Chicken pox? Head straight to the doctor

June 1, 2008 - 1:32 PM by Nicky

My two year old has chicken pox.

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This time, I was determined to get it right. My first boy had chicken pox fairly lightly. He was grouchy for a few days, and then the spots popped out. Not too many and apart from one that he scratched rather too vigorously – no scars either.

Then my next boy caught it. He was running a high temperature for several days before hand and was really sick. When the spots came out, they came out everywhere – in his hair, up his nose, in his mouth, down his throat and a whole range of other unmentionable places that I didn’t think you got chicken pox spots in.

We told him not to scratch, so he slapped the spots hard every time the itching got too bad. Despite his extraordinary willpower, several years on, he still has scars all over his chest and back.

With our third boy, we decided we’d spare him. As soon as I heard it was chicken pox season, I rushed off to the doctor and asked for a prescription for the inoculation. She handed it over promptly, and I prepared to buy it the next day.

But then he got sick with an ear infection. So we left it for a week.
The first day he was better my husband went off to buy the drug. No, they told him, you have to bring your child too and have the inoculation on the spot.

So we decided to take him that Thursday. Wednesday afternoon I picked up from his kindergarten.

“He’s got chicken pox,” the ganenit (kindergarten teacher – it’s so much easier to say in Hebrew) said, and lifted up his shirt to show me the spots. “Tamar, Daphna, and Gur came out with spots today too.”

In the days since then, the spots have erupted everywhere, and it’s even worse than my second child. I started counting the spots on his face yesterday, but gave up at 100. His skin hurts, he can’t sleep, he can’t eat because of the spots in his mouth. Seeing his beautiful soft skin marred by all these horrible spots, is just so miserable.

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(This was yesterday, they’re even worse today…)

That was my last chance to get it right. But maybe you can do better. If you hear the words chicken pox, rush your child off to the doctor for an inoculation and save yourselves and him a miserable couple of weeks.

Tags: • Category: General, Life 

Comments

9 Comments on Chicken pox? Head straight to the doctor

  1. karin on Sun, Jun 1st 2008 2:11 PM

    2. Nicky — he’s so beautiful. Spots or no spots!
    Karin

  2. Nicky on Sun, Jun 1st 2008 2:36 PM

    3. Thank-you!

    In my completely unbiased opinion I also think he’s gorgeous, even with spots.
    But he’s so bad-tempered….

    But who can blame him.

  3. Rattling the Kettle on Sun, Jun 1st 2008 3:30 PM

    4. Unfortunately, the vaccine doesn’t work very well. ~15% of kids who are inoculated get it anyway. The long-term trends (the vaccine has only been available since the mid-90’s, so there’s no definitive long-term data) are indicating that the vaccine wears off over time. That can be very dangerous, since chicken pox is a much more severe disease for adults (kids usually get fairly mild cases with no long-term effects; adult cases can require hospitalization and can cause sterility and other serious problems).

    Bottom line: you’re lucky he got it the “old-fashioned” way!

    Give him oatmeal baths to soothe the itching — grind up some rolled oats in a food processor, stick them in a (clean) sock, and toss it in the bath as you fill it with lukewarm water. It will be over in a few days.

  4. Nicky on Sun, Jun 1st 2008 7:24 PM

    5. Thanks for the tip about the oatmeal – will try it out.

    There’s so much confusion about inoculations these days. I know that children get it afterwards, but have been told that they get much, much milder cases.

    He’s got a really bad case of it. Had to take him to the doctor today, cos he suddenly started to get sicker – hope it will be over soon. As soon as the doctor saw him, she asked me why I didn’t give him the inoculation.
    He’s now got a secondary infection – and that’s bad news.

  5. marie on Mon, Jun 2nd 2008 3:09 AM

    6. I believe in the miracle of healing, therefore I declare your beautiful son is healed and will be totally restored by faith; in the name above all names, the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

  6. savtadotty on Mon, Jun 2nd 2008 9:25 PM

    7. Your beautiful son looks so uncomfortable, my heart goes out to him (and to you). Many years ago when my son was about 7 and got the chicken pox he couldn’t stand to look at himself in the bathtub because he was afraid of those spots, their sudden unexpected and uncontrolled arrival. Two weeks later, I got the chicken pox myself, even though I was certain I’d had them already, and only the pediatrician was the least bit sympathetic and helpful.

  7. David All on Tue, Jun 3rd 2008 3:11 AM

    8. Never got Chicken Pox, but when I was about 10, I did get the Mumps, around Christmas time no less! At its height, I looked a lot like Alfred Hitchcock!

  8. estonian on Sat, Mar 28th 2009 1:00 AM

    9. my 1y7m kid has chicken pox now, thats why i was looking up information about it and stumbled upon your site. this comes too late for you, but may be useful for others. there is a allergy drug called Zyrtec (3 drops, twice a day for a small kid) that completely takes away the itching. so the kid might still have some fever and looks spotty for a couple of weeks but does not scratch and feels ok otherwise. it is a prescription drug here, suppose in your country too. helps really really well.
    vaccine is not really a good option. provides no real immunity for a short period of time, not to talk about a lifelong one (and the illness is more severe and dangerous when you get it as an adult), and vaccines are not completely safe either… so i’d say with Zyrtec (or any other similar medication) this illness becomes a really mild one.

  9. Sonya on Sat, Feb 20th 2010 8:40 AM

    10. I have three little ones with chicken pox right now and I can’t tell you how many people, in the medical field also, have said how much better it is for them to get the actual chicken pox instead of the vaccine because of the safety issues and the long term benefits. Thank you for sharing about your boys. It sounds like you did a wonderful job for them to help them come through it. Mine have been taking lots of oatmeal baths and baking soda baths. A little children’s Benadryl and some children’s Motrin if it’s too itchy or painful. A few days of discomfort and a lifetime of protection (usually) against shingles later.

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