Sickness du jour

Once again, I am sad to report that little g has taken ill. This time it is a variant of an old foe. Months ago, she had the coxsackie virus in a very mild form. She had little spots on her hands and feet that was neither itchy or irritating except for g's parents. Now the virus is back packing a lot more punch.

Trouble was brewing the day before when we were at grandma's house in Brooklyln. g was running a fever but she seemed ok. We thought that maybe she was just hot and dehydrated. She ate, drank and slept well (except for when the subway trains go by) The real trouble began the day after. It started with breakfast when I had mistakenly thought that g was being bratty about eating her yogurt which incidentally has never happened before. She cried when I tried to feed her more than the two bites that she took, leading her to lose the two bites that she took. "Oh well....," I thought. She will get hungry later and I will give her something else to eat.

So we took G (aka Papa) to work and decided to go to the deli for breakfast while we waited for the mall to open (side note - this is a continuation of the quest to find little g some shoes) g refused to eat a muffin or drink juice. Odd but not too out of the ordinary. As the day progressed (and we weren't able to find her a pair of shoes), she kept on refusing food, or more accurately she refused a banana after one bite. WHAT?!!! WHO ARE YOU and what have you done to my child? That was it. Off to the doctor with you!

The doctor took one look into her mouth and found sores on the inside of her cheeks, her tongue and her throat. Since it's a virus, there is no medicine to take.

For the last 2 days, g has barely had a thing to eat. She would try some of her favorite foods, but she would take one bite, cry and spit it out. Yesterday she barely had 16 oz of liquid (her daily average is about 40-50 oz/day). Dehydration is a real fear.

Thank God, her grandma is staying with her. I couldn't really expect daycare to follow her around with liquids all day, which is what her grandma did all day. Bribed her with trips to the corner, the backyard, the front hall just to get her to drink a sip or two.

The drama continues to unfold for this little g.

To illustrate how sad this all is. One of g's favorite food is banana. We offered her a banana for breakfast. She took it but because of the pain in her mouth she would only lick it.