We have been staying close to home the past week or so because our little Joe (10 months) has the chicken pox. He has had a very mild case -- only 20-25 blisters over his entire body -- so he hasn't been too uncomfortable or irritable.
When we first discovered that this was what he had I started to panic and asked Sam all kinds of questions about it. His answer was "don't worry about it - it's just a common childhood illness". But now adays it's really not that common. My other boys have never had it (they got the immunization at 12 months), and I honestly can't think of a case I've heard of in the past 10 years. When I tell my friends that he has it they all are amazed and curious. They all ask... How did you know that's what it was? What does it look like? Can it be spread? Gone are the days of purposely exposing your kids so they'll 'get it over with'.
We have a Modern Home Medical Adviser from 1942 that Grandma K (Catherine) gave to us once. It is fun to read. Last week I looked up chicken pox and it says "The cause of chicken pox is still a mystery... Even though the cause is not known, it is realized that the infectious agent is present in the blisters...Nobody knows how long a person who has chicken pox remains infectious for others." Sixty years later we know exactly what virus causes it and we even have an immunization to prevent it. Fascinating.
Shelley
5 comments:
I hope he is feeling better...sweet little Joseph! And thank God for the vaccinations, or you'd be in for a long stretch of chicken pox with the other four.
Yes, Shelley, things have changed much in the last 50 years. I personally was one of the few who didn't get chicken pox and I was afraid I would get it when my kids had it, but I didn't. However, I did have mumps, measles, and whooping cough!
I'm sure you're taking good care of your little Joseph - takes patience.
If it weren't so close to Christmas, I'd bring my girls over to be exposed. I decided not to immunize for chicken pox, although we do for most everything else, and I've been waiting for someone to get it so we could be exposed. Poor timing!
Mary Lee got the chickenpox at age 3, exactly 15 days after being exposed to her cousin on Christmas Day. And Andrew got it exactly 15 days after Mary Lee came down with the first pox. Both of them had miserable cases. I feel for you!
Heather and Kelsie both got Chicken Pox on the Fourth of July when they were 4 & 2. I gave them a bath that morning and noticed some blisters on them, but I didn't know what it was. We still went to the parade, where I saw a nurse friend of mine and asked her what it was. She didn't know either (!?). So off we went to the carnival. That year, their favorite "ride" was the jumping balloon -- you know, the thing kids climb in and jump around. They jumped in there for hours, surely infecting the whole town. By the time fireworks started, they were covered with blisters and had fevers, and we figured out it was chicken pox. I missed close to a week of work. I'm sure mom helped out with them too. We were lucky they both both got it at the same time. Nathan had the immunization, so hopefully that was our only experience with Chicken Pox. Good luck to you!
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