A round of sickness

(I actually wrote most of this last week but didn't get around to posting it, so all time references are a bit off.)

It seems as though our luck has ran out.  For quite awhile everyone was relatively healthy.  Then the fevers started up.

Aren was first to get a fever last week.  He started eating less and then eventually started pointing inside his mouth and talking about having a boo boo.  He gradually became more whiny and clingy and his naps were getting shorter and shorter.

I remembered our neighbor mentioning that her 2 year old was having fevers and a rash and that he either had Strep or Hand Foot and Mouth Disease.  A couple of days after Aren's fever and sore throat started up he started getting blisters on his hands and around his mouth.  I asked the neighbor if she had found out what it was her son had and she replied it was, in fact, Hand Foot and Mouth Disease. 

We're not sure if Aren got the virus from the neighbor boy or from the cart at WalMart.  Either way, I don't wish this on anyone.  He was miserable.  There were a couple of days when I confessed to Biju that I didn't get anything productive around the house done, I just sat on the couch cuddling Aren.  He nodded his head and said "Being Mommy."

On Saturday Alex woke me up telling me his eyes were getting sticky.  I told him it was probably just sleep in his eyes, it would go away.  He crawled into bed with us and fell back to sleep.  An hour or so later when we all were a bit more awake, I realized he was feeling slightly warm.  I gave Biju "the look."

He was pretty tired most of the day and fell asleep after breakfast on our bed again.  That was a surprise since he rarely naps, even when he isn't feeling all that well.  He slept for about 20-30 minutes.  After lunch he went back to our bed and slept for two hours.  I'm not quick to give the kids medicine to take their fevers down.  As long as they aren't miserable I let their bodies fight whatever is causing the fever.  But I could tell Alex was miserable so I gave him some medication.  He was in the upper 102's most of the day but at one point he hit 104 (under the armpit).  Poor guy.  And whenever he swallowed he winced.  Poor, poor guy.  He ended up taking a third nap later that day and still went to bed at 7pm.  So unlike Alex.

Sunday I stayed home from church with Alex and Aren while Biju took Ajay.  Alex was feeling a bit better but whatever he had wasn't gone for good.  He would be good for awhile, then down on the couch for awhile.  On Monday he was fever free but still had a touch of a sore throat.  Monday night he kept complaining of itchy feet.  He had gone outside earlier in the day without shoes and I told him he must have stepped on something.  He kept itching like crazy and couldn't get to sleep.  I gave him some tea tree oil to stop the itch but it didn't seem to work.  Then I soaked some paper towels in vinegar and put those on his feet, then slipped his socks on over top to keep them in place.  It seemed to work because he was finally able to fall asleep. 

A few hours later he was up in our bed again, he couldn't sleep because of the itch.  A couple of hours after that Ajay wound up in our bed with severe ear pains.  Biju finally got out of bed a little after 3am and said he might as well go in to work because he wasn't sleeping, anyway. 

I took Ajay in to the doctor that morning who confirmed he had a pretty nasty ear infection.  He also confirmed that both Aren and Alex had Hand Foot and Mouth.  Luckily, Alex's itches had subsided and he was just left with the newly formed blisters. 

We decided to treat Ajay's ear infection with garlic oil instead of antibiotics. 

Ajay with ear pain, garlic oil dropped in his ear, warm corn bag on top.

He seems to be perfectly fine now!  A couple of days of drops (warmed olive oil mixed with chopped garlic, strained, sucked up into a syringe) and he was no longer in pain.  I would've given him a few more days of drops but Aren climbed up on the counter and squirted garlic oil everywhere. By then Ajay wasn't in pain anymore so I just didn't make anymore up.

Ear infection gone, blisters drying up, we thought we were good once again.  However, by the time the next Sunday rolled around, Aren had a fever.  104.9 under the armpit!  He wasn't miserable, though, just really cuddly.  We gave him some medicine at bedtime and he slept through the night and didn't have a fever again.  He did, however, have a lot of yucky stuff coming out of his nose and a rough sounding cough.  He still has a bit of a cough but feels fine.  Alex has started in on a heavy cough, though, so I'm hoping it doesn't escalate.

Cuddling with Daddios.