Getting Over the End of Summer Cooties

I am writing this today because I feel well enough to actually spend my kids-asleep time on anything other than sleeping. It has been a tough two weeks marking the end of Summer.

So we were all set to have a nice end of Summer Labor Day birthday party in honor of my son’s birthday, but he caught a nasty virus on Tuesday afternoon. It started with him being feverish, then his little sister was also feverish, and I had two sick and feverish kids on my hands for two days and two nights. I took the children to the pediatrician but all he could confirm was that it was a virus… then the rash and blisters appeared around the mouth, hands, and feet. While the doctor never did officially change his diagnosis, it was clear to me that it was the dreaded hand, foot, mouth disease. Even though by Friday the fever was going down, I knew that I had to cancel the birthday pool party because my children looked awfully rashy and the blisters were not calming down yet. It was a real bummer but I am certain that it was the right decision because I can not in good conscience risk any other child getting sick because of the party.

Turns out that decision might be even wiser than I realized at the time because  I thought all I had was a sore throat; however, by Labor Day Monday I was sick too. I didn’t have the fever but I developed painful blisters on my feet, then my hands. I called the pediatrician to get some advice on when my son could return to preschool, but as it turned out the hand foot mouth disease that is going around in the Bay Area this time around is a nastier and stronger strain that can inflict adults as well as children! I spent nearly one week taking care of sick kids, and then the following week I spent it taking care of recovering kids while being sick myself. I was able to fit in some exercise on the weekend but during the week it was just impossible. Since I became sick myself, even walking around felt like I was on constant pins and needles. I couldn’t even hold a pen to write any thank you notes because my hands hurt. The whole experience reminded me a lot of having the chicken pox, except only on my hands and feet. It was miserable but it gave me a lot of empathy for what my children were going through, and it reminded me about how helpless being a child can be.

While I exercised the past weekend, it made me realize how quickly one can lose conditioning! Time to get it together and get back on a better routine and brush off the crappy month of August full of injuries, bad luck, and cooties. I have a race coming up to celebrate Title IV next weekend and I am looking forward to getting back into better shape.