My son was sick because of a cold sore (imgs may be graphic)

[Umm_Ibraheem]

I should have posted earlier but here goes (imgs may be graphic)

my son was on antibiotics and antivirals from march 3rd to the 17th and he was hospitalized for 4 days and 5 nights. Why? because some individual decided to kiss my son and I stupidly allowed. Apparently my son has eczema and he had scratched himself pretty bad so when the person kissed my son he was infected through the tears in his skin. To make matters worst almost every human being has staph bacteria living on their skin so my DS was dealing with both a viral and a couple of bacterial infections.

We took him to the hospital because he needed urgent medical care. Anyway I cried when they inserted the IV and all the probing they did to the poor fella. I was so angry I wanted to find the person responsible and give them the beating of their lives. The dr. kept telling me not to go on a witch hunt since 95% of all adults are infected with this disease (cold sores, dontcha love the euphemisms?). WTF. If you know you are infected with a virus that has no cure why the f@!k would you kiss a new born baby? Why? I don't remember anyone with anything particularly nasty on their mouths kissing my son but somehow they slipped passed me (i have my suspicions). DH and I are not infected nor do we have the antibodies for the virus so it most likely wasn't us. The dr also said that if I didn't notice the cold sore than the person might have had the beginnings of an outbreak.

The docs told me that I should count myself lucky since he was infected as a 4 month old instead of a newborn because it is almost always fatal in newborns even with treatment. Is that supposed to make me feel better? It made me want to kill the person (whoever they were) even more. Also while I was in the hospital a friend called (she didn't know about my son's condition or that we were in the hospital) to share a story about a mother accidentally killing her newborn with a kiss http://news.aol.com/health/article/b...rs-kiss/362112 My anxiety went through the roof.

They kept telling me that it was HSV1 instead of the bad herpes HSV2. What is the difference? NOTHING! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING other than one is socially acceptable (HSV1) and the other (HSV2) is NOT socially acceptable since you most likely got it during hanky panky. Now I was told they found it ONLY in his skin and not in his blood so God willing it doesn't return ever again. In the mean time I am not allowing anyone to kiss my son despite what the doctor said. I know I can't protect him forever but I am way to pist off to let people near him again.

my pedi had to call a head of time mentioning "they are very good parents" at least 10 times in a 2 minute conversation. I guess she did that so the hospital wouldn't call child protective services on us since my lo looked so bad. She saw how fast it progressed so it wasn't like we delayed getting him help.

I asked the doc if i should stop letting ppl kiss him and he said "No, if he hadn't been infected now he would have been exposed in daycare (by sharing drinks or toys), the park, school, or by a loved one." he also said that the chicken pox virus is from the same family as herpes so not to worry. I personally don't see how I will ever stop panicking when people get near my baby boy.

why do people feel entitled to kiss other peoples kids? and please don't kiss their hands instead of their face because KIDS STICK THEIR HANDS in their mouths. I didn't have a problem with people kissing my kid before but now i do. I feel like a horrible mother for not being as protective as I should have been.

this is what my baby looked like :

He was kissed on Sunday and what you see is his left cheek when we saw his pedi on Tuesday by the time we were admitted to the hospital that same day it had spread to his chin and it was already starting on his right. It was such an aggressive infection and it was treated aggressively with an antiviral called acyclovir and a cocktail of antibiotics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aciclovir

Common adverse drug reactions (≥1% of patients) associated with systemic acyclovir therapy (oral or IV) include: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and/or headache. In high doses, hallucinations have been reported. Infrequent adverse effects (0.1–1% of patients) include: agitation, vertigo, confusion, dizziness, oedema, arthralgia, sore throat, constipation, abdominal pain, rash and/or weakness. Rare adverse effects (<0.1% of patients) include: coma, seizures, neutropenia, leukopenia, crystalluria, anorexia, fatigue, hepatitis, Stevens-Johnson syndrome, toxic epidermal necrolysis and/or anaphylaxis.[3]

docs did a whole mess of tests and cultures and thankfully my son responded to treatment without complications. I am allergic to so many things last time i was giving antibiotics my skin started falling of ala goldmember style (the movie austin powers) and I was treated as a burnt patient. This is my story and I hope no one is offended as this was my experience.

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UPDATE JULY 15, 2012
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[UPDATE] I feel bad reading over my original post and all the anger I had. But honestly I was a first time parent and my child had something on his skin that spread within 72hrs and looked like flesh eating bacteria. My panic was in overdrive. Anyway fast forward to July 2012 my son is now 3 years and 20 months and his skin is remarkably scar free and flawless! Seriously I thought his face would forever be marked but nothing! THANK GOD!

