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Saturday, March 13, 2010

Diagnose this!


Fever, an eruption of pimply spots. It doesn’t take Dr. Gregory House to figure this one out. Yes, a case of chicken pox has visited our household. Last Saturday I felt some strange bumps in Juliette’s hair and Sunday my suspicions were confirmed as the spots started multiplying. And as our little one already has sensitive skin, she had a rather bad case. Her poor back and tummy were covered with the pustules.

So it made things all the more painful when it was time to spray her little body with the antiseptic solution. She wailed and gripped on to my arm. It was at moments like that I wanted to kick the French health authorities who thought the vaccine wasn’t necessary in France. At least my doctor several months ago never said it was available. And I read on a brochure from the pharmacy that they were concerned that by vaccinating all the little ones, the illness would shift to teens and adults, for whom it’s more serious. Well, maybe that’s the case, but I wish I could have spared my pimply princess that suffering.

It was strange handling her with all those sores. I felt like I was playing in poison ivy with impunity. Having already had the disease, Remi and I couldn’t get it again. Immunity is a beautiful thing.

She stayed out of day care a few days (two of which with Remi and his mom watching her), but luckily was able to go back for the Carnaval celebration. It’s part of the pre-Easter festivals, like Carnaval in Venice, and the children dress up for the occasion. This year’s theme was animals at the zoo. I joked that Juliette should have been an animal with spots, but her sitter dressed her as a zebra. Here you can see her parading around with the yellow solution we had to put on her spots.





As for myself, my “pleasant” head cold of last week became sinusitis. A round of antibiotics and cortisone and I’m doing better, though still feeling some sinus pressure. Each week seems to be a copy/paste of the last since winter started. Baby sick, or me sick. Let’s hope the cycle will soon be broken!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is the most adorable girl I've ever seen with chickenpox. Poor girl, hope she gets better soon!

Anonymous said...

How well I remember my chicken pox episode. I'm sooooo sorry she had to go through that and you too. I know it was hard not being able to explain to her what was going on. The good part is that she won't remember, that's a blessing. I was 6 and remember lying on the sofa, dabbing Calamine lotion all over myself.
She does look adorable though even with spots.

I love you,
Sunny

Lindle said...

Yes, she wears the spots well. You didn't tell me they were that bad, or that you were back on antibiotics again. You poor things have had it soooo rough this winter.
In my family, I brought the measles home for all my younger sisters to enjoy. Two weeks later, I brought home the chicken pox. I think my mom probably wanted to run away.
Get well, all of you! That's an order!
Mum

Jenenz said...

It's good that she's getting better. Looks adorable as a zebra!

I got chicken pox at age 14. Thankfully, it wasn't too bad of a case and I knew I had to have the will power to not scratch. I'm glad I got them before adulthood, because it can cause a lot of serious problems in adults.

Yay for immunity!