On Monday, I was informed by daycare that Arya was irritable. I assumed it was just because “it’ was Monday.” Later at night I went to take off her shoes and I noticed her sole of her feet had a rash. I immediately thought, it had to be the bleach from the shoes that I just washed over the weekend. It must’ve had residue and my poor girl got irritated.

Backstory: Arya has very sensitive skin. If she gets hot, she will break into hives.  I assumed it was just that.

In the early morning, as we were sleep, I felt Arya’s body on fire. Yes, I still co-sleep. Like, her whole body was hot. Afraid that she would get a heat rash, I uncovered her and fell back to sleep. When we woke up, I made sure she didn’t have a body rash. She didn’t so off to daycare we went. At night, Arya was complaining about her mouth. I brushed it off assuming she may have bit herself as she was at that moment eating a snack.

But what caught my attention was when she was washing her hands. At the sink, I noticed her elbows. It had blisters, which I never seen her have. I checked the other elbow and she also had it. Immediately, I thought “OMG, NO! She can’t have what I think.” When I opened her mouth, it bothered her and I discovered that she had blisters inside. I then knew right there, she may have hand, foot and mouth. What to do now?

I called Rob over to the bathroom, so he can see for himself. He decided to do a virtual visit via United Healthcare. The wait was less than 10 minutes. They asked for Arya’s temperature, which was normal and a couple of pictures of the rash. I would say the visit was like Skype/Facetime. She asked for more pictures. Then the video call crashed, it went down as soon as we were getting the results. Just my luck, huh?

She called me instead right away to tell me the results. She confirmed what I already knew, you know mother’s instinct. Arya had hand, foot and mouth. I asked her, “Ok, what medication does she need? What can we do?”  You wouldn’t believe the response.

She uttered the word, “Nothing.” I couldn’t believe it. “There’s no medication, shot or cure.” As parents we strive to help our child when their sick. We feel their pain and we always want it to go away. How can something like this not have a cure? I was left wondering what if?

As my mind went to other scenarios, “What if its Allergies and the virtual visit was wrong?” “What if it’s something worse?” I had enough; the answer didn’t sit well with me, so I had to get a second opinion. I made an appointment to Pediatric Associates. I wasn’t able to find an appointment with her primary physician but during this time Averie was also sick and I found one doctor that had back to back appointment time. Yes!

We were attended quickly; Averie had a cough/common cold. But when the doctor saw Arya, who I must say resembles Dr. Pimple Popper. She confirmed from just looking at her, that she had hand, foot and mouth disease. In her words, “without a doubt she has it, nothing to cure it. Just comfort Arya with lots of nice cold ice cream, soft foods and Tylenol. But I must warn you, some parents don’t know this. When the rash subsides, her fingernails may fall off. All the way.”

My mouth dropped!

I just couldn’t believe it. The doctor recommended that Arya not attend daycare for a week or until the rash goes away and for Averie to be away from Arya as it can be contagious. I also asked, if adults could get it and I was informed it wasn’t as severe as the children but that every body reacts different. You know I went full blown cleaning mode as I got home and began to wash and disinfect everything.

As a mom, I needed to know where she got hand, foot and mouth. What I am most happy about is that Arya wasn’t as severe as the images I viewed on Google. Thank God. But for my sanity, I still ended up asking the daycare if there were other children with it and to my surprise there were. I was informed that deep cleaning was to be conducted over the long weekend.

I share this story to bring awareness to this disease. I would like others to know what is, educate and if possible how to cure it, in case it may happen to your own children. In this scenario, as crazy it sounds there is no cure. But do read about it because you never know when it can happen to you.

-The Mominista