This week marked the toughest week of my life as a mommy! The dreaded HFMD hit our family just the day after we came back from our church camp on the 17th of June. Our kiddies had got it from another friend's child who also fell victim to the virus after getting infected by another kid. The scary thing abt this virus is that you don't know you have it till you manifest the symptoms. It incubates for five days and infects its victims quietly! scary!
Krisalyn started having high fever on the 17th of June as our coach was setting off from Kuala Lumpur back to Singapore. We already had a bad feeling that this could be one of the symptoms as she was complaining of a sore throat all the way home and couldn't eat during dinner when we arrived home. True enough the next morning, she had an ulcer on her tounge and small spots on her fingers and on her knees. We had to cancel our weekend plans....went to the doctors to check and brought Jedidiah along just to check and found that he too was down as he had a sore throat too depsite not having a fever and some spots on his feet. All home confined! Thankfully they got a mild one perhaps due to them being older.
My next worry was Keziah as she is still young and is under two years old. It was hard to keep the older two away from her as they all lived in the same house after all. Despite my best efforts of changing their clothes often and daily disnfecting the contact surfaces as well as sanitizing the toys in batches and keeping them away, Keziah came down with a high fever three days later! The good thing was by then the older two had recovered quickly and they were still able to eat and drink even during the sickness although it was painful. So I could focus my time on Keziah. But it was really torturous as she continued her fever for two days and her whole body was covered with numerous red spots. Worse she would scream whenever she drank water and I saw under her upper lip that it was covered with large ulcers. Her upper and lower tounge had huge ulcers too and I suspect her throat too. It was really stressful and trying for me especially since I was at home looking after them in the daytime. She would be sreaming and crying almost the entire waking hours. She would be hungry and thirsty yet in pain whenever she took anything in her mouth.
This is one sickness that has taught me many lessons:
Due to the nautre of it being a virus with no medication, it was a hard time for me as I had to entirely rely on the Lord and not on my own strength or knwoledge on what medication I could give to make them feel better. I had to learn to let go and just let God heal them in His time. A lesson on
Trust.
I struggled with much anger and frustration at the helpessness I felt and the stressful cries and discomfort of the children and I think the Lord was teaching me the lesson on:
Patience.
I struggled with much anxiety and worry and also felt furstrated on why this had to happen and why they had to get infected. I struggled with thoughts of unfairness and felt disgruntled with the Lord. I had not much help in the day time yet I had to struggle with this sickness and battle it on my own when Dan was not at home.Then this verse came to me as I did my Quiet Time:
"And Gideon said to Him 'O my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our father told us about.... But now the Lord has forsaken us..." Judges 6: 13
Then I got my reply:
"Then the Lord said to him,"Peace be with you, do not fear, you shall not die." Judges 6:23
A hard lesson on
"Faith".
One more lesson
" Gratefulness": Had much prayer from my family and loved ones. despite being far away. Thanks Lynda too for your help that night. :) A much needed short break for me! And esp to my mum-in-law's radish and carrot soup that soothed the kids during this time of pain and discomfort. And to Dear for being patient and hearing out my rantings and ravings...pateintly...hee! :)
The good news is that Jedi and Krisa are fully recovered and are cleared for school. Though Keziah has two more days of home confinement, she can finally eat and drink without screaming. She has stopped drooling and drenching her little shirts probably due to the pain from the ulcers. Thank you Lord for your healing.
Perhpas its when we are truly helpless that the Lord can show that He is faithful and walking beside us through it all.
Oh yes! U Mian with minced pork and soup is the best! was the staple food for them as they went through this...soft and easy to swallow! Thank you Uncle from the cofeeshop!
