Sick Kiddo

Saturday, Lauren started showing all the early signs of the mouth infection that sent her to the hospital for a week last year. We couldn't believe it. By Sunday morning, she was in bad shape.

In May of last year, after three visits to the ER, with preliminary diagnoses from an allergic reaction to a deadly inflammatory syndrome, she was admitted to the hospital, where the infections expert finally diagnosed it as a simple "primary HSV-1 infection." Rarely, at the initial exposure to the virus that causes cold sores, one can have a severe outbreak of countless sores inside the mouth, on and under the tongue, on the lips and down the throat. It is extremely rare to see it in someone older than 3-5, because the virus is so common and we are all exposed by then. Lauren was 17.

They assured us that after the primary infection, the body builds up antibodies and from then on, she would just get the typical cold sore on her face near her lips now and then. Well, she has never had a cold sore since then- only this second severe outbreak like the first, a year-and-a-half later.

The main concerns with a severe mouth infection are excruciating pain, severe swelling of the lips and throat, and dehydration/malnutrition. She cannot eat or drink anything but decaf tea. She can't even take the pain of plain water in her mouth. I talked about mouth sore tips when she was going through this last year, and that is one. Regular tea can be irritating, but decaffeinated versions are sometimes soothing.

We've been working like crazy with her doctor to try to keep her out of the hospital this time with pain management and antivirals. It's been so hard for her, but I think she's turning the corner on this thing. Last time the whole illness was about 14 days, with new breakouts stopping at about day 8/9. This time, at day 4 (yesterday) new sores had stopped forming.

So far, she's managing her pain with oral meds. Triplicate scripts, but oral nonetheless. Last year she was unable to swallow pills at all and required morphine and other IV meds and nutrition. The swelling is significant, but not nearly what it was last time. She's doing the best she can with the tea, and hopefully we can get her eating some banana smoothies or milkshakes by tomorrow.