During the fourth week of our "flu fest", and as the boys were recovering, the boys' kindergarten informed all parents on 17 April 2012 regarding cases of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) amongst the children. The centre would be closed for the rest of the week.
On 20 April 2012, the day Justin last saw the doctor for his cough, he had fever and had one or two small white dots on the inside of his left cheek. We asked for the doctor's opinion but it was difficult to confirm HFMD due to the lack of tell-tale signs on his hands and feet. Moreover, he was active and still eating reasonably well. One other thing he fussed over was a small oval mosquito bite-looking patch on his right elbow.
On the morning of 21 April 2012, we suspected something was not right when Justin complained of pain in the mouth after taking a few sips of his morning milk. Later that morning, we saw ulcers on his tongue. In the afternoon, the doctor confirmed HFMD. She saw spots on the back of his mouth, the mosquito bite-looking patch on this elbow had a cluster of small blisters, and his knees and left elbow had small red pimple-looking dots. So far, his palms and feet did not have any blisters. Treatment was symptomatic: mouth spray/cream for the mouth ulcers, antibiotic cream for the blisters, and fever medication.
He has since been feeling irritable and clingy, frequently wanting to drink water, and has difficulty eating or drinking anything else despite using the mouth spray.
We are now thinking of ways to prevent the kids from getting too close to one another. We hope and pray for a speedy end to our month of madness.
[Blisters on Justin's elbow]
25 March 2012 saw the beginning of a season of sickness for us. The boys started coughing and were prescribed the usual cough medication. Coughing during the day was one thing but coughing during the night was really miserable because they coughed so hard that they vomit.
By 31 March 2012, there was no improvement and they were prescribed antibiotics. Their condition improved after about 5 days.
On 8 April 2012, Justin developed fever. Then on 12 April 2012, when Julian developed fever, they were both put on the second course of antibiotics.
When things couldn't seem to get any worse, Justin developed rashes all over his body. So, on the next day (13 April 2012), a visit to the peadiatician confirmed that he had a case of urticaria, but the cuase of it remains a mystery becuase it wasn't caused by the antibiotic. Fortunately, it lasted only 2 days after increasing his dosage of anti-histamine and applying some steroid cream.
During the fourth week, after their antibiotics ran out, they seemed to be coughing much less but the cough lingered on. Since Justin was more prone to coughing, we took him for yet another visit to the doctor on 20 April 2012. Since he was having fever, and had already had two courses of antibiotics, he was "reluctantly" put on a third course of antibiotics in view that the weekend was approaching,
While all these happened to the boys in the last four weeks, Angie and I were also nursing our own cough starting from around the second week. Jianna seemed to be unaffected, probably benefitting from antibodies from breast milk.
We were hoping the "flu fest" would end soon, but the situation just became worse.
Jianna was discharged on Monday (2 April 2012) after her jaundice subsided.
[Jianna and Mummy Angie leaving the hospital nursery]
[Jianna arrives home]
She was generally well-received by the boys, if not enthusiastically. Both showed interest when she made her presence felt, i.e. when crying for milk.
[Jianna, Julian, and Justin]
[Julian: Jianna, don't cry...]
[Justin: Jianna, how loud and how long can you cry?]
We prepared presents for Jianna to "present" to the boys. They were thrilled and spent the rest of the night playing with their new toys.
[Jianna: Julian kor-kor, here's a toy airplane, a Salty train (from Thomas & Friends) and a book on airplanes for you]
[Jianna: Justin kor-kor, here's a toy airplane, a Thomas train, and a Mavis train for you]
So far, she has generally been a good sleeper and suckler. We hope to settle into a routine soon.
