A Pox On Your House
.
Chicken Pox, that is.
My wonderful son had a house full of friends yesterday. They were all crammed in his room, playing video games. Later that night, I got a call from one of the moms. Their son had a little fever, and she wanted me to know that her son might have exposed everyone to a cold. Isn't that sweet? I mean, how many parents do that nowadays?

She called me again this morning. Her son has chicken pox. The poor kid. To be all itchy in the middle of summer, and not even get free days off of school.
L never caught chicken pox. Our family doctor doesn't carry the vaccine. And I'm not sure I would have vaccinated my son anyway. I mean: measles, mumps, polio... Those are nasty. But chicken pox? You smother 'em in calamine lotion and watch for complications. And the chicken pox shot is fairly new. I don't really trust it. I wonder how many vaccinated children will develop shingles as adults? I guess we'll find out.

Anyway. The result is that L didn't get the shot and spent several hours breathing pox air yesterday. There's a varicella zoster immune globulin shot that L can get within 96 hours of exposure. I'd like him to get it. He wants no part of that. I'm going to try again when he's more awake. If he's caught it, he'll be contagious or itchy right when he's supposed to be in summer school. All incoming students are required to take a "care and feeding of your laptop" class.
To make things even more interesting; I haven't had chicken pox, either. My sister never had it. My mom never had it. Not even when she was taking care of her 7 siblings when they caught chicken pox.
It's likely that my mom caught a very mild case as a child, but my sister spent years doing pediatric check ups. The odds of her avoiding exposure are slim. Yet when the shot became available, she had to get it. Because her blood test showed that she had never had chicken pox. I'm pretty certain I've been exposed before, and I know L was exposed several times in daycare. Our doctor isn't willing to do blood tests just to satisfy my curiosity.

So... We have 96 hours to get a shot, or we can wait and see if we get bumpy. If we do, there's a pill that might help ease the itching.

Yep. Life is always interesting! :)