Hand Foot and Mouth Disease in Adults.
Warning. Graphic descriptions ahead!
Those were my hands. AND These are my hands four months later…
Our infant daughter is in day care. I heard it’s pretty common for hand foot and mouth to spread amongst the children in daycare. I heard it’s not a big deal. The Google searches mostly say, “no big deal.”
See…
When small red pock marks presented themselves on her fingers and bottom, the pediatrician said “it’s mostly just a nuisance, not painful.” But, baby had to stay home from daycare because it’s highly contagious.
A few days after it started with the baby, dad goes to sleep for the night. I start feeling cold. No blankets are helping. I start shivering and aching. Im sweating. Im not sleeping at all. I lose all my strength and don’t want to get out of bed.
With a fever in the Covid era and zero sleep, I call out of work. and grab a rapid test. Negative.
As I’m staying home wondering what this could be, a little itch starts on my hand. Then a little one on my toes. Throughout the day more and more itches. Then the bumps start showing.
It was bearable until I tried to go to bed. I’m so itchy in my hands and feet, I know I’m not going to fall asleep. I buy Sudafed and calamine lotion. I popped a couple antihistamines and chase it down with a tall glass of Johnny Walker. Surely I’ll snooze now.
Hour after hour I have my hands in funeral position on my chest, wide awake with pain. I live in Florida. It feels exactly like fire ant bites. Clusters of red mountains with white caps.
I never realized how much I touched things until HFM. I’m opening doors with my elbows. I’m trying to buckle my belt with my wrists.
The pain subsided after 3 days, but I had corpse hands for weeks. Even months later my fingernails are monstrous. It took 6 days for me to return to work. It was still so uncomfortable and unsightly that I wore rubber gloves to make it easier.
When it dried out, my fingers shed long strips of skin. It looked like I took a potato peeler to my epidermis.
Google said in rare cases, adults could lose a fingernail. I’m looking at 5 right now.
What added to my misery is that nobody seemed to share my same experience. YouTube has some parents shrugging it off. I talked to one other adult who said it was one of the worst experiences of their life. That, I could concur.
I write this now for the rare parent that might take solace in knowing someone else feels your pain.
