One afternoon Sophie came to me complaining about these weird rash on her stomach. She showed it to me,and I asked her if it itched. No, just felt weird, she said. I told her to show me in the morning, and if it was worse, I would call the doctor. Well, it was worse, but it still didn’t itch, so I sent her off to school thinking it was just was some weird reaction to soap or something. She does have very sensitive skin.
I couldn’t even finish the sentence, “She has these spots on her stomach” before the nurse told me to bring her in that afternoon. Turns out that lucky Sophie had the chicken pox for a second time! 
Even though the case she had when she was younger was quite severe, she is part of the approximately 2% of the population (according to our pediatrician) who don’t get immunity from the disease. It’s kind of funny now, but when she is older it could be quite serious. Adult chicken pox is no laughing matter, and usually requires a hospital stay, so I may look into getting her a shot to see if that bumps up her immunity any.
She got to stay home from school for the rest of the week, which gave her the opportunity to start on her Christmas presents for Alexandra. She wasn’t super sick, but she did get tired easily, and had a bit of a headache, so we made sure she got lots of fluids and rest.
I called her teacher and apologized for sending her to school at the height of her ability to infect the rest of the class. If I had even the slightest thought that it could be chicken pox, I would never have sent her. But she and the principal decided it wasn’t necessary to warn the other kids, and make it seem like Sophie was the culprit if the whole class came down with it. Who knows where she picked it up, it could have been from someone else in the class, and there was no point in making a big deal about it. I appreciated that.
She also got some cool spray on foam from the doctor that is especially for chicken pox, but didn’t exist when the kids had it before. It cooled the skin, took away the itch, and helped the dots scab over quicker. We have some left over if anyone else needs it. 🙂
Elle has bunch of red bumps on her back so I guess I’m taking her in to the doctor instead of school this morning. I wouldn’t really worry about it, because she doesn’t seem at all sick otherwise and she’s not even complaining about the bumps itchingo r anything, I just noticed them. But, her story sounds a lot like Sophie’s so I better be careful. I’m glad you shared this. 🙂