Sweet Fat Life

Sorry for the lack of updates this week folks. The days just sort of slipped away from me. We resume next week. Thanks for your patience.

-Lauren

Greetings and Salutations! Can you believe it, it’s almost been a month and neither Genny or I have ended up in the hospital or bed ridden. *knocks on a giant plank of wood*
I have a couple of things for you today.

Yes, we are back. Hurray! Yes, we are updating regularly. Woohoo! And yes, I am doing much better, thank you all for asking.

A message to all parents out there though. If your little ones get Fifth Disease, please PLEASE tell the people who were around your kid. While it’s pretty harmless to other children and most adults have already gotten it when they were younger, it can cause issues in some people. Like me.

Yup, lucky ol’ me never caught it when I was a kidlet. So after a weekend of severe back pain, my doctor tells me I have to go to the E.R. Because of other medication I was taking, he thought I might have a blood clot in my lungs. Four hours later, the E.R. doctor tells me I have inflamation in the lining around heart (no blood clot though!) No clue as to what caused it.

A few weeks later, a lacy rash shows up on my arms. Weird, but alright. The next day I develop severe joint pain that spread to all the joints of my hands, then to my wrists, elbows, knees, and finally ankles. For an entire weekend I thought I was dying (or had Lymes since I was bitten by a tick a month earlier). I couldn’t open jars or turn handles etc. Monday, I go to the doctors, and after a two minutes of discussion, he tells me I had Fifth Disease (aka parvovirus B19). Nothing can be done for the pain besides lots of Advil.

Besides the joint pain guess what else it caused…yup, the inflamation in lining around my heart.

And where, you ask, did I get this lovely little illness? From one of the kids I babysit of course! Which kid? Who knows. Because none of the parents bothered to tell me that their child had gotten sick. I know that visual symptoms of Fifth Disease don’t manifest until the virus is gone, but jeez, a little warning would have been nice.  But no, instead, on two separate occasions I was left losing my mind with worry that I had developed some life threatening illness.

Hey, you know what else is awesome. I unknowingly exposed all the other kids and parents to the same virus. But I told everyone I came in contact with.

Also Fifth Disease can cause miscarriages in pregnant women who become infected. I am eternally greatful that none of parents I sit for were pregnant.

Fifth Disease Summary

• harmless to kids
• usually mild symptoms for adults
• occasionally horrible manifestations in adults
• dangerous to unborn children
• most adults have already had the illness and won’t contract it again

This message has been brought to you by your local friendly webcomic artist.