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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!!

Comments

  1. So sorry! That explains the past couple weeks at your house though. Hopefully they are both on the downhill slope of it and getting better.
    Prayers for healing and sleep for all of you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I would ask how often and what they are cleaning with. I work at a daycare center and we dip all hard plastic toys and anything that has been mouthed in a solution of 1 tsp bleach to 1 gallon of water. Anything that is put in a childs mouth is removed right away. All food surfaces are cleaned in 1/2 tsp to 1 quart of water. Every room is sprayed with Lysol every night.

    I hope the girls are better soon and no new germs come to your home.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh I sorry to hear that you are going through all this. It sounds really tiring. I can so relate. Wysdom was basically on antibiotics for other issues for 4 months straight, then stomach flu and so on. It can really wear you down. Maybe having having sometype of wipes to go with her to clean her hands and a meeting with the school to help with it? Neither of mine are in school yet. Maybe also trying to boost her immune system could help. We just started to go to an ND because I got sick of all the sickness. Anyways just throwing ideas out there.

    Hang in there!!!! Thinking of you and send you hugs!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I hope the girls get better soon, that sounds like a terrible virus! Atleast the spots around Braska's mouth have been figured out. Emily gets sick every time we go to church or bible study...she is always sucking her middle two fingers so until that stops, I guess the illnesses will keep on coming!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Poor girls. I so hope they are both able to start getting better asap! Jack misses his girls, and so do I!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hoof and Mouth" occurred to me when you first posted the picture of the spot on Braska's tongue but I didn't mention since there were no spots elsewhere. Sorry. The end result would still be the same tough. It's one of those things you just have to wait out. It does get better, I promise. They will build up immunity to all the bugs and one day you'll say "Hmmm we haven't been sick for a long time." For now, boost vitamin C and get them out in the sunshine as much a possible. Hang in there

    ReplyDelete
  7. oh I'm so sorry to hear about the hand, foot, and mouth disease :( Those blisters do look painful...I hope it's clearing up now.

    and how frustrating about Braska bringing everything home from school...that would totally wear me down as well. I think you have a good plan in place if you decide to just call it the end of the year and give her immune system time to build back up.

    ReplyDelete

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