Torrential downpour of illness!

So the last week of September brought quite a flurry of illness in this family. Maddie woke up on Monday morning (of course, the day after sucking on toys in the church nursery!) with hand, foot and mouth disease. It was an odd strain of the virus though, and the pediatrician confirmed that this year they're seeing the tell-tale spots on more than just the hands, feet and inside the mouth. Maddie had spots on the back of her neck, on her torso, her legs, and also on her hands and feet. She was miserable. Then her face started to break out in a weird rash around her nose and mouth. I knew pretty much right away that it was impetigo, a bacterial infection on her skin. And just for fun, she also had a suspicious diaper rash that I couldn't clear. I took her to the pediatrician right away because of her history with MRSA (love that). While we were there, they discovered that she had a double ear infection. DING DING DING, big winners! Her 4th ear infection in 5 months. We were sent home with antibiotics and topical ointment and the number for an ENT to consult about ear tubes. (But no MRSA!)

Then Robbie would NOT go to bed the next night, which is atypical. He was shouting and crying and saying "I feel AWFUL!". We would ask him to be more specific - does your tummy hurt, buddy? Your throat? Do you have a headache? "I don't know, I JUST FEEL AWFUL! Waaaaaaa!". 

I took him to the pediatrician the next day and sure enough, he had a pretty bad ear infection. 

Then Ellie came down with hand, foot and mouth. 

And after her allergy testing this same week (Wednesday, if you're keeping the timeline straight), she broke out in a full-body allergic reaction to who knows what. Possibly to HF&M, or something about the process of allergy testing, we have no idea. 

I finally took Ellie in to the doctor on Saturday (making it 3 visits in one week to have each kid seen), only to receive a pat on the back and the same ointment Maddie was given for her impetigo. I was already annoyed to have to bring all 3 kids in to the office, and to walk out without any clearer picture of what was going on with her reaction or anything stronger to treat it was frustrating. I got a second opinion that afternoon from another doctor, and had a prescription in my hands by bedtime for a topical steroid that helped her start to clear up.

{I cannot show the worst part of this breakout - her bummy and legs were covered with blister-like spots several inches wide. Poor girl - those were painful and she would gingerly walk with her legs spread apart.}

We were quite the crew. Sick, miserable kiddos. Tired mama. 

I think by the end of the week we were up to:

2 prescriptions for antibiotics (2 ear infections)

2 tubes of bactrum ointment (2 skin infections - impetigo and allergies)

1 tube of steroid cream (Ellie's skin)

1 tube of anti-fungal cream (Maddie's diaper rash was suspected to be a yeast infection)

And a lot of tylenol.

When it rains illness over here, it pours!