not feeling so supermom, stuff best described as not safe for parents

HFMD ain’t no fun for me

Tru’s down with HFMD.

He woke up with a temperature yesterday and was complaining about having pain in his mouth. We thought it was a just bad throat but we found his mouth covered with ulcers in the evening and a trip to the doctors confirmed that it was definitely a case of HFMD.

In parentland, that’s cause for panicked hand-flailing and large amounts of distress. Not so much because it’s life-threatening but because it’s extremely painful and aggressively contagious. Plus there’s the 7-day quarantine that’s most certainly going to drive me a little mad.

Usually by the second day, the parent starts to display signs of insanity, like bloodshot eyes and aimless shuffling. By day 4 or 5, it will progress to full on crazy and symptoms include straggly hair, hair eating, insomnia and random outbursts.

Obviously, I did the only logical thing and turned to google for help but then I immediately regretted doing that because all the photos that came up – ewwww. I had to cover the pictures with one hand while scrolling the text with the other. Also, trust me on this, it’s not suitable bedtime reading material because you’ll dream of getting chased by legions of giant ulcers and blisters.

To be fair, the H & F part isn’t that bad because the blisters aren’t the itchy sort but the mouth full of ulcers, that’s the killer. I have one tiny ulcer and I feel positively miserable so I can only imagine how difficult it is to have 22 ulcers all at once.

Truett tried to be strong but he would stop in his tracks every few minutes, grab his mouth and cry because of the pain. He couldn’t even close his mouth so he was drooling all day and had to talk like he had a lisp. Coming from the boy who didn’t flinch while taking 5 stitches to the head, it was heartbreaking.

It was too painful to eat so I kept him on a diet of ice-cream, chocolate milk and iced water. By dinner time, he was ravenously hungry and he stared at the fish porridge with a look that can only be described as anguish.

“I want porr-age. I’m wear-ee hungee… bwahhhhhhhh, pain pain. My mowf is so painfoo.”

He would bring the spoon of porride to his lips, peer at it and start to cry. Finally, he stopped, braced himself and took a bite before quickly swallowing and bursting into tears.

I can’t believe it’s only day 1 of the quarantine.

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30 Comments

  • Reply San October 31, 2011 at 10:50 pm

    Heart-breaking! :'( He is such a trooper, and I pray he gets better pronto!
    San´s last post ..First time to the chiropractor!

  • Reply Yvonne Yeo October 31, 2011 at 10:54 pm

    Geez….I can’t imagine dealing with a mouthful of ulcers. Hang on there!
    Yvonne Yeo´s last post ..When Life Throws You Lemons… (The Toddler Version)

  • Reply Shiqin October 31, 2011 at 10:54 pm

    Oh dear, that’s truly heartbreaking. It’s so sad when kids want to ear but unable to because of the pain. Feel better soon, Tru. You’re a trooper.

  • Reply Shiqin October 31, 2011 at 10:55 pm

    Want to *eat*, not ear.

  • Reply Susan October 31, 2011 at 11:00 pm

    Oh dear, that’s so heart breaking. Sophie also had a HFMD episode when she was one year old so I know exactly how you feel. Take care and do keep your sanity, that may be more of a challenge than caring for Tru with HFMD.
    Susan´s last post ..Dressing up for Halloween

  • Reply Survivor October 31, 2011 at 11:08 pm

    My kids (all three of them!) and Hubby have HFMD since last week. Here’s what I’ve gathered from the experience so far:

    Stuff that HFMD folks will more likely eat:
    Yoghurt, ice cream, papaya, cucumber, cold fresh milk, ice cubes (ice cubes stop the pain for a while and the tears too), mee suah, cold barley, chrysanthemum drinks. My kids loved those yoghurt with aloe vera / nata de coco (probably because it’s quite soothing and resembles jelly bits!)

    Food to avoid (will cause more pain to the ulcers):
    Salty, sour, spice food. So make bland food as much as u can.
    If you’re making porridge/noodles/mee suah, make sure that the food is cooled down first if not the heat will just induce a new round of crying (PAINPAINMYMOUTHPAIN!!)

    Starting Tru early on the antiviral med (Acyclovir) would be good. It helped to reduce the severity of the symptoms on two of my kids. But it’s a pain to feed Acyclovir FOUR times a day. FOUR!!

    And I can totally identify with what you said about having one measly mouth ulcer ourselves and that it’s such a pain already, cos I had ONE mouth ulcer too while they were having HFMD (cos one kid’s head hit my lip accidentally) and just could not imagine multiple ulcers of that kind in my throat.

    My kids were given 10 days MC. I’m having a bit of cabin fever already. -_____-‘”

  • Reply YH November 1, 2011 at 12:58 am

    I am on day 3 of my HFMD quarantine. I caught it from my 2 kids thru eating their left over food. I was too confident with my own immune system. Their quarantine will ends on Wednesday. My throat feels like there is a big and sharp object stuck in my throat. I kept drinking herbal soup, oldenlandia water. Each time I feel slightly better but it is still far from comfortable. Especially the moment I wake up from sleep, the first thing I feel is the sharp pain in my throat. I can fully understand Tru’s pain. My children react better than me. Just occasionally fever and poor appetite. Other than that they are still very playful. I hope we all recover quickly. Take care.

