I Got Hand Foot and Mouth Disease So You Don't Have To
I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.
Go ahead and break out the Clorox wipes. Did you know that August is the month with the highest incidences of hand foot and mouth disease (HFMD)? Did you know it’s the worst illness to ever exist and I would rather give birth and then have the flu again? Just some fun facts!
Violet started getting sick on Sunday, the day we got off the ship for our Alaskan cruise. She was Fully Done with being on a boat at that point and also totally miserable. I didn’t know what she was sick with yet. For a few days, Danny and I wondered if she maybe had some kind of recurrent fever issue because she didn’t seem to have any other symptoms. That’s the problem with toddlers: they’re really loud, but they can’t actually tell you if, say, their throat hurts.
In Idaho, Forrest got sick and that made me breathe a sigh of relief. Ok, nothing is wrong with Violet, they just picked up a virus. No biggie! They tested negative for Covid, but Violet was ready to go home and so was I. The day we left Idaho, my throat had started to hurt. I assumed I’d have the same mild symptoms as them; Forrest reported a sore throat and being tired, but that was pretty much it.
I was wrong.
When we got home on Thursday, I still didn’t feel great, but I didn’t have a fever anymore and my sore throat wasn’t bad. Mostly just annoying. However, throughout the afternoon, I started to get a spot on my thumb that kind of hurt. And then another one. And then another one. By night time, my hands and feet were covered in spots that itched and burned.
Why was I the one that got all the kid symptoms?? Violet and Forrest are pretty much 100% better, and here I am unable to walk because of the sheer number of rash sores on my feet.
When you google HFMD, you’ll see something that says like, adults rarely get symptoms. That’s a lie. I’ve read multiple accounts from parents who got absolutely slammed by HFMD when their kids had it very mildly. I’m not looking forward to future developments (including my toenails and fingernails potentially FALLING OFF).
Who do I have to talk to in order to divert ALL research funds to finding a cure for HFMD? Quite frankly, this is on par with Covid in how horrendous it is. Let’s go ahead and cure this.
You might be thinking: Michelle, it’s just a rash.
It’s not just a rash! Rashes can be soothed. There are painful clusters of blisters. Here’s a comprehensive list of everything I have put on my hands and feet to try to stop the burning and itching:
Hydrocortisone: nothing, it does nothing.
Calamine lotion: it helped for about 2 minutes. Then I was just chalky, pink, and itchy.
Aloe with lidocaine: NOTHING
Itch relief lotion (Eucerin): Nothing
Oatmeal baths: nothing
Diaper cream: nothing
A combination of Maalox and children’s benadryl: nothing
Benadryl itch cream: nothing
There is literally nothing that helps this rash. I’m not trying to get rid of it at this point; I just want it to stop burning and itching. The internet tells me it’s not going to. There is literally nothing that exists to help HFMD. Nothing! I even talked to my doctor and she was like, yeah, sorry, you’re going to suffer for, like, up to 10 days. 10 DAYS? OF THIS?
Go ahead and put me back on the cruise ship, I’m going to find and fight the toddler who gave us this.
In all seriousness, I am really thankful that Violet and Forrest didn’t have it this bad. Violet was already a pill on our drive to and from Idaho, I can’t imagine if she had had sores all over her hands and feet. And, despite my sarcasm, my feet do feel slightly better today; my hands are still in rough shape, but at least I can walk around my house and actually clean. I return to work Monday and I do look like I have leprosy (did I mention I do have sores around my mouth and on my nose? Well, I do), but I guess that’s just the way it’s going to be.
This is another one of those things that I really suspect could only happen to us. If you look at the past 22 months, we’ve had so many odd things happen… it really could only be us. Everyone told us to be careful about Covid on the cruise. No one said anything about the modern day bubonic plague! That’s the real thing to be scared about!
Thanks for reading. Please send all your positive energy to my hands and feet; I would like to sleep tonight instead of frantically itching my feet.
(PS- I do also have a new blog post about our cruise! You can read it here.)