Until I had a kid, I couldn’t remember the last time i had been sick or even visited a hospital. Within the first six months of being a father, welp, that had all changed.
After fighting constant wrist/thumb pain for over a month; I forced myself to make a doctors appointment.
Now, I’ve played contact sports, broken an elbow and dislocated my knee — I understand the different levels of pain. This was a non-stop “lightening bolt shock ” every time my thumb or wrist moved.
Entering the doctors office I had my doubts…but as I walked out, I’d never felt so defeated or embarrassed in my entire life.
Shortly after explaining my symptoms and pain to the doctor — he responded by saying…”Yeah, you have De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis –very rarely do we see this in Men…99% of the time Women get it from breastfeeding and holding their babies.
He injected a steroid into my hand, gave me a brace….and sent me on my way –Thanks, Doc!
Shortly, after this recovery — I’d come home from traveling and was told my daughter picked up the virus called Hand, Foot, and Mouth. Having absolutely NO IDEA what this was — I proceeded to hug and kiss my daughter all over…I mean, it was the first time I was away from Her and home — Daddy missed his girl 🙂
24hrs later…walking out of the shower, I collapsed on my bed and began a 104 fever.
(Side note) I can’t remember ever having a fever before this moment….My God, do they suck! I then became hot and cold sporadically for the next 2 days.. having no energy to move
I stayed in bed for the next 48hrs.
Thinking I was improving, I started to move around the house and make myself some meals. On the 3rd evening, I was suddenly awaken by a burning sensation in my hands. Quickly I ran to the bathroom, turned on the light and evaluated my skin. And it was at this moment –I realized… I WAS F*****.
Red blisters everywhere…My hands…my mouth…and my feet. No wonder it’s called Hand, foot and mouth disease. I literally couldn’t walk for 3 days — the pain got worse and worse; sometimes unbearable.
The irony–there is no cure or antibiotic for this disease…and to my surprise, it’s EXTREMLY RARE for parents to get. Once again, my 6 month old daughter, brought me to my knees and kicked my ass.
The moral of the story — there is None…just your friendly reminder that parenting is HARD-AS-F*** and sometimes you’ll want to kill your kids. Not a lot of advice on this — just try your best to stay calm…and wash your hands, feet and mouth repeatedly.
P.S. – It took me 6-months to finally heal from HFM (your finger/toe nails fall off and therefore have to grow back)
