouchy during the night.

So no school again this week.  It’s nuts how much we’ve missed.  And I’m working out my speech now for what I’m going to propose to the school. 

As I’ve said before, I do understand that kids get sick when they first start school.  But not for 4 solid months. Or at least that’s beyond my definition of acceptable “school sick.”  As long as Braska keeps putting her hands in her mouth as much as she does—practically constantly on many days—she will continue to get every single solitary thing that is brought into that room.  She touches a table then hands to the mouth. She plays with a toy then hands to the mouth. She reads a book then hands to the mouth.  She takes them out when told, but they go right back in seconds, as a habit.

Clearly, all this illness is impacting our family in significant ways.  The expense of all these copays alone is huge to our situation.  The sleep lost and subsequent short fuses and frustration over constant adjustments to schedules is interfering with daily life, no doubt.  And I’m done letting this take us down. 

If I have to call an early end to the school year, I will.  I hope we can work something out to still get her therapies. But I’m about ready to sacrifice a couple months of it to get her well and re-boosted in the immune department.  It’s simply taking over too much of our lives to just survive 12 hours of school a week. 

Oh, and of course, last week I only let her go half days…90 mins per day, and we STILL came home with something.  So to get better she’s going to have to get some distance.

Thankfully, with a late birthday, she’s got an “extra” year in preschool anyway, and that’s fine with me.  So I’m not worried about how it will affect her down the road.

That’s where we’re at.  I bought some sherbet for KiKi to eat today, since that’s about all she’ll take in with any willingness.  Makes sense if her throat is sore. 

Lord, please heal my girls and give me wisdom to do right for them… AMEN!!