Hand, foot and mouth. What next!

Poor Joel has hand, foot and mouth (also called Coxsackie Virus). He has blisters on his hands, feet and around his nose. Thankfully none are in his mouth but he does have ulcers. He is still 100% breastfed and I really think that is what is helpling to keep them from spreading to his mouth. Being constantly saturated by breastmilk is protecting him. Whenever he gets sick, his PHPV eye goes red and looks "sick". It is the first indicator to me that he is unwell. He has been waking every 2 hours at night and screaming for between 2 and 3 hours. Last night we almost took him to the hospital but then he fell asleep after an extra dose of Nurofen. I took him to the doctor today and he suggested we give him Painstop - usually recommended for kids over 1 but I am sure it's nothing compared to the drugs he's had through his system with his surgeries.

I am waiting to go back to PMH, even if I do see a Registrar. I would like to go there before Christmas so next month I will ring and make an appointment. We are seeing Dr Lam privately on the 14th January next year.

Even if he doesn't have any vision in that eye, I would still like to start looking into something to help the cosmetic appearance of the eye. He will be 1 in January so I think it's time to start looking into that.

It really does feel that his whole life so far has been spent battling illness, recovering from surgeries, visiting the hospital or having check ups at the doctors. This latest illness is just another thing he's had to deal with. I feel more like his nurse than his mum, always administering antibiotics, drops, pain relief. He's such a good little boy. He hates having drops and medicine, as soon as he sees the bottle or syringe he turns his head and makes it so hard to get anything into him. I don't even want to think of the cost of all the drops and Panadol we've wasted! He twists and turns and wriggles and is just so strong, he's such a little fighter!

Along with worrying about Joel, my mum is having a CAT scan tomorrow as the doctors have found a lesion on her lung that hasn't responded to medication. She has never smoked, lives a healthy lifestyle, doesn't drink, eats well...I am just praying it's nothing.

One of the girls from church has organised our dinner for tonight and Rich's work sent through a big box of chocolates for me. I am so blessed to have amazing people in my life and I think it's just amazing how God knows what we need before we do.