Jan
16
In my responses to comments on yesterday’s post about vaccines and their (non) link to autism, I wrote this:
Elspeth: I can tell you that getting the varicella vaccine doesn’t mean you can’t get chicken pox, but it’ll be a lot milder. In fact, School Girl may possibly have chicken pox and has had both of the shots (initial and booster). We’re still not sure what it is – she’s not acting sick.
True. Yesterday I got a phone call from her school. School Girl had what looked like chicken pox blisters, and would I mind terribly coming to get her? Oh, and since she might possibly have chicken pox, she would not be allowed back into school without a doctor’s note saying that she absolutely did not have it at all.
Trouble is, the test will take between 48 and 72 hours from getting the swab into the lab and getting the results from her doctor. Have I mentioned that she’s already missed 5 days from school since Xmas vacation?
The thing that struck both me and the two people who examined her yesterday (we usually see both the NP and her doctor when we go) was that she doesn’t seem sick. She’s perky, she’s active, she’s not fatigued in any way. No fever. No chills. She ate lunch, snack and dinner yesterday, just like normal. Nothing to suggest that anything’s wrong. Except those damn spots. Man – if it is chicken pox, I’m happy that she got the varicella after all. Because I have a sinking feeling that she would have been as sick as I was without the vaccine.
The spots are spreading now. But as of this morning, she’s still perky and active – in fact, she’s asking what she can have for breakfast (french toast “without eggs” is winning out ATM). She’s also having a tough time understanding why she can’t be in school.
Maybe today we can practice “buddy school”, in case our district decides to drop additional days from the calendar as they’ve been threatening lately.
I have to tell you that she probably has chicken pox. Both my boys got their shots and they both got this weird chicken pox like rash with no fever and no real “illness” (at separate times). They both bounced around the house for a week or two because the schools wouldn’t let them come back even though they were basically fine. Let’s not even talk about the fact that chicken pox is actually mostly contagious before the rash shows up.
V just got her chicken pox shot on Tuesday. After much thought (and guilt), I’m happy we decided to vaccinate her. This was helped by an interview done for My American Life on families in the San Diego area that were affected by measles contracted from a toddler that had been to Germany and who wasn’t vaccinated. I’m glad to hear A is feeling good despite the spreading spots, and breakfast sounds yummy!
Nancy: I hope that it’s wrong, but I’m starting to agree with you. But it’s weird – she says the spots don’t itch. And there’s no school without the doctor’s note; that won’t be possible until at least Tuesday. So yet another week of no school.
Ana: I understand how you feel, believe me. I am happy that we got School Girl vaccinated, but there were some anxious moments, to say the least. Measles is only part of a growing problem with “childhood diseases” coming back that have been rare to nonexistent. Very scary.
Brendan has yet to get even a mild case, and he did indeed have the vaccine.
I had chicken-pox back in the dinosaur days, but except for the itchiness of the bumps, i wasn’t the least bit ill. I remember complaining about all of the make-up work i would have to do because i couldn’t go back to school yet.
*tight hugs to you and the itchy one*
See, that’s what I don’t understand. She’s not itchy. She says she feels fine – and she’s acting fine. Believe me, if she were truly sick she wouldn’t be feeling like this.
*tight hugs back* This is frustrating – I can’t wait until we get the test results from the ped’s office.
As I recall the boys weren’t itchy either. It’s as though the vaccine removes the allergic reaction to the virus.
Aw, hell. Did it go away pretty quickly? She’s been on an antibiotic for 2 days now, and the rash seems to be getting better – at least it isn’t spreading anymore.