doudsville

hand, foot and mouth disease....isn't that something cows get?

so i don't know if cows get it, but i do know that elizabeth doud gets it.  she's been doing what i thought was teething for the past week or so; red, swollen gums, a low-grade fever, wasn't eating or sleeping well and was drooling quite a bit.  days came and went and i kept waiting for things to get better.  not the case.  her mouth kept getting increasingly more sore, until it got to the point where she wouldn't close her mouth or even drink her milk because she didn't want the cup touching her lips. then friday night she had a fever of 103, which i certainly couldn't attribute to teething.

i'll cut to it.  after a futile trip to the urgent care where the doctor was more interested in telling me about the magic of using saline drops to clear out her snotty nose, which was ONLY running because she had been crying from being poked and prodded by first, the triage nurse who tried and failed to take a rectal temperature (really?  is that necessary?? just stick that thing in her ear, right!?), second, a med student fumbling around with a stethescope, that ear looker thing, and a giant popsicle stick in her mouth, and then at last, the REAL doctor doing it all over again....

wait. where was i? sorry.  venting.

anyways, after all that, some serious internet research, and a lot of rooting around in the poor kid's mouth, it is decided: coxsackie virus.

she's still pretty miserable today, but i did get some yogurt into her. and though she initially hates the orajel every time, it, combined with tylenol and ibuprofen seems to be helping some with the pain. she's at least drinking her milk and is tolerating a pacifier in her mouth again.  i know how ouchie my mouth gets when i get one little canker sore in it.  i can't imagine how painful a whole mouth full of them would feel.  poor girl.  she's a trooper.


and now....the super bowl! or something.  i have to pretend i care, right?