Awful virus

Both Ben and Ethan have come down with an awful virus. It started on Sunday when Ben was a bit grumpy in the morning and had a runny nose. By Sunday afternoon both boys had a little temp (38.1) and were pretty tired.

About 4am Monday morning they both woke with higher temps (39ish) and were miserable most of Monday. Monday evening both boys had quite high temps 39.1- 39.8 (102-103F). Monday evening Ethan didn't eat much dinner, and told us his food was too spicy (not spicy at all)


Again at 4am Tuesday, we had two crying hot, miserable boys.
Tuesday both boys were off their food and told me they had a sore mouth. Upon inspection they both had 5-10 painful looking ulcers in their mouth. Mostly on the soft palette and the tongue.

Poor little boys have been in a lot of pain with their mouth ulcers. Tuesday evening was bad for Ethan. He cried at dinner time as the purée hurt his mouth, he cried when we tried to very gently clean his teeth, he cried in bed. He fell asleep around 7, and woke up crying again at 8ish, 9ish and 10ish. Finally after the 10pm wake up he was due more medicine again. This time we gave him pain-stop ( panadol and codeine - stronger pain killer) with good results. He slept till 5:30am when he woke while Tracie showered. He had more pain-stop, water and did a wee before going back to bed till 9:30am! A sleep he desperately needed.

Today (Wednesday) they are still suffering. They are not eating much. Ethan seems to have it worse than Ben. Ethan has only eaten one small container of yogurt, one glass of milk, half a glass of supplement drink and one glass of water... All day!
I have been trying to encourage him to eat and drink all day but he says "no mum, my mouth is too sore". He has had Panadol (Tylenol) and nurofen (Motrin) all day, as soon as it's due every 4-6 hours he gets it again.

He hasn't been weeing as much as usual either. The nurse in me is measuring his fluids in and out to make sure he stays hydrated enough. Kids need to have 0.5mls per kilo per hour. Based on this he needs 174mls in 24 hours. Today he did 220mls. Enough, but no where near normal. I am measuring bens too, but he is doing better and did about 360mls today. I am glad they are happy to use a potty and are pretty much toilet trained, makes things easier!

The boys went to the doctor today, just incase.... Like we expected, she checked them out and said they had a viral infection. Said it should run it's course and they should pick up soon. The virus sounds very similar to hand, foot and mouth disease, (HFMD) but the boys do not currently have any hand or foot rash. They do have every other symptom, and one parenting forum I read mentioned that you can have HFMD without the body rash, or it can appear a few days later. The doctor said it may be HFMD, or a similar virus, but either way, the treatment is the same. Fluids, rest, pain killers and keep them away from other kids as it is contagious.

We certainly hope they get better soon.

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