My Melissa has......

[catnapper]

Poor Melissa! I hear its a terrible illness for teens and adults. Good luck and I hope for as little itchiness as possible.

[carole]

Yes well i can report Melissa is doing very well , she has resisted scratching and i really believe the antihistimane pill has worked wonders, some are nastier than others, the ones behind her ears especially, so far she has been lucky and has not been too miserable at all, i hope the worst is over and she does not get any worse, so far she has been lucky i think.

The vaccine was never offered here in schools or like the other vaccines like MMR which of course she has had as a toddler, so it was never really promoted much, i doubt that many people knew about it, oh well too late now, i think there may be a few more teenagers going down with it in her class, as some have not had it either, but it won't be too many , as most have, we traced where she picked it up, went to a friends birthday party two weeks ago who had a four yr old sister, who you guessed it had chickenpox, said she was no longer contagious, i guess they got it wrong.

Now i wish to ask a question , my son has of course had chickenpox, but he also had shingles a few years ago, i heard it is the same virus or the chickenpox virus that lies dormant, we are keeping him away from her, as i thought i heard once that contact could flare up an attack of shingles, does anyone know if that is a fact or not, of course he did have contact when she was contagious previous when we did not know, but we just have to hope that it won't affect him.

Thanks from Melissa and myself for your get well wishes and kind thoughts..always appreciated.

[MariaM]

Ah, I got them in grade 5. It was horrible..I remember coming to school with a great big scab on my forehead, and I picked it off. Well, the scar is still there. I have so many scars, I hate them.

[carole]

Yes i am concerned about scarring especially on the face area, as Melissa is rather pale skinned, but hopefully if she does not scratch too much, she will be lucky enough not to scarr too badly, she does not have heaps on her face, but enough i guess.

[caseysmom]

Carol, I am not sure about the shingles, I will look it up in my medical book.

Okay I looked it up in my Kaiser book, this is what they have to say:

"shingles is caused by the reactivation of the checkenpox virus in the body years after the initial illness.

No one knows what makes the virus active again. Shinges is more common in older adults and people who have weakened immune systems, but can affect snyone who has had chickenpox"

[Logan]

I'm so glad she is better, Carole. That is no fun, for sure!!!!

[carole]

Poor Melissa looks a right mess today, all the spots are scabbing over now, which is a good sign, but they look rather unsightly, still she is doing well,not really very sick at all, and not scratching, good girl, so it is just a matter of time now.

Nana popped around with a bag of crunchie bars, these are hokey pokey bars covered in cadbury chocolate for those who do not know, a favourite of all the chocoholics in my household.

Thanks Caseymom i knew that anyone can get shingles if they have had chickenpox, my son was around 22 when he got shingles, but what i am not so certain about it whether him being in contact can flare up an attack of them again for him, have kept him away to be on the safe side anyhow.

[ChrisH]

Aww, poor Melissa. Hope she is feeling better very soon. My youngest grandaughter (10) had chickenpox last year and she came through quite well but her mum caught it and was pretty ill.

[joanofark]

I feel sorry for her!!!

My grade school had a total of 150 kids and HALF of us got the the chicken pox at the same time. I was in 2nd grade. I hope he doesn't scar badly, I got two on my face.