Good Timing

Over the past two weeks, I've heard many horror stories of people suffering from chicken pox as an adult. So many that it got me into a spiral of wild imaginations. 

One of them was Alva getting the pox at age 26, a week before her wedding day. Everything's set. The gorgeous wedding dress, the church, the 3-D cake, the catering, the photographer, the invitations and then BAM! CHICKEN POX! Wouldn't that be catasthropic? We'd probably call off the wedding cos she can't possibly get married while having the pox! And the scars. Oh my! At 26, she'll have a hard time getting rid of them and surely no amount of Vitamin E cream in  the world could get rid of her scars in time before the wedding.  We're doomed! DOOMED I tell you! She'll be crying her eyes out all week, looking at the blisters on her face. Then one day, when she's done crying she'll turn to me and say "Mom, it's all your fault!! You should've let me have the pox when I was a baby!!"

Pretty wild huh? Well, most of the imaginations I had were along those lines and they all spell Worst-Case-Scenarios. Because of this, I've come to embrace the thought of Alva having the pox as a baby. I know I was panicky when I found out about Alden's chicken pox but that was two weeks and hundreds of scabs ago. 

All this beating around the bush is my way of telling you that Alva has got the pox. Yep. She's got it! I discovered four cute, little blisters on her back last night and I was thrilled! I shouted  with glee and told hubby the good news. "Dear! Alva dapat chicken pox suda!!!!Yeh yeh! Hubby was perplexed of course. His eyes dilated in surprise and he said "Suka pula..." Never mind him.

So as I was saying, my wish is granted. It's going to be another week of chicken pox-baby-sitting but it's totally okay with me. At least I can rest assured knowing that it's not going to happen a week before her wedding day, 25 years from now. Hehe. 

Chicken Pox Story

We've survived the worst of Alden's chicken pox and at the moment he's doing just fine. The blisters are drying up and in a couple of days they should turn into scabs. It's probably not as itchy as it was a few days ago cos he's back to his old self again - being mischievous and cheeky.

Last Saturday was a total  nightmare cos he was down with fever and the blisters were popping out like hot lava on his body. He was whining and crying and throwing all sorts of tantrums. I felt quite hopeless cos all I could do was give him cuddles and tell him not to scratch. I think he really suffered that night cos the blisters itched  really bad and he could not sleep well. That was a total agony for all of us. His temperature kept fluctuating a lot, going up and down every hour and this got me really worried cos he has had two febrile convulsions in the past. To bring the fever down, we gave  him Pamol every 4 hours and kept an eye on him the whole night.

The next day, I went to the pharmacy and bought him some ZYRTEC, a fast acting allergy and hayfever treatment. This really helped relieve the itchiness and swelling on his face. The effects were quite instaneous and after just an hour of taking ZYRTEC, his mood improved tremendously. It was such a relief cos I didn't have to shout "Don't scratch!" like every 5 seconds.

Yesterday, Day 3, we brought him to the clinic and got him checked. Doctor said he was at his worst at that time and assured us that he'd be better in a couple of days. He still had the fever but it wasn't as bad as the first day.

Today, he's totally recovered from fever and I think the chicken pox is now at stage 3 - drying and forming yellow crusts. I am waiting impatiently for the time when all the spots ultimately scab over so I can see the dead cells fall off from his body. This might sound utterly disgusting but I still remember how much my sister and I enjoyed peeling off the scabs (which were almost falling off anyway) and looked at them in awe. I was 11 and sis was 15 and we were under 'house arrest' for many many days. The drying of the scabs was the climax of our miserable chicken pox ordeal and we had a lot of fun picking off scabs from our head. I was going like "Nah, sia dapat yang basar!!"  and sis was all "Syok oh kan?". There wasn't a lot of entertainment like Facebook or PS2 in those days so you can understand our fascination for dead skin. Right. I think I've totally grossed you out there.

Anyway, I'm just saying everything's okay now. The Doctor says that Alva's probably going to develop her first spot in 10 days' time but at least now I'm prepared. So chicken pox, just pop up whenever you're ready.

Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!

Alden just got the chicken pox yesterday.

C-H-I-C-K-E-N  P-O-X!!!!!!

The most dreaded childhood disease in the history of mankind. Why oh why does it have to happen now? When I'm on my own? If I were home, mom would know what to do. Me? I'm clueless.

Well, despite being clueless, it was me who discovered the first few spots on Alden's back last night. When I told hubby about it, he was like "Oooh, sia nampak ba tu tadi masa kasi mandi tapi sia ingat kana gigit nyamuk". (eye roll) There's never been any nyamuk where we live right now so his excuse for not recognizing the pox is quite disappointing.

I called mom this morning to tell her the news and she gave me some useful advice: drink lots of water, remain indoors and steer clear of peanuts, eggs and soy sauce.

So for the next 10 to 14 days, I will be at home babysitting poxed Alden. He's super cranky right now and I have no choice but to say YES to his every need. His wish is my command! I'm hoping lilttle Vava doesn't get it too cos if she does, I think I'll go mental.  A chicken pox party is the last thing I want right now.