CHICKEN POX

WHAT!?

Was my friend nuts? Why would I intentionally expose my kids to Chicken Pox? Why would she?

A better question to ask is: “Why didn’t I; especially before they started school?”

Flash forward 2 years (or back 5 years) – March, 2nd year of Pre-School. One morning at breakfast.

“Hey, Steve? What do you think these red dots are on Logan’s face?”

“Hmmmmm, don’t know. Let’s call the doctor.”

Yep – Chicken Pox!

Now here’s where we made a big mistake. Keep Logan home because he is contagious and has all these red marks all over him. But let’s send Alec to school, because he does not have red marks and feels fine. No one bothered to tell us that people are contagious before they break out in spots.

“So, Logan has chicken pox? How bad is it? You know if he doesn’t have very many spots, he could catch it again. How many is not very many? How many spots does Logan have? I quit counting at 100. Oh, then he’s ok – I think if there’s less than 10 – then you have to worry!” That was the conversation I had with many friends that first week.

Logan fared pretty well through the first week. He itched a bit and had a low fever. He didn’t do too much, but still felt well enough to eat and watch TV. After the first week, all his spots had opened and scabbed over. So, we sent him back to school.

Forward to the 3rd week of March – “Hey, Steve? Guess what Alec has all over him?” Here we go again.

Poor Alec, he had Chicken Pox so much worse than his brother. I had read (or heard from a well meaning friend) that the second child in a family to come down with Chicken Pox is usually sicker – but I didn’t believe it. Well, take it from me – it’s the truth.

Alec had a high fever, ranging from 101 to 103. Alec’s fever was so high the earwax in his ears crystallized; that was interesting. He had red spots everywhere, even in places I won’t mention (way more than 100). No need to worry about him catching it again – Alec had way more spots than Logan had. He didn’t want to eat anything and his legs ached. In fact, he could hardly walk. For 3 days, he slept in our bed with us. Every time he would move, he would groan. So, of course, for those 3 days, the only person to get any sleep was Logan.

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