Saturday, May 14, 2011

Coxsackie?

First off I want to say that I feel horrible! On Tuesday I took Cohen to the pediatrician. He has a ringworm on the back of his left leg. This is his second one in his 7 (almost 8) months of life! Poor guy! Anyways, the pediatrician walked out of the room to write his prescription. I turned around with one hand on Cohen's leg and was grabbing a diaper and the wipes because I smelled poopy... Low and behold what happens?? Before I can even think about what is happening, Cohen FALLS off the table!!! I immediately pick him up and comfort him because he is screaming louder than I've ever heard him scream before... He starts to calm down and I notice a HUGE blue and red spot on the right side of his forehead. I went out of the room and looked for the pediatrician. She took him away from me and looked at his head. We walked back into the room and she leaves to grab a bag of ice and a pedialite ice pop. As I sit there holding him, all I could do was cry with him, as I'm trembling from fear. I felt horrible. This has NEVER happened before. Yes, he's fallen before, but only from the couch and it's definitely NOT as tall as that table was. So when the doctor came back she said we had to stay for about 15-30 minutes more so they could keep an eye on him... She told us about 20 minutes later that we could go home, but to watch to make sure he was eating and playing like normal. Needless to say, he was okay. Even though I was shaken and he has a huge bruise on the side of his forehead, he is okay. My poor baby... I am sooooo sorry!!


So the day after that incident, he developed a fever and a runny nose. Since all was okay with the bump on his head, I just kind of assumed that I was just a cold because Kailey had the same thing the week before. I treated it with tylenol and we kept an eye on it. Yesterday he wasn't any better, so I called the pediatrician (who's office was closed so I had to talk to the on-call nurse). She told me to watch him for 20 minutes and try to get him to play and she'd call me back. He wouldn't play, he just fell asleep in my arms like he had been doing the past couple days (which is not normal for him. He hates being held when he is trying to fall asleep normally.) So the nurse said that with his symptoms that she thought it would be a good idea to go to the ER. So I call my husband, who is on the way to drills for the Army, and since Cohen was asleep we decided to wait through the night and see how he was in the morning.


Well, this morning we woke up and he still had a fever and runny nose. He slept with me on the couch in my lap all night. So I call my hubby and he comes home and we drop Kailey off at Blake's grandmothers house and take Cohen to the ER. I'm skipping the whole waiting parts because we have a pediatric ER at our hospital and it only takes like 10 minutes to see a doctor!!  ... When the doctor comes in, he examines Cohen and checks him mouth. Turns out he has a virus called Coxsackie. I was like COXSACKIE?? What is that?!? It sounded horrible!


Basically it is a virus that causes blisters (and ulcers) to form in the mouth and throat. It is also sometimes called "hands foot mouth" or "Herpengina". Either way it can also cause blisters on the feet and hands. And in some cases can lead to Meningitis!


What's the cure?
Wait it out! They did tell us to use a concoction of Maalox and Bendryl..  which will numb the soars in his mouth and allow him to eat...


Symtoms:
High fever (100+ *F)
Loss of appetite (due to the blisters)
Trouble feeding
Vomiting
Diarrhea
Difficulty breathing
Convulsions
Unusual sleepiness
Pain in the chest or abdomen
Sores on the skin or inside the mouth
Severe sore throat
Severe headache, especially with vomiting, confusion, or unusual sleepiness
Neck stiffness
Red, swollen, and watery eyes
Pain in one or both testicles


However, the child doesn't have to have all of these symptoms... They could only have one! :[


Long story short, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE trust your mothers instinct when you think something is wrong take them to the doctor. It's better to be wrong than to ignore it!


G'Night everyone!
<3 Kayla


P.S. Today Kailey is 21 months old! Only 3 months before her 2nd birthday! My little girl is getting sooo big! (Update on Kailey- She seems to be gaining weight. Although we haven't weighed her lately, she feels like she is getting heavier! YAY! She's on her way to having her surgery to fix her broken heart :] )

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