Chicken Pox

Lucas has chicken pox. He doesn’t seem to be bothered by it, except maybe for needing to sleep more than normal. He’s so young, though, that he’s unlikely to develop immunity from this infection and will probably need to get it again.

Unexpectedly, I also have chicken pox. Since you can theoretically only get it once, I must not have had it when I was a child. Without that knowledge, I’ve been bracing myself for the moment that my children contracted it to see if I would, too. Well, now I know.

Chicken pox is apparently more severe in adults than in children and that certainly concurs with my experience so far. In no particular order, the last few days have brought:

• the shits

• aching balls

• dehydration

• powerful headaches

• dizziness

• throbbing pain in my lower back

• welts all over my torso, upper legs, face and scalp

• itching

• sleeplessness

It comes in waves of one or more of the above symptoms. The dizziness, headaches and itchy welts are the most consistent.

Sometimes, it’s so debilitating, that I certainly wouldn’t be able to blog. I might be lying on my back again in an hour, so I should post this now.

I’m not sure whether I’ve had the worst of it yet. I do hope so, because this is certainly bad enough.