Friday, April 19, 2013

Chicken Pox Day 6




And so we've reached day six now, with still no let up and very little crusting over :-( Amaia has definitely won second prize for pox-severity in this house, coming close behind Léon. What happened with Léon was that he caught chicken pox six months after starting nursery, and at the end of the winter. Amaia has followed exactly the same pattern. The difference, however, is that Léon started when he was one, spent six months ill, having caught every bug at nursery and got it when his immune system was least able to cope. Amaia didn't start nursery till her third birthday as I now work from home rather than an office, so was older and tougher when she started. That meant she didn't spend the first six months ill and seems to have come in to the battle fully equipped and still, look at the mess of her. She has swollen eyes with spots on her lids and all round the edge of eyes, spots in her ears, her fingers are covered. She even has them on the palms of her hands. She's so itchy, she can't sleep so Thomas and I are up all night comforting her which isn't great for our work output. I do still wish they offered the vaccine here, as they do in many other countries rather than leaving it in the private realm. Given how many other vaccines they get as babies, it seems a shame that she has to go through all of this just because I can't afford private health care.

I'm also not sure how it is meant to work in the modern work setting either. Had I still been working off-site I'd have needed to take off more than two weeks in the last four given I have no one who could care for a highly contagious child. That would have cost society much more than the vaccine... As it is, I just need to work when the sick kid is asleep which isn't great for my health but...


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