When I was little my Mum said to me,
“Mrs So andSo’s little girl has chicken pox so I’m taking you to play with her.”
I was bemused, did my mum want to cheer up Little Miss SoandSo?
“But Mum,” I groaned, “I don’t like Little Miss SoandSo, she picks on me at school.”
Mum wasn’t having any of it though, and I was dragged down the street despite my protests.
Little Miss SoandSo didn’t look poorly but she was covered from head to toe in horrible red spots. She didn’t want me to see her like that and immediately started being mean by not letting me touch any of her toys.
Mum and Mrs SoandSo had a cup of tea in the kitchen while I sat watching Little Miss SoandSo play with her toys. Then she went and sneezed on me!!
Mum was overjoyed, “oh, she’ll catch them for sure now” she beamed.
So, there I was, a young child forced to go and visit a sick child that I didn’t even like and it wasn’t even to cheer her up, it was to catch her horrible spots. I can still see her sitting there scratching herself while playing alone.
Mum was not so happy when I didn’t catch Chicken Pox.
Quite a few years later, when I was eighteen, I was at work when a customer bought her children in on a school day. I asked her why they were not at school and she said they had Chicken Pox, but it was ok because the spots were out and they were no longer contagious.
She was wrong.
A couple of days later on a Saturday morning, I was enjoying a lie in when my cousin came to wake me. She gave me a shake and as I popped out from under the blankets she squirmed….
‘Eugh! you are covered in zits”
WHAT! I hadn’t got a single spot when I went to bed. In fact I had really good skin and had avoided teenage acne completely (well, apart from the odd spot on the tip of my nose!)
I crawled out of bed and looked in the mirror. She was right, but to be honest, I felt so sick it just didn’t bother me. I looked over my body as I struggled to get dressed and found it was not just my face, I was covered in spots. I was covered in Chicken Pox!
For an entire week I barely moved, or ate, or even spoke. I had pox in my mouth, my eyes and my ears as well as everywhere else. I was so ill. I am living proof that it’s better to get Chicken Pox as a child. Mean Little MissSoandSo wouldn’t even share her pox with me.
Mum got my little brother, aged 10, to bring me drinks and keep me company and sure enough he caught them too, but nowhere near as bad as me.
A couple of weeks ago we had a letter from the school saying that there was a Chicken Pox epidemic. It was Boo who caught it first, she was feeling unwell for a couple of days but soon felt better. Her spots where everywhere imaginable but they didn’t seem to bother her too much. I smothered her with calamine lotion and she didn’t scratch. They have scabbed over and started to disappear now and she is back at school.
Then yesterday the Little Man was feeling unwell. He cuddled up to me on the settee and soon fell asleep, very unlike him to sleep in the afternoon. Then I noticed he had a couple of spots on his neck. This morning he was covered from head to toe in spots, he even had one on his eyeball. I was really worried about this but it soon healed up and now he has nothing but a little bloodshot in his eye.
This morning Star woke up with a headache and sore throat. We thought she was trying to wing a day off school, but she did have a high temperature. So, we let her stay home and sure enough the spots are starting to appear now.
Well, that’s all three of them!
Oh my goodness, my mum used to do this too and I never caught a thing. I did eventually get chicken pox when I was around 7 or 8 and kindly passed it on to my cousin, who passed it on to his brother. Pleased to hear your household has got it out of the way now and that you can't get shingles, that's the last thing you need #MMBC xx
PS for some reason I couldn't get to your blog via the linky, so got to you via google xx
Great post! Our friends group have one little guy with it, but where we are the kids do get vaccinated which means it's just not so bad when they do get it but they still get it! Which has actually proved worse because it's more difficult to diagnose and to spot early on. So we are all in the dark! I would much rather my son just gets it and and it's done! The joys 🙂 #postsfromtheheart
Ahh! I remember being took to play with people with chicken pox….lol
I hope they are not too poorly with the chicken pox. x
Thank you for letting me know about the link, I've fixed it now x
Yes, I've heard that the vaccination makes things more difficult. I know there can be complications with Chicken Pox, but it's very rare, You just need to keep your children away from pregnant women and all should be well.
They've all had one or two days feeling rough but soon bounce back…..so many spots though, and EVERYWHERE!!
I hope everybody feels better soon!
I have shingles at the moment and my doctor says that once you have the chicken pox virus in your body it can reactivate itself later in life and return as shingles. Take good care of yourself too and if you have any symptoms get to your doctor quickly!
#MMBC
Sorry to hear that Catherine, I hope you feel better soon. My immune system is very bad but I think it's on a boost at the moment after the immuniglobulin I received. x
what interesting chicken pox stories you have to tell! one of my friend's always tells me of how her husband had chicken pox on their wedding day. Hope that star and little man are soon feeling better. It always amazes me how differently it can affect different children – J had it really well with one spot on his face and only a few on his body and felt fine throughout. D had it badly feeling very unwell. And miss T, well you know about her situation! We had her immunity checked with her last blood test and thankfully she does have immunity at the moment – because of the treatment they gave her there was no guarantee that her body would have built up it's own immunity. Wishing you all good wishes and get well soon wishes. xxx
I'd forgotten that that used to be the done thing. We had a chicken pox party at a friend's house once! I hope your three all get over them quickly and that you manage to get some rest with all of them poorly. Sending much love! #PostsFromTheHeart