Mom's Intuition When Something Isn't Right

Mom's intuition is almost always right.

It was a normal day and we were preparing to go to a mall with Liam, my 2-year old son. I was preparing his bath when I felt that he was having a fever. I decided for us to stay in our home. I noticed that he couldn’t finish his milk and he keeps on pointing at his mouth. I also saw that his hands, foot, and lips are red. He was really fussy the whole day and kept on crying. It got worse that same night: crying, not drinking his milk, and wants to be held all the time. I knew then that Liam should be checked by a pediatrician immediately.

We got an appointment the next day, and the doctor confirmed that it was hand-and-foot-and-mouth disease. The doctor asked me if we had a visitor recently, but I said that I cannot remember. She said someone, possibly an adult, had it and made contact with Liam. The doctor told us what to expect for the next coming days: blisters, sore throat, mouth sores and high fever. Liam was given an immune system booster, paracetamol for the fever, and ointments for blisters.

What is hand-and-foot-and-mouth disease?

Hand-foot-and-mouth disease is a contagious viral infection that commonly afflicts babies and toddlers. It is characterized by sores or blisters in the mouth, and red rashes all over the hands and feet. There's no specific treatment for hand-foot-and-mouth disease, and this is why the only medication given by the pediatrician are paracetamol and immune boosters.

Hand-and-foot-and-mouth disease, with sores on the mouth. Image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

The next days were tough for my child. The red rashes he had all over his body became blisters, and I noticed that he was really losing weight because he can’t drink or eat properly. The stress of knowing that this is a contagious disease is really huge. Spraying disinfectant sprays on the doorknobs, bathrooms, and almost the whole room became the many tasks that week. Liam got better after a week; his appetite eventually returned and the sores dried up gradually.

The Take

If your guts is saying that something is wrong with your child, trust it. Imagine if we continued to visit the mall that day and go to the mall playgrounds: how many more children could get it? Though I wasn't able to prevent this disease that afflicted my child, I was also assured somehow that we were able to go to the doctor as early as Day 2, enough for us to prepare for the next few days and give my child the proper medication as early as possible.