I'm not saying my daughter is, for sure, a dirt eater. I am saying she has hand, foot and mouth disease. This is a highly contagious mix of mostly viral, but sometimes a splash of bacterial, pathogens; a lovely tonic of germs if you will.
Ahn had this stippled rash on the tops of her feet. And she didn't feel like eating (!). Then, after our walk, I noticed she was hot, and her palms were stippled!
She was running a high-ish fever, and a mom on the FB support group mentioned her daughter on TPN having HFMD. Groan. Highly contagious and a semi-permanent IV are not a great combination. Not to mention my lack of familiarity with "regular kid illness." We will do everything short of solitary confinement during Ahn's contagious week, to try an keep Bo from getting this. I must admit, I'm feeling a bit defeated already.
Of course this all happens early Friday evening, the most perfect night of the summer. I have to be THAT PARENT who calls the pediatrician on call. Yeah, they're getting the big bucks to talk a microbiologist down about the unlikelihood that anyone can help a mostly viral, common childhood ailment {crazylady!}.
Good thing I get children's ibuprofen and acetaminophen for 20 cents. Cuz we are gonna be dosing around the clock. While I'm all about minimizing toxins for babies (hello, natural childbirth), there is a time and place for everything. And there is neither a time or a place where risking my daughter's brainfunction is ok. High fevers = bad news. So we will be alternating the liver toxic and the kidney toxic fever reducers (those are regenerative organs, the brain is not- so brain trumps filter organs), bleaching every solid surface multiple times, and germexing anyone coming within 100 feet of the house. Be warned.
Although she wouldn't eat a proper dinner, which the doctor kindly DID warn me of, she did eat THREE popsicles (ok, it was frozen pedialyte, that's ok; she can be mad and traumatized when she finds out in middle school). And with her fever reduced, she happily went to bed.
The end!
