I knew it would be a long tough week, but neither of us knew how bad it would really be. Sir C left Sunday morning, 24 hours later little Master Cam had a high fever. We had noticed a rash all over him the day before, but chalked it up to an eczema breakout as it is winter here. By Tuesday the little one had the worst nappy rash I've ever seen, definitely outside the range of normal spots/blisters, still had a fever, and was starting to get spots around his mouth. Unfortunately I was stuck at home that day with people here working on the house all day and he still was happy to play outside so I wasn't too worried yet. That night he was feverish and listless out of the shower, but perked up a bit once I got him warmed up. He wasn't interested in his bottle of milk and just wanted to sleep. The next morning I got him in to the doctor, but I already had an idea what she would say as at this point he had red spots on his hands and around his mouth. He also was obviously in a lot of pain from mouth ulcers as he wouldn't eat and would point at his lip and cry. His temperature seemed normal that morning at least. Sure enough, the doc said it was Hand, Foot, & Mouth disease. Something I have heard of here as it seems to go through the daycares fairly regularly, but haven't seen anyone in my mother's group deal with. At this point CJ had developed a high fever - the poor little guy fell asleep on the exam table in the doctor's office - she was kind enough to carry him out to the car for me. I just love our GP :) Unfortunately, there's not much to be done for this 'disease' as it is a virus, you just have to wait it out. So, I managed Cam's pain as best I could by alternating panadol (tylenol in the US) and ibuprofen, and tried to get teething gel onto his mouth ulcers - which stings like heck in the beginning, but then numbs it....the problem is the stinging bit - he wasn't a fan! He got to eat a lot of ice cream and custard (pudding) in front of the tv, as did CJ while his fever was high.
We went to the doctor on Wednesday, by that evening I had a sore throat and in the middle of the night I came down with a fever as well. So, on Thursday we were a very sorry lot indeed - thank goodness for movies and a GP who told me to stop at the store and stock up on easy meals on the way home the day before (and yogurts/custards and others things they could eat). CJ recovered fairly quickly that day except for occasionally saying his tummy hurt, which was his big complaint the day before (and being wiped out by a high temp). Somehow he avoided all the spots and ulcers, lucky duck! Sir C and I did not fare so well. At the same time that I was succumbing to sore throat and fever, poor Mr. C was having the same symptoms whilst stuck in a hotel room in the Philippines. We both ended up getting spots on our hands, feet and mouths (faces really) and ulcers in our mouths, but Mr. had a lot more spots than I did. :( Poor little Cam had it the worst of all though - when the doc was looking him over she said he had the most spots she'd ever seen, and he had easily twice that amount by Friday. His hands and feet were just lumpy and red, and many of the spots turned into blisters. I discovered firsthand (so to speak) that the bumps were quite painful on my hands, especially when on the fingertips. Cam really struggled with the ones on his feet as it hurt him to walk and especially hurt if he stepped on any toys or other junk on the floor (of which there was plenty at this point)!
Things are slowly getting back to normal at home now. Our spots are clearing up, the boys are back on schedule...it's such a relief to have help in the evening and to be getting them settled before 8 o'clock at night, sometimes before 7! We can definitely tell how much they missed their daddy this time though as they ask where he is frequently and can't get enough cuddles - even with him working from home this week! I'm sure it makes him feel pretty darn special. :)
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