Hanging in there...

24 hours further into this Hand, Mouth and Foot thing and we're hanging in there. Bodie seems to be feeling a bit better. Getting a 4-hour stretch of sleep last night definitely helped him - although his eyes are still red, he doesn't seem to be in quite as much discomfort. 

The rash has definitely spread (now to his entire arms and hands, legs, groin and face - you can see it on his arm in the picture above on the left) and it looks terrible, but it doesn't seem to bother him too much, thankfully. The whole Benadryl/Maalox and Popsicle combination seems to be working pretty well for the mouth sores. He actually felt well enough to eat a bunch of pasta for dinner tonight, which shocked me. 

The rest of us? Meh, we're not hanging quite so tough as Bodie. This morning, I had to load both kids into the car and take them down to Torrance for the ultrasound on Sierra's hand. Since we scheduled it weeks ago, I didn't want to cancel it simply because of Bodie's current condition. So, I loaded the kids up and figured I'd force Bodie to stay in the stroller and not touch anything. We got there, they didn't have our paperwork (apparently, I was supposed to bring it - who knew?), so then we had to wait for them to call and get it faxed over (you can imagine how excited Bodie was to be confined in his stroller for even longer). And then, when we finally got in there, I told the ultrasound tech she might not see anything since it felt to us like the cyst might have burst. She stopped what she was doing, looked up at me like I was a total moron and said "wait, there's no lump anymore? Then, there's no point in doing an ultrasound. We'll just cancel it." Honest to God, I started crying right then and there.  She said "I can see you're having a rough day. I sure hope it gets better." It took all my strength to not reach out and punch her. ;-) I had to resist the urge to give her my entire life story right then and there, including how my child has 1/2 a heart and leprosy at the moment and I was just trying to be a good mom in not canceling my other child's doctor's appointment even thought I thought the cyst was gone. In my crazy-mom state, I imagined crazy toxic fluid building up in her hand that we needed to look at to rule out. Turns out, not so much. We left without the ultrasound. Of course, the silver lining is that Sierra's cyst miraculously resolved on its own. Total answer to prayer! :-)

Dusk and I are both coming down with something. I suspect it's the "I haven't gotten near enough sleep this week" sickness, but Dusk thinks his might be the flu - or maybe Hand, Foot and Mouth? Man, I shouldn't even joke about that one! Hopefully just exhaustion that can be remedied with a good night of sleep. Hoping tonight will be the night! Oh, and his hip is completely inflamed - his doctor isn't sure why, but they're getting him in for an x-ray next week. And we ended the day with a fight over giving Bodie Gentian Violet. It was one of those stupid things that wouldn't be a big deal - if you both weren't exhausted, stressed and feeling under the weather. Fun times. Short story is that Gentian Violet is supposed to help heal the mouth sores more quickly. BUT you have to apply it directly onto the sores, which, in Bodie's case, happen to be at the very very very back of his throat, almost near his tonsils - oh, and the Gentian Violet has to be applied very precisely so you kinda got one shot and hope it doesn't trigger his gag reflex. Suffice it to say, Dusk and I were not in agreement on whether we could actually pull it off. So, after a heated debate, Dusk won - no Gentian Violet for Bodie. Hoping he can kick this on his own.  :-)

But I do have to say that today wasn't all bad. Since Dusk wasn't feeling so great, he ended up coming home from work early and was able to stay with Bodie so I could take Sierra to swimming and gymnastics (thanks honey!). Not chasing Bodie around gave me a great opportunity to take some pictures of the fun...

In the pool...

(This picture cracks me up - Sierra is sitting there happily waiting to get back in the pool, while the kid next to her is splashing and goofing off - is this the difference between boys and girls or what?!?)

And, on to the gym...

Please keep praying for healing for Bodie - and less stress and better health for all of us! Thank you!