I’ve Got It
I have a big fever. I’m loopy and sad and in pain and laughing. I just deleted this original entry because I couldn’t copy and paste with keyboard shortcuts. Duh.
Erik has a fever blister the size of Montana on his lip. He’s already popped it, but it still looks nasty. I’ve been reading about them and hope to hell he doesn’t A) Give himself genital herpes or B) go blind or C) give me herpes. I hope the information I’m reading is wrong. You can’t really get genital herpes from fever blisters, can you? Aren’t they a different strain of herpes?
I’m laughing because Mike is trying to get a shoe rack into the closet. It’s the perfect size for the closet, but it won’t go past the closet doors. He’s cursing and grunting and shows signs of frustration.
Never fear, though. Erik is on the case. Here’s his gems of wisdom.
“Just say oh shit, daddy.”
“Daddy, calm down. Just calm down.”
Heh.
That’s even better than Erik telling Ulrica and Shaun exactly how to parent their 16 month old. “Just count him! I’ll go get my mommy and she’ll count him.”
May 31st, 2009 at 9:59 am
Yes, they are different strains and yes, both strains can infect both locations. It’s probably no surprise that HSV-1 (“oral” herpes) is one of the fasting growing types of HSV infections in young adults. However, autoinnoculation from one location to another is extremely rare. I don’t remember the statistics (I once testified as a expert witness in a criminal case related to the subject) but it’s highly unlikely that Erik will get genital or ocular HSV. “Highly unlikely” is scientific speak for “not going to happen,” except I can’t actually say that for fear that I’d go to scientist hell or suddenly burst into flames in some wacky bunsen burner accident or something. The simple explanation is that the virus seems to need certain conditions to get past a barrier of intact skin. These aren’t likely to occur with a toddler just touching himself. :)
Not that I don’t empathize with your worry. I worried about the very same thing when one of my kids first got a cold sore. Sometimes knowledge isn’t a good thing. Best to stay away from Dr. Google, eh?
lynanne’s last blog post..Perhaps I shouldn’t post this