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22 July 2008

Chicken Pox

2 years & 2 months old.....

Today, Ethan is 26 months old. Instead of doing an update on his development, I'm writing a sick post, yet again. Sigh....

It was on a Thursday (17 July 2008) evening at around 5.30 p.m. when I received a call from Hubby. I was at a hotel in KL getting ready for my company's annual dinner, when hubby told me that Ethan might have chicken pox. He had red spots all around his body and they itched. He has no fever though at that time. Hubby was told that a girl at the nursery got chicken pox the day before. After some discussions on the phone, I told hubby that it's better to send him to the paed. for a check. Thank goodness he did. Ethan was running a high fever at the clinic. The paed. could not confirm what it was because:
  1. If it's chicken pox, Ethan should have infected from someone at the daycare two weeks earlier. It couldn't be the girl who got it the day before.
  2. The red spots are scarce and not watery.

The paed. prescribed fever medicine and calamine lotion for Ethan and advised us to monitor his condition first. If more spots come out the day after, it should be chicken pox. The fever subsided after the medication until the next morning and it was a mild one. I also noticed more red spots on his body the day after, especially four blisters on Ethan's tongue. That got me worried........reeaaaalllly worried. What if it's not chicken pox but HFMD!! Both cause red watery spots on the body, although the spots of HFMD are more concentrated on the mouth, hands and legs, they do spread to other body parts. Ethan already got it twice, I dread to think on the 3rd time.

I spoke to the daycare again and they told me a boy got it two weeks earlier. Yaikkk!!.....how could they missed this piece of important info the day before. We went back to the clinic and told the paed. what we knew. After checking on Ethan again, he confirmed it's chicken pox! I'm kind of relieved, that it's not HFMD. The paed. said chicken pox will also cause blisters on the tongue. We got another set of medication: some pills for chicken pox (to let it heal faster) and a cream for the blisters on his tongue.

Overall, Ethan was active as usual even though his appetite was not very good. As predicted by the paed., the blisters dried up on the fourth day (Monday) and it's not contagious anymore at that time. Some information I gathered on chicken pox and HFMD:
  1. For chicken pox, it's contagious at the beginning when the symptoms started until the blisters dry up. When I told this to one of the carer at the daycare, she said 'The doctors don't know anything' cause she believed what I used to believe (that it's contagious when the blisters dried up). I was speechless after hearing what she said.
  2. The blisters can spread to tongue. In the case of HFMD, blisters can also spread to tongue and throat area. The only difference I noticed is the blisters for HFMD are more concentrated on mouth, hands and legs.
  3. They are active as usual unlike HFMD, in which case they are more lethargic.
  4. Fever subsided fairly quickly compared to HFMD.
  5. Itchy rashes/blisters in the case of chicken pox.
  6. Food wise, I avoided seafood (I fed him grouper though), chicken and egg on those few days until the blisters dried up. No scientific proof on this but no harm doing it, at least for the first few days. According to Chinese, more food to be avoided but I could not remember what else and for how long also.

15 comments:

Nina @ BabyBoon said...

ohmigosh! poor ethan! get well soon, little fella! so kesian.. bet it was itchy too..? u know what old ppl say.. better for them to get it while they're small, rather than when they're big. maybe thats true to a certain extend because i got mine at age 12, and it was super-awful. malays usually avoid those food too (they call it "itchy food"!), and always advice us to take coconut juice / air kelapa to help the spots come out faster and heal faster. dunno la how true this is! but i'm really glad that ethan's pox are drying up already. take care ethan *hugs*

Baby Darren said...

Hope he is feeling better now...Some said it is better to have it earlier, less suffering...

My hubby's grandmother also got chicken pox last week..and she is 89 years old....poor her..

jazzmint said...

oh dear...hope he gets well soon. give him plenty of leung shui

CL said...

eh... I tot Ethan should be vaccinated against chicken pox??

Hope Ethan has a speedy recovery.

Sasha Tan said...

Adoi.. kesian ethan. Get well soon...

Blessed mum said...

oh dear! Poor Ethan..hope he get well soon.

Anonymous said...

good to hear he didn't catch the hfmd. if the doctors don't know anything.. her motherf***er know what?!! stupid people!

esther

slavemom said...

I presume he's had his chicken pox jab? If yes, then hopefully it's a vy mild one. How's he now? The pox dried up edi? Hope he's eating well too, despite the blisters in his mouth.

Leona said...

I am sure with all the care and love u showered Ethan during this sick time, he will be well and kicking in no time at all.

U must be exhausted yourself.

I-Li said...

If I'm not mistaken, Ethan has to "kai hao" for 100 days from the day he 1st got his chicken pox. He can't take "poisonous" food like seafood (ya some fishes are ok but I'm not sure which type), rooster (hen is ok), duck, egg, cucumber, beans and nuts, soya & dark sauce. Preferably don't expose to wind.

Par said...

I still remember the time I had chicken pox. I wish the girl who came to school when she didn't fully recover should have stay home. I hope he gets better soon!

Nadia said...

I had chicken pox last year and it was terrible! Thank god it didn't itch so much and there weren't too many of them! I got Irfan the chicken pox jab. Anyway, I hope Ethan recovers soon. Let him drink lots of air kelapa if he likes the taste. Helps with the itch. Take care!

Btw, the blisters in the mouth - shouldn't that be HFMD? Irfan had HFMD and he has some blisters in the mouth. I didn't have any when I had the chicken pox though.

TheBlueRanger said...

babybooned,
the paed prescribed a medication for chicken pox to let it heal faster. guess it helps coz it took only about 4 days for the blisters to dry up.

baby darren,
yes, i agree. i got mine at the age of 14. i can still see some of the scars until now. actually i prefer him to have it young.

jazzmint,
didn't give leong shui, just plenty of water.

malaika's mummy,
yes, he was vaccinated.

sasha,
thanks. he's ok already

blessed mum,
thanks.

esther,
that was not the first time she challenged doctors' advice

slavemom,
yes, he did and it was indeed a very mild one. his appetite was not that good but still ok.

leona,
yes, mummy was exhausted attending to his demands and he was active as usual.

i-li,
by the time i read this, he already did almost everything that you said 'cannot' do, except for eating seafood.

ms. 2 be,
thanks..

nadia,
ethan was vaccinated too. the paed. told us that blisters can also spread to the mouth in the case of chicken pox. i also read it in some of the articles.

Anonymous said...

Was the chicken pox serious? I heard eventho cant get 100% prevention against CP, it could at least make it the whole episode more bearable - milder.

TheBlueRanger said...

It was very mild. Thank goodness