At the end of 2016, when my youngest son was 2½, he came down with a low fever and also developed chicken pox-like spots on his hands, feet, and face.

While I heard the mention of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease (HFMD) from the time I was young, I never encountered anyone who had it.

I never even met anyone who knew someone who'd had it.

But it wasn't difficult to assume that the little spots appearing only on his feet, hands, and face were likely HFMD. 

After all, it makes sense, right?

Turning to this generation's modern medical advisor (the Internet), a quick search revealed that HFMD was indeed similar to chicken pox—a type of tiny pox that only appears on the eponymous parts (the hands, feet, and face).

And like chicken pox, HFMD lasts around 10 days and provides immunity against future exposure — although only to that particular strain of HFMD. (There are a handful of different strains.) Also like chicken pox, complications can result from HFMD—but rarely do.

Fortunately, like most cases of HFMD, our son's turned out to be a mild one. He might have had a low fever, but can't remember for sure (which means the fever wasn't serious if there was any).

Also, he didn't seem to have them inside his mouth, for which I was grateful, because that sounds really uncomfortable. (My older brother had chicken pox in the back of his throat. Ugh.)

With a bit of knowledge about essential oils and carrier oils, I applied olive oil infused with lavender oil on my son's affected areas (except for the face because that seemed too close to his mouth & eyes). I added tea tree oil to his feet too. (Two-year-olds frequently put their hands in their mouths and eyes, so the tea tree oil only went on his feet.)

The old spots cleared up pretty fast, but a round of new spots appeared each time.

However, it was reassuring to see that the oils helped clear up the current spots and he displayed no signs of discomfort or itching.

When it looked like he was no longer contagious, I took him to the doctor just to confirm the diagnosis and to ask when he could return to preschool.

Fortunately, the doctor was American, which meant it was easier for both of us to use the English terms for everything. I'm usually fine dealing with doctors & hospital staff in Hebrew, but saying HFMD in Hebrew felt too weird: machalat hapeh vahagapayim. Furthermore, the word "gapayim" is not commonly used. It means "limbs," but is far less common than the word generally used. 

So I even though I'd double-checked it online, I didn't feel 100% sure it was the right term.

Anyway, to double-check, I asked the doctor if this was indeed HFMD, and after a thoughtful pause, he said, "It sure looks like it."

As the doctor examined my son's foot, I asked the doctor when my son could safely return to preschool.

The doctor appeared to examine the spots on my son's foot for a long time, but it looked like he was using the examination as a cover to scan his memory.

As stated before, HFMD is really not so common, even though it's common reference gives it a certain familiarity.

So I didn't blame the doctor for needing to think about it, though I'd have respected him more had he the guts to just admit he needs to look it up for a minute.

​To help him along, I said, "Is it like chicken pox, where the spots need to dry up first, and then it's no longer contagious?"

There was another pause, then he said, "Yeah."

I didn't believe he actually remembered; it just made sense.

Then I mentioned that I applied olive oil to the affected areas. (Didn't bother mentioning the essential oils mixed in; most doctors aren't open-minded beyond pharmaceuticals and the mention of olive oil was as far as I wanted to go without knowing his position on non-synthetic remedies.)

​Sure enough, the doctor smirked and said, "Nah, I don't think olive oil does much for this."

I didn't bother telling him that it did—or more likely, that the essential oils of lavender & tea tree mixed into the olive oil obviously helped.

If he couldn't hear about olive oil without smirking, I sure wasn't going to mention lavender or tea tree.

Anyway, in another couple of days, all the spots dried over and he went back to preschool.

I never knew how he caught it in the first place, but ever since he first entered the world, he was always catching colds & coughs and coming down with fevers.

We tried giving him herbal immunity boosters (including pricey high-quality ones), plus vitamins, but never saw much difference (except more recently, at age 5, with Sambucol, a medicinal syrup made from elderberries).

Anyway, the spots dried up and we thought that was the end of it.

But it wasn't.

HFMD produces a common, yet not well-known side effect.

One day, I noticed that his fingernails looked whitish and peeling.

Unable to think of anything except a vitamin deficiency or a fungal infection, I used Q-tips to "paint" his fingernails with anti-fungal tea tree oil & racked my brain to figure out what vitamins he lacked as I kept him from putting his fingers in his mouth until the oil dried. (Tea tree oil is toxic to ingest.)

The next couple of days showed a worsening situation. 

The entire nail started to detach from the nail bed—on every single nail.

My stomach clenched with anxiety & self-recrimination. Was I a neglectful mother? Did my child receive such poor care that it caused his fingernails to fall off?

Nothing made sense because this child ate healthier than any of my other kids. Heck, he ate healthier than I did.

Every day, he ingested avocado spread on whole spelt bread. He feasted on salmon, tomatoes, cucumbers, red bell peppers, apples, bananas, tangerines, and much more.

Eggs & chicken & whole-grain noodles.

And the tea tree oil should have taken care of a fungal issue.

But despite the tea tree oil on the nails & a supplement of vitamin drops, the nails continued to detach.

Finally, by happy incident, I discovered a couple of websites that explained this exact process—a common yet little-known post-HFMD effect.

