Well as some of you know, we have had a week similar to what the Navy SEALS go through in their first week. FYI they call it 'Hell Week.'
Sunday night Noah was a little fussy. Jenna got up with him and he was running a fever about 102. The next morning he was still fussy and was super duper drooling. We thought he was finally cutting more teeth. Anything over 100-101 in the fever dept is an automatic stay home from the sitters so I stayed home with him. As the day went on he became more and more fussy. When Jenna got home she was unable to console him either. So at 6:30 we decided maybe this was more serious than teething so we went to the MediServ afterhours clinic. The doctor looked in his mouth and did a strep test which was negative. Then they took blood. That was a nightmare. During all of this Noah is just screaming and screaming. She told us it was probably some virus and to alternate Ibuprofen/Tylenol til morning. If he doesn't improve by tomorrow then take him to the pediatrician.
Well at 11 that night it started to escalate. I went to bed and Jenna was taking the first shift. At 12 or so she came to get me in tears. Noah was in terrible pain. I won't go into specifics but it was terrible. I immediately threw on clothes and we went to the emergency room. He screamed and bucked and thrashed in his car seat the entire way. Once there he calmed down when he heard another hid screaming. A nurse almost immediately took us back and looked in his mouth and said 'Thrush.' So he had calmed down and we had a prelim diagnosis. We also had the medicine used to treat Thrush back at the house so instead of being bumped down the triage list and spending the night at the emergency room we went home. He never again was as bad as he was at midnight but it was still a long night.
The next day I went to work and Jenna stayed home. As the day went on we talked to each other and decided we thought it was more than thrush. Everything you read about thrush says mild to moderate discomfort. This was so far beyond moderate discomfort its not remotely funny. So we got an appointment with the pediatrician.
He looked Noah over and said he looks okay but then he got to the mouth and then he said, "That's not thrush." He showed us the red area in the roof of his mouth that we had seen. He said that looked like blisters that were beginning to heal. He said it looked like a strain of the coxsackievirus family. Hand, foot, mouth is in this family. We think he had the virus called "Herpangina."
On Monday night at the emergency room they must have been at their pinnacle and were weeping into his mouth and the acidic nature of the fluid made him have to swallow, but swallowing must have been unspeakably painful. The bad news is its viral so it has had to run its course. The good news is there really wasn't anything we could have done differently so we don't have to deal with guilt or anything.
Last night was the first night he has done much better. We have a mouth rinse of liquid Benadryl, Maalox, and Lydacaine that makes his whole mouth numb. Its funny to watch him after we give it to him because he sticks his tongue out and moves it around. He even put in a pacifier last night upside down and if you know Noah you know he will not tolerate an upside down paci.
He's doing much better now but I thought everyone would like to know the week he's had. Poor kid. He's even lost 2 pounds from the dehydration and lack of food. He's on the mend now but keep him in your prayers a little bit longer.
Sunday night Noah was a little fussy. Jenna got up with him and he was running a fever about 102. The next morning he was still fussy and was super duper drooling. We thought he was finally cutting more teeth. Anything over 100-101 in the fever dept is an automatic stay home from the sitters so I stayed home with him. As the day went on he became more and more fussy. When Jenna got home she was unable to console him either. So at 6:30 we decided maybe this was more serious than teething so we went to the MediServ afterhours clinic. The doctor looked in his mouth and did a strep test which was negative. Then they took blood. That was a nightmare. During all of this Noah is just screaming and screaming. She told us it was probably some virus and to alternate Ibuprofen/Tylenol til morning. If he doesn't improve by tomorrow then take him to the pediatrician.
Well at 11 that night it started to escalate. I went to bed and Jenna was taking the first shift. At 12 or so she came to get me in tears. Noah was in terrible pain. I won't go into specifics but it was terrible. I immediately threw on clothes and we went to the emergency room. He screamed and bucked and thrashed in his car seat the entire way. Once there he calmed down when he heard another hid screaming. A nurse almost immediately took us back and looked in his mouth and said 'Thrush.' So he had calmed down and we had a prelim diagnosis. We also had the medicine used to treat Thrush back at the house so instead of being bumped down the triage list and spending the night at the emergency room we went home. He never again was as bad as he was at midnight but it was still a long night.
The next day I went to work and Jenna stayed home. As the day went on we talked to each other and decided we thought it was more than thrush. Everything you read about thrush says mild to moderate discomfort. This was so far beyond moderate discomfort its not remotely funny. So we got an appointment with the pediatrician.
He looked Noah over and said he looks okay but then he got to the mouth and then he said, "That's not thrush." He showed us the red area in the roof of his mouth that we had seen. He said that looked like blisters that were beginning to heal. He said it looked like a strain of the coxsackievirus family. Hand, foot, mouth is in this family. We think he had the virus called "Herpangina."
On Monday night at the emergency room they must have been at their pinnacle and were weeping into his mouth and the acidic nature of the fluid made him have to swallow, but swallowing must have been unspeakably painful. The bad news is its viral so it has had to run its course. The good news is there really wasn't anything we could have done differently so we don't have to deal with guilt or anything.
Last night was the first night he has done much better. We have a mouth rinse of liquid Benadryl, Maalox, and Lydacaine that makes his whole mouth numb. Its funny to watch him after we give it to him because he sticks his tongue out and moves it around. He even put in a pacifier last night upside down and if you know Noah you know he will not tolerate an upside down paci.
He's doing much better now but I thought everyone would like to know the week he's had. Poor kid. He's even lost 2 pounds from the dehydration and lack of food. He's on the mend now but keep him in your prayers a little bit longer.
