Hand Foot and Mouth Disease

 It all started with a trip to Phoenix.  After another cancelled eye appointment, we decided to still head down to Phoenix and see Julie, who was in town from Fairbanks for a conference and hang out with Carol and Ellie for a few days.  We had a great time- we got a tour of the nice parts of downtown

we fed ducks and koi at the Japanese gardens

and had plenty of park time.

We also ate lots of sushi and frozen yogurt (the only things that sounded good in the heat), saw a dog show, swam in the pools, visited the Asian market and went on walks.  On the last night, Carol and Ellie came with us to dinner and Ellie ended up passing out on Carol's lap for the entire meal and started running a fever.  We saw them briefly the next morning and Ellie was still not doing very good.  After spending so much time with them (and sharing food and drink), we were just waiting until whatever bug it was hit us. 
The day we got home, we found out she was diagnosed with strep and had to go on antibiotics.  Two days later, Ada started getting a fever so we took her into the doctor and told her what was going on.  Even though her strep test was negative, she had all of the symptoms and had been around someone with strep, so the doctor prescribed antibiotics.  The next day, we noticed her rash was changing to more blister-like sores, so we took her in again.  This time (after finding out Ellie's diagnosis was based on her symptoms, not a strep test) the doctor was convinced she had Hand Foot and Mouth disease- a relatively common childhood illness, but something I had never heard of until then.  Apparently, I never had it as a child, because that night, I went to bed with a sore throat and woke up feeling worse than I had in years.  It started with a fever and body aches and has now turned into a really sore throat and painful blisters all over my hands. 
It's amazing how much more you learn about conditions and illnesses when you have a child.  In the past two years, I almost feel like I went back to school for epidemiology! 
Anyway, we are all doing better here, but hopefully you won't be seeing us for a couple of weeks- we could be contagious for a while.