Friday, June 6, 2008

The Chicken Pox? But We had the Shot!


These were the words, I was telling my doctor on Tuesday afternoon.

Yes, my Bookworm has the chicken pox and yes she was vaccinated.

I hadn't even considered this when she had a fever Monday and woke up with many bug bites spots in the night.

I became convinced we had a flea infestation from our cats and dog. I proceeded to evacuate the house and set off flea bombs in our living space. My behavior was a little nuts, because our pets are not indoor pets.

My doctor explained that she is not giving the booster shot as much any more because she is questioning the outcome of this vaccination series. I love my pediatrician and totally respect her judgement. I found research regarding breakthrough cases, outbreaks in highly immunized school children between the ages of nine and eleven, and questions about long term effectiveness. While my brain fully appreciated her reasoning, my heart was so mad at her, as I watched my child writhe in pain and cry all night long.

Now, she is much better and she slept though the night. She is still sleeping and we weathered the storm. My son the artist was immunized twice, so hopefully he will not fall prey to the pox at this point. Oh, and as an added bonus we are protected from fleas, that we didn't have.

I will end this post with a quote from my bookworm, " Well one thing mom, having the chicken pox and going through something like that makes you feel like being comfortable is a privilege. It makes you more thankful."

From the mouth of babes. It is so true, I always have a skip in my step the few days following an illness, a temporary appreciation for the feeling of well being.

5 comments:

Storytellin' Mama said...

I'm glad bookworm is on the mend.

What a crazy experience from flea bites to chickenpox... it was very educational to learn about the vaccine. I thought chickenpox was one of those things of the past.

Not so sure, I like the idea of kids getting it at an older age.

Great post!

Genny said...

How ironic to read your post. I was just debating whether or not to do the second vaccination for my kids. I'm always hesitant with any kind of shot. Good post.

Anonymous said...

As a chicken pox survivor, The Bookworm has my sympathies. CP is a miserable, nasty piece of work. I can reach up (just did) and feel the bb size hole in my forehead that I was graced with by CP.

Kristen said...

My toddler is almost 18 months old and we skipped this shot. She's had several bad reactions to other vaccinations, so I got scared.

Do you know if just dawned on me that she might and probably will get the chickenpox?

I'm so glad your baby is getting better!

followthatdog said...

We just lived this experience. Luckily we had mild cases but both of my immunized children have now had "wild" chicken pox. Pediatrician told me about 15% of kids will still get them. When a co-worker said we were "lucky they were mild cases" I snapped back a bit saying "Yeah, really lucky, I hit the 15% lottery"
Hope they feel better soon.