Sunday afternoon/evening he started getting fussy. We thought he was just tired and he did actually fall asleep early, but then kept waking up. He couldn't seem to get comfortable. Then monday was the same thing, but worse really. He woke up screaming and crying and lasted that way for about an hour before calming down. He didn't want to eat, drink or nurse. He also had a low-grade fever. He really was just not feeling well at all. It took hours to wear him down to get him to finally pass out in my arms. Then he would sleep for 2.5-3 hours and wake up screaming again... and on and on till Wednesday when I noticed he had red, blister-looking bumps on the bottoms of his feet.
Everything suddenly made total sense!! Doing more research into it I discovered that the coxsackie virus that causes HFM has a 4-6 day incubation period and then symptoms start. Those include lack of appetite, general feeling of unwellness and a fever. A couple days after the fever starts the rash breaks out. You can get the sores on hands, feet and mouth or just hands and feet or just the mouth... can even get a rash on the bottom or genital area.
Victor has them on his feet, they are starting now on his hands and has them at the back of his mouth and a rash on his butt :-( Poor kid!!! It's no WONDER he was so miserable the last couple of days!! And there's nothing they can do since it's a virus. Can give him a mixture of Benadryl and Mylanta to help coat the sores in the mouth but that's about it. I've gotten him some go-gurt and stuff to help soothe his throat and so he can eat something! He devoured a tube of it when we first got home. We are pretty sure he got it from the playground and it makes me soooo not want to go back there, ever again!
This picture is not Victor, but it gives you an idea of what it looks like! He doesn't have sores around his mouth (yet anyways.. there are a couple of spots I'm keeping an eye on...) just inside his mouth :-( he does have them on his hands and feet.
It is really contagious for a couple of weeks, from when they first are exposed to when the blisters break open and heal over. So we have about a week left or so until we can be around people again. It's going to be a long week cooped up in the house!!! Hopefully he will at least start to feel better soon!!
