Coughs, Colds, and Chicken Pox

Boy do I have a story to tell...

Eddie came down with a cold Sun/Mon. and by Monday night he had a pretty good cough (this was his first cold--sorry Uncle Kev but the sniffles when he was 3 weeks old that you thought you gave him don't count here). So after being up over an hour in the middle of the night coughing, I called the peds office to find out how we could make him more comfortable.

Was told that if he woke himself from coughing, to bring him in. So I made an appointment. I had been feeling really drained the last couple days, I thought from a single night of bad sleep, and then the hyperchondriac that I am, I noticed two clear pimples--one on my arm and the other on my abdomen on Tue. Well, Wed. morning, as I got ready to take Eddie to the Doctor, my chest was covered in what I thought was a rash.

Long story short, Eddie had an 11:30 apt and I had a noon apt. We waited for Eddie's apt and I eventually had to go to mine while Den handled Eddie's. The nurse practioner took one look and thought Chickenpox. She went to get a doctor to confirm. I called Den's cell, but got no answer. Then I called the peds office and told them to tell the doctor he was with. Den then cheerfully calls me back to tell me Eddie was just fine and they were coming up. I then gave him my potential diagnosis, telling him to go back to the office.

Den said he created quite a stir when he told them at the front desk that I was upstairs getting this diagnosis, and should he talk with the Doctor about it. Said he got whisked back to the exam room pretty quickly and was told to make sure I stayed away. Doctor pops in and says, 'mom's got chickenpox, huh?'.

Basically Peds office is sure Eddie is going to get it--imagine my guilt, esp. given there is a vacine I could have gotten (altho' it is only 70-90% effective), but still. UGH.

It gets even better, I call a friend of mine who stops over fairly regularly to say hi. Thinking her 14 month old has been vaccinated, I presume she's fine. Turns out she hasn't been. So neighbor calls the same peds office and speaks to the same nurse I spoke with last week when Eddie fell off the hotel bed, the same nurse I spoke with that morning about Eddie's cough, and the same nurse I spoke with regarding breast-feeding Eddie while I have the pox. This woman knew exactly who I was when my neighbor called. They wanted her daughter there in 20 min. to get the vacine. Neighbor said I had caused quite a stir.

So here I sit, red marks all over my upper body, working their way out my limbs, praying that Eddie is part of that 10% who doesn't get this--at least not at his age. Afterall, I was exposed multiple times and never got it.

Been slowly trying to get the word out to people, hopefully no one gets this from us. Basically our entire October is shot, from a social perspective. Peds office predicts Eddie will break out around the 11th of October and basically could take as long as the end of the month before he could break out. I keep telling myself that by Halloween, we'll know if he's going to get it, and by shortly after that, he'll be over it.

So needless to say, FLA pictures/posts will have to wait, wish us luck--more for Eddie than me, I'm enuf of a hyperchondraic that I'll worry about each symptom...poor Eddie...and anyone we've/I've infected.