Hand, Foot & Mouth

Our girls recently had the Hand, Foot and Mouth virus.  The initial symptoms were fever, headache, and sore throat.  A few days later, both girls started getting red sores on their face, arms, hands, and feet. At the time, we had no idea what it was, so I took them to our doctor.  Without hesitation, he told me that they had the Hand, Foot and Mouth virus, and that Berlyn's was the worst case he had ever seen.  Being a virus, there was not much that they could do for it.  Our doctor prescribed them with a steroid, and strictly cautioned us to not allow them to be around many people, as this particular virus is VERY contagious.  Our girls were fine to basically be quarantined inside the house.  Not only did they not want to infect others, but they didn't necessarily like the idea of others seeing the sores on their face and body.             

Our doctor told us that even though it's called Hand, Foot & Mouth, it's normal for it to manifest itself on other body parts as well. Luckily, the only other location that it showed on Berlyn was her elbows.

Braxtyn lucked out, and had a more mild case.  The doctor said hers looked more 'normal'.

This is what happened to Berlyn after two weeks of sores.  We had no idea that her skin would peel like this.  She is very happy that it just happened on her fingers, and not her face as well. 

Berlyn's hands look really dirty in this picture, but it's from the sores.  After two weeks, they kind of look like freckles.  You can't really tell in this picture, but they are starting to peel.

The girls are really happy that this all happened before we leave on our family vacation; also, that it didn't happen during school.  Even though the girls were in a little bit of pain for a few days, they never once complained.  We are all very happy to finally have this virus under control!