Dr. Mom Was Wrong On Her Diagnosis

Apparently, when I got certified as "Mommy Extraordinaire", I failed to ace all of my "diagnosis" and "doctoring" courses. Because this weekend? With S? I was pretty far off the mark. And looking back, I feel pretty bad.

We went from thinking it was A.} a virus to B.} new teeth/molars to C.} oral ulcers that were giving her issues. Turns out, we were sort of on the mark, but just never put 2+2 together to get the answer. Turns out, she's been nursing "hand, foot, and mouth" since Thursday/Friday ...

The fever. The sore throat and mouth. And yesterday, around nap time, her cheeks looked real puffy. I actually asked her what she had in her mouth, or what she was chewing a few times, practically accusing her of trying to hide something from me. Until she opened up and stuck out her tongue, saying "See ... told ya so!" like the sassy thing she is!

And it wasn't until we were at some friends' house last night until it all dawned on me. The kids had gone for a ride with the husband on their four-wheeler. When they came back, S let us know that she had gotten smacked with some thorns from a blackberry bush, scratching her foot up a bit, but was toughing it out. In glancing at her feet, I quickly glanced at L's as well, and noticed bumps all over the place. At first I thought he had gotten into a pile of ants and made the comment.

When our friend looked at it, she mentioned she didn't think it was ants ... but instead "HFM" instead, since it was mainly on the soles of his feet and the palms of his hands. When I mentioned the creases of his leg, she immediately shook her head.

You see, in almost 5 years of having little ones, we've NEVER had to deal with something like this ... so never really knew what to be on the look out for. We quickly threw the kids in the car, started calling around to Tricare and our Pediatrician and anyone else we could think of for after hours care, and hit the road. Tricare was no help in getting us a referral and told us it would have to come from the ped themselves, so we would have to wait until the morning. I just wasn't willing to do that -- so we were grateful when the nurse's triage line at the pediatrician's office called us back and said to bring the kids right in!

One look and we had a diagnosis. Fortunately, doc said both the kids look well hydrated, and neither were running fevers. He said the only thing you can do is keep pushing fluids and give tylenol and benedryl to keep them comfortable until it passes, usually within a week or less. S is actually on the tail end of it, and he mentioned hers didn't look bad at all anymore, and was clearing up. Hooray for that!

Now we just need to get L through the thick of it.

So thats what we're dealing with over here -- hopefully the road's not as "bumpy" in your neck of the woods!