HFMD Attack!

Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease - one of the most dreaded diagnosis a parent with little toddlers would like to hear. But unfortunately, it has hit the Lee household.

It started with Caleb having a slight fever last Sat. It came and went and he was still very active and upbeat so I didn't think much about it. He complained that his throat hurts a little and I thought it was because we had a late night at cg the night before. He was going wild with Megan and Kimi in Aunty Amy's house and before that he was having a whale of a time playing with Nic and Nat during dinner time. And I indulged in him and let him eat one chocolate chip cookie that Cherie had baked just before bedtime. (Yes, Cherie, your cookies!) So, I thought, with a late night, lots of screaming and running wild with all his gfs and chocolate chip cookie with not enough water, I'm not very surprised that he has a sore throat.

Nevertheless, I told Daddy that we'll bring him to the doc on Sun, even though his fever only lasted for a day, coz Daddy was scheduled to fly to hanoi on Monday for a biz trip for 5 days. I really wasn't keen to be left alone with 1 sickly kid(Caleb) and 1 clingy one(Sarah) for 5 days. Note that this is a few days after we let our helper go, so lots of adjustments for me! Then, at the doc's, I couldn't believe my ears when the doc said it's HFMD. She showed me his throat and I saw there were lots of little red blisters at the back of his throat and one big white ulcer forming. Then we examined his hands and feet and saw one or two little red dots here and there.

According to doc, it takes about 4 days for the symptoms to surface so for the past 4 days, my dear son has been a carrier of the virus! I was told to observe Sarah and keep her away from Caleb. To prevent her from catching the virus, they must not share toys or food and each time after I finish handling Caleb, I have to wash my hands before touching Sarah. My heart kind of sank a little coz just before we reached the doc's place, Caleb and Sarah were lovingly exchanging toys and Sarah promptly stuck her newly exchanged toy into her mouth! Whatever it is, I decided that we were in a state of emergency at home and needed a game plan immediately! Btw, to put across the point of how contagious Caleb appears to be, the min he got off the doc's chair, the nurse wiped it clean. Then we were both urshered into a separate waiting room and Caleb was provided with a designated stool to sit on till I paid up.

First thing I did, was inform all the parents of the the girls that Caleb played with on Friday to tell them to observe their kids. Then me and Daddy discussed how we should cope with the current situation. Our lifeline was Grandpa and Grandma so after a short discussion, we decided that Grandpa would come and stay with us for 3 days and Daddy would cut short his trip to 3 days and come back on Wed. Meantime, we split into the guys team and the girls team. Whoever's on the guys team cannot touch or go too near the girls team. The guys had the living room and our spare room to roam while the girls had our bedroom and kitchen.

That Sunday, me and Daddy did a major cleanup of the house and I proceeded to disinfect a box of toys for Sarah to play in the bedroom. We really weren't sure whether Sarah's caught the bug so we decided to take all precautions since she seemed perfectly healthy. We also had in mind CNY being round the corner. Caleb's due for a review on Sat to certify that he's fully recovered. (We need a letter from doc so that he can get back to school). If Sarah catches the bug, well, there goes our CNY...

On Monday morning, Grandpa arrived at our house with his overnight bag and so we started our days of being quarantined. Grandpa and Caleb would play outside. Me and Sarah played in the bedroom. I'll carry Sarah out to the living during meal times and after that, it's back into the bedroom we go. I don't even allow her to walk on our living room floor coz according to doc, once Caleb's blisters burst, he's super contagious and he's got a couple of blisters on his feet. And yes, I did mop our floor with disinfectant too when everybody was asleep! I told Daddy I've never cleaned and washed so much in my entire life. Caleb's cutleries have been set aside with his own sponge and all. He has an allocated seat at the dining table and he's been told countless of times that he can't come near Mummy. Ok, that's the hardest part, for me at least and I guess for him as well. He's always very affectionate towards me. In recent months, he tells me he loves me almost everyday and he likes to hug me. On Sunday evening, he ran to me very excitedly wanting to tell me something. I hastily reminded him that he can't come too close to me. He stopped short for a moment, then his face crumbled and he started brawling very loudly. Really broke my heart. I think I hurt his feelings and Daddy had to come along and sayang him a bit.

Anyway, I was reminded that I'm not alone in this coz other than family support, God was also there for us. See, Daddy left at 8am to catch his flight on Monday morning. Then at 9am, he called me and said he can't get on his flight. His passport has less than 6 months of validity left and the airline didn't let him board. So, he had to go to ICA to renew his passport and the earliest he could get it back was Wed. Daddy then made alternative arrangements to try to fly on Thursday but his Vietnamese colleague told him that maybe he should fly only after CNY coz they are going to celebrate CNY so probably won't work much from Thursday onwards. I was really soo soo thankful. God knows we really need Daddy around at a time like this. Though he's not flying, he still got to go to work but there's more flexibility and he's around at night. So thank God for that!