Hands, Feet and Mouths

Levi had a fever a week ago...he was cranky and fatigued, but then it went away. However, the next evening he started to get a little rash on his hands. The next morning he had the rash on his hands, feet and in his mouth. We called the pediatrician and confirmed it, Levi had the lovely virus known as "Hand, Foot and Mouth." The symptoms include a high fever and flu like symptoms for 1-3 days followed by a rash that can blister on the hands, feet and in the mouth/throat (especially in the mouth). He needed to stay away from children age 10 and under while he could be contagious, which is 3-5 days.

Yay.

Three days later Joel started getting the symptoms and then the next day Philip came home sick from work too. Bummer. Philip went to the doctor because it is supposed to be very rare for an adult to contract this virus, but the doctor ruled out strep and flu. The doctor said Philip probably just has a bad virus, but there is a slight chance it's hand, foot and mouth as well. Last night we noticed Philip was starting to get the rash on his hands and feet too, and what was just a sore red throat when he saw the doctor was now a icky rash of blisters all over his soft pallet and tonsils.

Awesome.

By some miracle (and some obsessive hand washing) I have seemed to avoid this illness and we have been praying I stay well so that I can take care of all the boys. I feel really sorry for Levi and Joel now because Philip has described how this virus feels in away they were, of course, unable. He says it's the worst sore throat he's ever had and that it feels like his hands and feet keep falling asleep and then waking up again. He had a terrible headache, body aches, fatigue and congestion for about 48 hours at the beginning, thankfully that has now let up and only the rash and it's lovely side effects remains.

Thankfully Levi seems to be on the mend and is out of the "danger zone" for spreading the virus, so he and I are going to get out of the house tonight for a while. Here is proof that Levi was feeling bad. This is before the rash got bad, during the "flu like" phase:

He laid on the couch most of the day...SO very unlike him. He is a very active, wild, non-stop motion little guy (exhausting and oh so fun to discipline...and I hear 3 is worse, yeesh) and he just lay there watching TV and took at 3 hour nap. So sad :( This has been no fun to say the least, and I can't wait for it to all be over. Hopefully in about 3 days I will still be symptom free and we will all be in the clear! This week sure has made me thankful for our usually very healthy family!