Yes, HFMD causes the fingernails to fall off—and the toenails too.

It doesn't always happen following HFMD, but it's pretty common.

Fortunately, it doesn't seem to hurt the children.

Even my son, who tends to be sensitive to all sorts of discomforts, didn't seem bothered by it.

An exposed nail bed looks grotesque, but my son showed no signs of discomfort or pain.

After most of his fingernails peeled off, his toenails started peeling off.

At one point, I clipped one fingernail that looked like it might painfully snag on something. Likewise, two partially detached toenails that caused discomfort when squeezed into a sock & a shoe.

​Then all the nails grew back and that was that.

With the hope that neither you nor your child ever go through a bout of HFMD, here is a summary to help know what to expect if it does happen to you or someone you know:

• HFMD is similar to chicken pox, but it's mostly on the hands & feet.

Based on my son's experience & what I read, HFMD doesn't get itchy as chicken pox, but its appearance & development of spots are similar, as is the main sign of its recovery: The spots dry up & crust over.

​Fevers are common, but not necessarily high fevers.

• A bout of HFMD confers immunity—but only to that particular strain of HFMD.

You can't get that strain again, but you are still vulnerable to other strains of HFMD. Fortunately, HFMD is pretty rare & most people will never need to deal with it at all.

• Peeling nails often follow recovery from HFMD.

This doesn't always happen, but it happens commonly—around 2-4 weeks after recovery from HFMD. The nails detach completely from the nail bed, leaving the nail bed exposed & onlookers feeling squeamish, but the nail-peeling process doesn't seem to bother the child.

It starts with the fingernails, followed by the toenails. All in all, the nail-detaching process takes several weeks.

Okay, that sums up our experience with HFMD.

No one else in the family caught it, by the way.

We didn't even take all the precautions of washing & sterilizing things; my son didn't infect anyone else. 

I hope neither you nor anyone you know comes down with HFMD.

But if it does happen, I hope the above helps.

The ebook is up now at Amazon & available for free download from Monday, December 14 – Friday, December 18, 2020.

It's a Chanukah present from me to you.

Also, the Torah portion read this upcoming Shabbat (Jewish Sabbath) in synagogues across the world deals with the famous future-telling dream of Pharaoh and its interpretation by Yosef (Josef of the-coat-of-many-colors fame). 

This prophetic interpretation led to a stunning rise for Yosef, who then used his wisdom to save Egypt from starvation—which ended up saving much of the world of that time and earning a generous stream of income for Egypt, who became the world's provider for those 7 years.

Along with a weekly reading of the Torah (called a parsha in Hebrew), a reading from Prophets or Writings (called a haftarah) follows the reading of the parsha.

So after the reading in the synagogue of this week's parsha (with Pharaoh's dream & Yosef's wisdom), the accompanying haftarah consists of Kings I:3:15-28—the court case brought before King Shlomo by 2 women, each one claiming to be the birth mother of one surviving baby. (The other died when his mother rolled over on him in her sleep.)

King Shlomo showcased his legendary wisdom by pretending to decide to slice the baby in two, and thus allowing each mother to take a half.

With the birth mother unable to bear this ghoulish end for her child, she speaks up and relinquishes custody of her child to the other woman.

At that point, King Shlomo declares her as the rightful mother and the entire Nation of Israel rejoices.

But I always wondered...how on earth does that show wisdom?

It always seemed to me that it showed which one was a psychopath—and a particularly stupid psychopath. (After all, the lying woman calls out, "Neither to you nor to me be shall he be—cut!")

No normal person does that. Even a perfect stranger would object to such a brutal "solution."

You don't need to be the child's biological mother to protest against such an atrocity or to relinquish your custodianship of the threatened baby—whether it's your baby or not.

So I followed my curiosity and researched as many commentaries as I could find, and not only discovered the answer to this issue, but much more.

For example, the women are never named in the text—only described by occupation.

Who are they really? What are they really doing?

Traditional rabbinical sources offer 4 descriptions of the two women (including the first one mentioned outright in the text)—and the 4th one is pretty bizarre.

Also, did you ever wonder which woman was the child's birth mother—the accuser or the accused?

I never did! I never wondered which was which until research led me to a discussion about it in the classic rabbinical sources.

Furthermore, the way King Shlomo handled this historic event provides us with many lessons—one of which was instituted way back then and continues until today as part of the official procedure in any rabbinical Jewish court.

Even with all the sources, it's a pretty short book because the entire episode only consists of 13 verses.

But I put mostly everything I could possibly find into this little book. 

I hope you'll find the information, background, details, interpretations, and revelations as fascinating as I found them.

And I hope it answers any questions or issues that pricked at you too.

Because most of the sources exist only in Hebrew or Aramaic, this book features information you probably won't find in English anywhere else.

If you wish to read the original text online in English translation by expert rabbinical scholars, you can see it here:
The Complete Jewish Bible: Melachim/Kings I, Chapter 3

So again, the link to the free download is here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08QGQRBM1

Remember, it's only free temporarily. After that, it's going up to a still affordable (but no longer free) $2.99.

The paperback is newly available here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08QFG2ZH1, sold at the introductory low price of $6.99.

Happy Chanukah!