Poor old Bene has been suffering from Chicken Pox this week. I say suffering, but in fact he’s been remarkably well with it really; we thought we were going to get it a few weeks ago when my nephew was here for a day the day before he went dotty but he missed it then, only to immediately pick it up at nursery, where half his room currently look like Dot Man.
I’m not sorry to be seeing chicken pox for the last time. Josie had it in 2010 and the other girls had it years and year ago, all in one go (though inconsiderately spread across an entire summer). It’s a vile, horrid virus that people don’t take nearly seriously enough. It can kill, it scars, it can turn nasty very quickly, it has all sorts of complications that people are completely under informed about. It horrifies me when I hear people talking about having pox parties, I would never want to deliberately infect a child with it.
Amelie had chicken pox in combination with eczema and impetigo and ended up in a devastatingly bad way in hospital. We were lucky not to lose her in all honesty. You can read about it in this post here. Even Josie managed a complication when he eye developed a limbitis on her eye. All very annoying.
Fortunately (touch wood) aside from a few of his spots being a little infected (cream being applied vigorously), Bene hasn’t had a terribly bad time of it. I know he had a spot on Tuesday but I had no idea what it was, PICKED it on Wednesday thinking it was either a tick or a slinter because it looked so odd and totally missed the 2 that must have been on his back until Thursday night. Friday he got a few spots, Saturday he got lots and was a bit sad and Sunday he got quite a lot more. He has hardly any on his legs and arms but lots of his face and a good number on his back and front. Probably 150 altogether or so. The ones on his face as worst; they are going to scar.
They’ve got worse since this photo 🙁
I really rage at this virus, it feels such an assault on them. I can never be calm (though I’ve done quite well this time) in case it suddenly does something awful again. It makes me so mad all of them are marked by it.
Still. Could be worse. And now, hopefully we are done.
Scars are horrid. Poor Bene. I had planned to get the vaccine sorted for baby 3 but before I arranged appt she got very mild illness age only a few months which came back with a vengeance as shingles age 2 which was miserably painful for her. Caused a deep wound on her hip under the nappy line so couldn’t leave to air dry and took ages to heal. Has a large scar as a result. Guilty ++. Not sure why it is not on the vaccination programme in uk. Is a horrid, potentially dangerous illness which I agree people are far too ignorant about but that also goes for the other infections we do, thank goodness, protect our children from.
Hope he feels better soon.
Oh no, poor Bene. It is horrid. My friend’s daughter started with it last weekend and you would not believe what it was like for her. I’ve never seen anything like it. Hardly a clear bit of skin on her body. Hugo hasn’t had it, yet has been around so many (unknowingly). I’m thinking of getting the vaccine for him. I too disagree with pox parties. I know they are all likely to catch it at some point, but I’d never forgive myself if I engineered him catching it and any complications occurring. I hope Bene continues to get better quickly. x
Pox parties! Ah! Don’t get me started on those. Vaccines are done here, but we haven’t done B’s yet as he has horrible reactions to most vaccines and we’re currently debating the pros and cons of that one. Ainsleigh was exposed recently and I am watching her like a hawk, hoping she doesn’t get it. I hope your little guy feels better soon.
Having known someone develop this in the very late stages of pregnancy and the devastating consequences of that, I took the chance when a friend’s son had it to deliberately expose my daughter to it. Yes she’s scarred and it was an awful
experience but I would do the same again. Her immuno compromised father also caught it when in his 30’s and he really was terribly ill with no one available to look after him, generally children cope better, he maybe would have been better to have had it as a child when he had a stronger immune system. Not sure about vaccinations, wasn’t aware of them all those years ago so hadn’t considered them as an option.
If people want to do that, that’s fine but I wouldn’t. My dad had it in his 30’s and it was awful. But I wouldn’t let anyone use my kids to infect them on purpose because I would feel terribly guilty if they had bad complications. I’m gutted I sent him to nursery not realising he had it, even though he was far from the only contagious one. I’m very pleased we’ve had it out of the way for them all before they were 6, but that doesn’t make me grateful for it and definitely doesn’t make me feel better about Amelie’s experience. We would have been saved a lot of upset if the doctor had known she needed different management when asked.
I’ve caught chicken pox recently from my 4 year old. he only had a handful of spots, didn’t really scratch them and was in a very good form. So good and spots so few that GP and nursery weren’t 100% certain it was actually chicken pox. Fast forward a week or 2 and I had most awful splitting headache for 2 days so bad I had to stay in bed with curtains shut, then spots on day 3…So chicken pox after all 🙂 I got antivirals and it slowed the virus down somewhat, but it was a tough week and a half. Not helped by my son asking over and over if I’m happy that I get to stay at home with the chicken pox 😉 He just didn’t understand that my experience was very different from his. I certainly would not be comfortable infecting a child with chicken pox on purpose. The complications are less likely with young kids, but the DO happen and even that aside not every kid will get a mild dose as you wrote yourself! I was furious when my mother in law almost brought my chicken-poxed nephew to visit us when my son was 2. I’m much happier him getting it at 4, than at 2!
After what you went through with Amelie (and everything since) this must have been so stressful for you. My girls got the vaccine but having only experienced uncomplicated chicken pox at the age of 6, I wondered why the vaccine was necessary. Now I know differently. I hope Bene is completely recovered by now.
Poor Bene. Not that this is any use to you, but we found PoxClin rather good for helping with the itches and scabs. Our HV recommended it, and we used it on no 1 son when he got the dreaded pox aged 3. He has no scars, even though he had plenty of spots. DD and DS2 have not had it yet, although DD has been exposed several times.
Chicken pox vexes us because my FIL swears he hasn’t had it and doesn’t want to get it (aged 70+). When DS1 had chicken pox my FIL refused to come into the house – he wouldn’t even come in the door! I have suggested that he has a blood test to check his immunity (he hasnt); I have pointed out that he has been exposed to chicken pox at least 3 times without contracting it (e.g. when his own children had it) which suggests he has had it at some point, but we’ll only know if he gets a test. Of course, as the spots come after incubation, refusing to come into our house once a child has spots is really shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted (particularly as he and my MIL look after the children one day per week!)
As if all that weren’t illogical enough, he’s decided he doesn’t want the new shingles vaccine (for those over 70) because of the possible side effects!