It was the second week of school this semester where I fell sick and immediately thought: oh, it is just some lack of sleep. So I took a nap and decided that my body will feel better later. It wasn’t until I woke up from this nap that hell had just begun. My body felt like I had gotten run over by a truck; the body aches were so bad I was almost paralyzed because moving was a pain. Later that evening is when my fever would start. I started off with a 101.2-degree fever.
Nothing Tylenol couldn’t beat right? Boy, I was wrong.Â
After some doses of Tylenol, I fell asleep, only to be awakened by the fierce shivers and immense coldness of my body. I was both hot, freezing, and also delusional at this point. It’s 11 pm at night, and I figured the Tylenol had worn off by now. But actually, it had only been a few hours since I had taken it, and my fever reached 103.6. My parents immediately rushed me to the hospital. My initial self-diagnosis was well… COVID-19 since I had fit most of the criteria. The way the doctor would explain to me that he has seen people my age on oxygen and needing to rush to the hospital didn’t calm anything. While at the emergency room, my eyes had swollen shut, filled with tears, a shivering body ache, and now the sore throat. Without a doubt, it was COVID, and I was prepared to hear the positive test results after being fully vaccinated and avoiding it for almost two years now.
Doctor came back with some great news… not covid.
Neither was it the flu nor strep throat? Results all came back inconclusive, so their guess? Just a basic upper respiratory infection. They gave me some antibiotics and just said to monitor my fever, so off I went home at 3 in the morning, ready to sleep. That was the last time I had a fever, but the virus had just started. The next day rolled around. And while I felt better fever-wise, my sore throat, painful ear, and swallow combo was starting to get worse. Cough drops, numbing pain medicine, nothing was really working. My parents assumed this was all part of the upper respiratory infection. Then came Friday morning. I woke up with the worst throat, ear, and swallowing pain. I couldn’t even swallow my own spit anymore because it felt like I was swallowing shards of glass. It was so painful I couldn’t even sit still without swallowing because my ears and throat were throbbing horribly.
So off we went to the emergency room… again.Â
At the emergency room, I was greeted by the same front office desk. The “what’s wrong now?” and I had to explain that I could barely even talk because of my throat. So I got called to the back, and the doctor checked my throat and ears. And he had no idea what to do at this point. The only option was to give me a steroid shot that would help ease the throat pain until I visited my general doctor. Before the steroid shot was administered, I noticed I had gotten some red dots over my hands. I alerted the doctor, and his immediate reaction was: “oh my gosh! I wish you would’ve told me this earlier. That’s the HandFootMouth virus! It’s common in kids, but adults can sometimes get it. Just google it. You’ll be okay. Just ride it out.” Hand, huh? Foot mouth? What?
Over the next several days, I would find my body covered in this awful burning rash all over my… you guessed it – Hands, Feet, and Mouth. It looked like someone had grabbed a red sharpie and went to town all over my legs, feet, hands, and around my chin area. These areas had burned so badly, I couldn’t walk because they burned. I couldn’t hold anything, not even my phone, because the rash felt like tiny needles everywhere. I’m not sure how kids deal with this, but I really thought it was going to take me out. I was in bed for 48 hours straight because walking, using my hands, and everything else felt like I was being burned and stabbed.
After many google searches of Hands Foot Mouth, I’ve read how common it is in children. Children are more susceptible to it during their daycare years. Now, embarrassingly enough, a 22-year-old got this, but hey, what can I do? I guess I must have gotten it from someone else during class or something. But, when adults get this virus, it hits them 10x worse. The timeline followed exactly how mine did: body aches, fever, sore throat, and lastly, the horrible rash from hell. Now, I’m recovered, the rash is gone, but I am blistering all over my body. I have bandages on all fingers and soles of my feet because, yes, you guessed it – after the rash comes to the peeling. I look awful, but I am grateful to say the worst part is over. Hand foot mouth is no JOKE.
Nearly thought this was going to take me out, and now my friendly PSA: wash your hands and sanitize everything…Â