We used calendula mother tincture (basically full force and its not diluted) and it burned so bad but its good for scars and it has antibiotics and antiviral properties. Due to him having open sores all over his body that caused him pain we found a calendula (mother tincture) that was alcohol free but even then it was still too painful for him. Thankfully we found a calendula ointment which is basically petroleum jelly with calendula in it and that worked like a charm although we still used the liquid calendula sparingly.

Today he is a beautiful and happy boy (even with all this drama he was a happy baby even then) with no memories of the 2 years he spent in pain and skin agony. I would say he has been eczema symptom free for close to a year. Looking at pictures of him as a 2 year old and you could still see big red rashes of eczema still on his face and every where else on his body. My son's eczema was extreme and the infections were a fluke and also extreme but I'm glad he survived and doing great.

Even though I'm a mother of two toddlers now and expecting a third I think I would STILL freak out if I see something that shows up overnight and spreads across their tiny bodies within hours. Matter of fact when we went to the pediatrician my son only had it on his left cheek (if I remember correctly) and just from leaving her office and driving ourselves to the hospital it had already traveled to his chin and across to his right cheek. Even my pedi was shocked since it was only hours since she had last seen him and it had already spread to the other cheek. Which is why she kept calling so frequently to the hospital and letting them know "they are good parents." Honestly, if I had been working in the hospital my first instinct would have been to call child protection service so I can see why it was a concern for my pedi and definitely not something we wanted to deal with. It was horrible and I don't ever want to relive that or wish it on anyone.

Thank you all for your support and comments. I wanted to update you since its been a few years since I posted this and a lot has changed.

[Knits on Earth]

oh no!

[thenanny]

Oh my gosh! That poor baby! Thank you so much for sharing your story! I was a freak about people touching DS when he was little. I didn't even want them touching his little socked feet. I am so glad that I was that way now after reading this!

[chloecat]

oh dear god mama!! big hugs and i am soooo sorry for you. i hope your lo is better soon and that there is no permanent scarring. take car of yourself and dont' beat yourself up over it. you didn't know and most people wouldn't think twice about someone kissing a baby.

[Umm_Ibraheem]

Originally Posted by thenanny Oh my gosh! That poor baby! Thank you so much for sharing your story! I was a freak about people touching DS when he was little. I didn't even want them touching his little socked feet. I am so glad that I was that way now after reading this!

i should have been more like you.

Originally Posted by chloecat oh dear god mama!! big hugs and i am soooo sorry for you. i hope your lo is better soon and that there is no permanent scarring. take car of yourself and dont' beat yourself up over it. you didn't know and most people wouldn't think twice about someone kissing a baby.

sadly we are still trying to recuperate. The infections are gone but his eczema never calmed down afterward so his skin still looks pretty bad.

[l_Kimmie_l]

OMG! Momma, you and your poor baby!! Who could imagine that a simple act of love and kindless can be so deadly. How awful. I do not blame you for wanting people to keep their hands and lips to themselves. My baby had to have IV antibiotics for 2 weeks at 1 day old. He had an unknown infection from the hospital. It was the single most terrifying thing of my life. I hope your baby gets better soon and you find healing in your heart. I know how emotional these times can be.

[ladybug6]

Oh Momma! I was a germ freak when DD was little, and now I see that there are reasons we Mommas are programed to act like that! I am so sorry for your dear sweet baby! Hope he continues to get better!

[Umm_Ibraheem]

Originally Posted by kimmie_n_angus OMG! Momma, you and your poor baby!! Who could imagine that a simple act of love and kindless can be so deadly. How awful. I do not blame you for wanting people to keep their hands and lips to themselves. My baby had to have IV antibiotics for 2 weeks at 1 day old. He had an unknown infection from the hospital. It was the single most terrifying thing of my life. I hope your baby gets better soon and you find healing in your heart. I know how emotional these times can be.

I didn't think of it that way. Mama you are awesome.

[looking8186]

Oh my Lord That poor baby. Mama.. It is NOT your fault though Please please don't beat yourself up There was NO way to see that coming... I am totally the kind of person who thinks, "Oh well.. they're going to get exposed to stuff anyways so no big deal if people touch them.. I'm not a germ freak anyways." Well I can guarantee you that now NO ONE is coming ANYWHERE NEAR my newborn I know that it's kind of a freak accident but seriously.. that is so so scary. Many many and good thoughts to you and your babe.

[NATTYBATSMOM]

A friend of mine got a cold sore/infection during her last trimester and was warned that she wouldn't be able to kiss her daughter when she had her for this reason. Unfortunately, the baby passed during labor. They don't think it was that but my friend still wonders especially as she found it was some kind of an infection that caused her daughter's kidneys to shut down and that's why the baby passed. But she had to go through the whole ordeal of having a stillborn and the baby WAS at term too.