The school nurse says M has Fifth Disease. She is back at school today, but she went to see the nurse for a headache, and apparently she has slapped-cheek rash which, following headaches and fever, means Fifth Disease. Which means I probably have Fifth Disease too, as I have had headaches and a barely controllable fever for almost two days now. Which means I could end up with months of joint pain. It's also highly likely that E will get Fifth Disease, though S thinks it's possible she's already had it, given the number of fevers she's had this year, and the fact that she always has a rash, so we wouldn't necessarily notice.
Who ever heard of Fifth Disease?! Then again, I'm the one who thought Hand-Foot-Mouth Disease was something cattle got--until my children came down with it.
Since Christmas, E has been sick four times, I have been sick three times, and M has been sick twice. S was only sick once, but it lasted for weeks. I'm tired of this.
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6 comments:
oh dear, sounds harrowing. hope you all feel better soon. i think my brothers and i all had fifth disease when we were little, i remember us being sort of fascinated by the name...
Oh, sorry, Becca. One of our kids had it, too--though I now can't remember which, which suggests it wasn't all that big a deal at the time. (Or conversely, that it was during that period when we were all sick all the time so who would notice?) Hope you all feel better soon...
My kids both had Fifth Disease when they were three years old-- our babysitter caught it from a kid, and then gave it to us! I never caught it, but the girls were feverish and rashy for days. I remember it being a weird lacy raddish rash that migrated all around their bodies, in addition to the cheeks.
Kids get such weird illnesses!
Oh, jeez, I'm sorry, Becca.
Oh, dear! I'm so sorry. Maybe it's time for some alternative therapies for all to build your immune systems back up before the next season gets going.
Ugh, Becca, I only know about those weird illnesses from my contagious disease trainings back when I taught daycare. You're the first person I know to have this one. I hope you somehow manage to get through it relatively unscathed (i.e., with no long recovery period).
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