Hand Foot and Mouth... Ick.

(Warning: Potentially gross body stuff follows, if you aren't into that kind of thing you'll want to skip this post!)

Hand, Foot, and Mouth virus is what my kids have been passing around to each other. After reading up on all the various fever/rash combinations it could have been I am convinced and mother-diagnosing them all!  I told Adam this is what it must be and he responded "Isn't that an animal disease?"   No, he was thinking of Hoof and Mouth (I think) but this human virus does conjure up disturbing mental images just by saying its name, doesn't it?  It is actually quite common right now  though and being passed rapidly among nursery and preschool aged children. Older children and adults don't seem to contract it as much in the form of signature sores.  Case in point, William and Sam both got the hand, foot, and mouth sores with a fever, but my daughter who is 6 only had a fever with no rash.

I'd mentioned in a previous post that William only got a  sprinkling of spots on his arms, legs, feet and back of throat. Sam... poor child erupted in the sores and spots covering every centimeter of his legs and arms.  I have never seen anything like it. I am convinced that had his skin been normal and healthy at the onset we would not have had this severe outbreak but something about the skin already being so fragile and irritated when the virus struck really changed the outcome for him.

The progression of this strange outbreak has been interesting to observe. I could find no explanation online for this. For my own record:

Day 1:  As illustrated by the photos I posted a couple of days ago, Sam woke up with red, spotty, scaly rash all over the arms, legs, and mouth vicinity, on top of his regular eczema.

Day 2: The spots became even rougher in texture, some turned purple, others dark red and that night was just as sleepless as the first.

Day 3:  The majority of the spots started to turn a faded brownish color and individual scales of skin (hundreds of them, literally comprising the entire outer layer of skin in the effected areas) started to flake away from the body.  This stage was very painful because the outer perimeter of the scales would be jagged and hard flaking away from the body but the centers were still attached to the arm or leg with very raw skin underneath. The scales would snag on his clothing and either slough off or be ripped off prematurely, leaving pink raw skin underneath.   Every time I would take his clothing off to change it, little piles of sloughed off skin would pour out of his clothing like salt from salt shaker.  That night I carefully wrapped his feet and legs in gauze over ointment and that seemed to help soften some of the remaining scales and allow him to sleep with less irritation.

Day 4: (Today)  Most of the leg and arms now feel smooth with 97% of the "sick" dead scales sloughed off.  His legs still have that red-spotted look from where the sores and rash left marks and divets in the skin. His knees are a bit raw and pink, as are his feet. The area immediately around his toes, bottom of foot and heels is still very thick and scaly with many cracks and raw pinkish red areas. I am beginning to have some concern about infection on his feet. I will watch for improvements tomorrow. Tonight I let him soak in warm water before covering his feet in triple antibiotic ointment and wrapping in several layers of gauze under cotton socks for bed.  He is sleeping well.

I have had Sam back on Orapred from Day 1 because of the severity of this rash, as well as Attarax and children's pain/fever reliever so he is pretty drugged up and in these situations I am happy to have medicinal help to heal his skin and prevent infection. I am anxious to see his skin clear and smooth and I know the oral steroids will do the trick as they always have in the past. Once the skin is clear I will refocus on the long-term project of cleaning up our home environment and seeking out other natural healing methods that might help us reach our goal.