Gingivitis?!?!?

Kamryn has been sick since Saturday. She's been running a fever and not eating. On Sunday she complained of her teeth hurting and she couldn't eat. So I tried brushing them for her and she started bleeding. On Monday, we took her to the doctor and he said she had a virus. By this time she had broken out into a rash on her back and chest, her gums were quite swollen, she complained of pains in her arms, the fever was still there, and complained that her head hurt when I would fix her hair or take her shirt off. And she has never before complained of her teeth hurting. The doctor had a look and said it was a virus and she has some redness in the back of her throat. He told us to come back by Wednesday if she wasn't starting to improve.

Tuesday morning she wouldn't eat. I knew she was hungry as she would ask for something to eat and then not be able to eat it. So I was starting to get upset that she hadn't eaten since Saturday and we both thought maybe she had something in her gum that was hurting. Her gums were even more swollen now too. We took her to a dental nurse. She said her teeth were fine and there wasn't anything to be concerned about with them but her gums were definitely badly swollen. She hadn't seen gums so swollen before.

Back to the doctor we went. He had one look at her gums and how swollen they were and immediately said it was gingivitis - just an infection of the gums. So he gave us a script for oracort (mouth ulcer medicine) and antibiotic (just in case it was bacterial). She was in such pain by Tuesday night, I felt really bad for her. All she wanted to do was sleep. I had a look online and read up about gingivitis. It's an infection from plaque and tartar build up on the teeth but I didn't find anything to say it was common in kids. So I wasn't happy with a diagnosis of gingivitis. I also didn't feel in my heart or gut that that is what it was. Hugh's dad has leukemia and his mom has diabetes. And bleeding and swollen gums is a symptom of that on top of all the other ones she had. So I was really worried my doctor was being too lax about the whole thing.

On Wednesday we went to a different doctor at a different practice to get a second opinion. This doctor had a thorough look at Kamryn and then told us that she had herpes gingivostomatitis. He said she was probably over the peak of it and would hopefully be better by next week. But if the condition hadn't changed by Friday to bring her back. He also said this is the primary outbreak of it and anything further like this would be something different and then further tests would need to be done. So from now on she should only get the sores on her lips (and maybe not even that!) but never in her mouth again. The news of this whole thing upset me tremendously as I am sure I am the one who passed on the virus since I have it. A huge weight is lifted from me though. I am upset with my doctor for not even telling me that herpes could have been a remote possibility.

Kamryn is very sick with this and I do not wish this on any child ever or at all. I am always careful with mine and that is what is more upsetting about it. But Hugh reminds me that she could have gotten it from somewhere else as well as the incubation period is 7 days. She has been to day care too. It's still upsetting as she isn't eating, she's very pale looking, tired, lethargic and her mouth is killing her. I really hope Lauryn misses this one but if she doesn't we will be a bit better clued in.

*FYI: She's had a pot of yogurt and marshmellows today! And hasn't complained about her mouth hurting as much as she had. It seems to be getting better as the day progresses!*