  • Reply Emily November 1, 2011 at 9:02 am

    Oh dear, poor boy :( I’m sorry to hear that.. Hope that he will recover very quickly. It’s painful, I know. You take care too, Daphne.
    Emily´s last post ..The New Punggol Waterway

  • Reply qiu xian November 1, 2011 at 9:09 am

    I can’t imagine the pain he’s going through, because one ulcer is enough for us adults to cry heaven and earth already. Stay strong Daphne and Tru!

  • Reply Debra Li November 1, 2011 at 9:13 am

    Poor Tru! Hope he feels better soon and Kirsten doesn’t catch it from him!

  • Reply Yvonne November 1, 2011 at 9:53 am

    Oh dear, poor boy :( two uclers is already killing us, I cant imagine how difficult it is to have 22 ulcers all at once. Hope that he will recover very quickly.

    You too, take care.

  • Reply zhing November 1, 2011 at 9:57 am

    awww poor muffin! the porridge bit was sooo sad! get better soon truett!!!

  • Reply Momo November 1, 2011 at 10:19 am

    Hey, I had HFMD together with Bean and Dot! last year. Dot! was only 4 months! You must try to be careful not to catch it too. I wanted to check myself into hospital to be put on drip because I couldn’t even swallow my saliva

  • Reply Ming November 1, 2011 at 11:08 am

    oh dear… i can only imagine the pain and torture both you and the boy are going through… hope the ulcers go away fast… hang in there and don’t catch the bug!

  • Reply rachel November 1, 2011 at 11:12 am

    so heart breaking…
    my kiddo had it last year too. according to the doc, jus give water, water & more water. i tried yogurt, ice cream, juices, fruits. tiny bits of food, porridge, mashed potatoes, mashed noodles. on a positive side, u can be a tad happy that he still feels hungry.
    u must take care too! & the little sweetie pie & the Man.

  • Reply lilsnooze November 1, 2011 at 3:59 pm

    Poor Tru. And HFMD sounds really baaaaaad. :(

  • Reply Olivia November 1, 2011 at 7:36 pm

    Take watermelon too. Helps too sooth the pain.

  • Reply Jillian November 1, 2011 at 9:16 pm

    Poor little man, both my kids have had HFMD, Max twice! We survived but it was a rough couple of weeks. Hope he starts to feel better soon.

  • Reply Jennifer November 1, 2011 at 10:49 pm

    Awwww!!!! I almost cried when I read that! Take care, get rest and I hope u, K and Daddy don’t get it.

  • Reply Chee November 1, 2011 at 11:41 pm

    Poor Tru! I remember how my daughter was whimpering at night because of the pain. The doc suggested putting some orajel around the mouth before she ate so at least it relieved the pain for 10 minutes while she swallowed some food down. It didn’t work too well though as she was just terrified of pain when we rubbed the orajel on.
    Adding on to list of food: coconut juice, soya beancurd
    Oh and the old folks recommended giving cooled green bean water (boil green beans in hot water for 10 mins) as HFMD is considered “heaty”.

  • Reply Lazymummy November 2, 2011 at 12:06 am

    Hope he will get well really soon.

  • Reply June November 2, 2011 at 12:27 am

    Oh dear, be strong Tru, even if it’s just for your mama’s sanity’s sake. I feel quite terrified after reading this, to be honest, you don’t think about such things much until it really happens. Be strong too, Daphne!
    June´s last post ..The Hug (part 2)

  • Reply Bun Bun Makeup Tips November 2, 2011 at 2:27 am

    Oh no….. sounds heartbreaking… be strong Tru! ='(
    Bun Bun Makeup Tips´s last post ..MAC Too Chic Beauty Powder Is Absolutely Gorgeous For Warm Skin Undertones

  • Reply JZ November 2, 2011 at 1:57 pm

    Oh! I know how painful it must be for Tru and heartbreaking for you at the same time. Take care!

  • Reply Candice November 2, 2011 at 11:04 pm

    poor Tru!! it’s as tiring for the parents as it is painful for the kiddo. hang in there, you both!

  • Reply Daphne November 3, 2011 at 9:49 am

    Thanks for all the love and prayers and advice! I think the worst is over for Tru because he’s talking again. He woke up this morning and said “I’m much better now” so I guess he is.

    The bad news is that Kirsten has caught it too so we’re starting the cycle again. Let’s hope this all clears by the weekend.

  • Reply Infected. Again. — MOTHER, INC. April 4, 2012 at 8:44 am

    […] last time they got the virus, they didn’t eat for 3 days straight and pretty much spent those days grabbing their mouths […]

  • Reply Pamela ST February 11, 2017 at 8:23 am

    Such beautiful kids. You are so blessed! I am nursing myself now if the hfmd virus and my daughter us running a fever. Hope she doesn’t get it from me.

    • Reply Pamela ST February 11, 2017 at 8:24 am

      *of

      • Reply Pamela ST February 11, 2017 at 8:27 am

        Your kids must be grown up since your last post is 2012. Wonder how they look like now.

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