GUEST BLOG: Out Damn Spots ... Please!

Today's Guest Blog is from Maggie, who wrote earlier in the week about being her children's chauffeur. Today, unfortunately, she is taking on a new title: Nursemaid. Maggie, we all feel for you.

This is a tough time of year for all parents. Colds and other viruses abound, hand-washing and germex can’t keep up with all that a child picks up. Parents dread but expect their kids to get sick at some point in the winter, right?

Well, I got a new curveball thrown at me this week: CHICKEN POX.

Wait, don’t they get vaccinated for that? Yup. Therein lies the curveball aspect of the whole thing.

Two kids, 2 different schools, 2 grades, 2 vaccines in infancy .... and 2 cases of the chicken pox.

My daughter came into my classroom at the end of the day with this to say: "Mom, I have something to show you – I have itchy spots."

Spots? About 45 of them at last count an hour ago – no question at all, the chicken pox.

How does this happen? I am not an anti-vaccine mother – my kids even get the flu vaccine due to Joey’s asthma. They had the shots when they were supposed to. According to Google about 4% of kids who get the vaccination get what is called “Breakthrough Chicken Pox.” The good news is that it is mild, should clear up fairly quickly, and the spots and itching are really the only symptoms we will see. At least, I hope so.

Since she already has almost 50 spots, she has a moderate case. I am assured that this experience will be much easier than my own when I was in 6th grade.

I just returned from CVS (where they know me by name). I'm loaded up on Benadryl, oatmeal bath, itch cream, and Tylenol.

When my husband gets home I'll go out again to stock up on comfort food – both for her and for me. We will be spending a lot of quality time together over the next few days until her blisters scab over and she is readmitted to school.

This is an experience which I thought had gone by the wayside. So had my boss – she thought I was kidding when I went outside to find her at bus duty and told her I would be coming in on Saturday to write up my sub plans for Monday at the minimum. I will probably be out longer – it depends what my parents are doing.

The Department of Health can expect to hear about an outbreak occurring at Sacred Heart Elementary in Kingston. For that I am sorry. Sorry, parents of my daughter’s classmates! I swear, I thought the spot above her left eyebrow was a pimple…

I even gave her a lecture this morning about how she needed to do a better job washing her face on a regular basis. Yup – Mother of the Year, that’s me.

At least we get to spend some quality time together…I hope not too much!