Chicken Pox?

This morning was probably the first test for us as parents! Woke up as usual wishing Tara a bright morning and a great day, and while doing so caressing her and looking at her limbs, her hair, her eyes, her skin and all, with endearment as we watch her grow every day. Suddenly I saw this little bubble like blister on her arm and my head spun. This little blister looked so much like what occurs with chicken pox that I screamed out to an unsuspecting Pravir who retorted with an, “I am getting late to work Lavi, what’s the matter!”.

But my blood curdling double scream managed to get him out of the bath to take a look at what by then were three, not one blister. I broke into tears convinced that this is chicken pox, and immediately like connected parents these days are wont to do, had the laptop open in front of me to go on with my first level of diagnosis. All the whys, hows, what not to dos were in front of me. And here I was already planning on pinging Ma who was to come in the next day to cancel her trip, tell all the people whom we met yesterday to get checked for chicken pox and to take a vaccination immediately, planning my week ahead on how I am going to keep this little infant as comfortable as possible given the nuisance that this disease is going to cause her in the peak of summer. Flashes of my childhood (I was of course much older – 7 or 8 maybe!) came to mind, and how traumatic it was. And here was an infant who had to go through the same. I was shaken and thought up the most morbid things at that time, details of which I’d rather not go into, else this blog would turn out to be more like ‘the paranoia that plagues recent mothers’, rather than sweet little milestone updates of Tara.

Next thing we were packing to take Tara to her pediatrician, Dr Raj Ganacharya at Jehangir Hospital to get her diagnosed. The three had multiplied to eight blisters, and counting until we reached the hospital. Morbidity mounting – the doctor’s first question as soon as he inspected the blisters, was whether we had exposed her to any chicken pox patient recently, and my knees went weak! All my fears culminated on that bed with the little Tara laid out there still cooing with happiness – until a minute later Pravir wisely asked the doctor if taking her out in the garden last evening could have any connection with this. The doctor’s eyes were agleam suddenly saying “Ah that’s what it is!” Apparently mosquitoes tend to bite on exposed areas, but these were bites planted by some garden insect that has managed to get into the poor girls clothes. He was then convinced that it was not chicken pox, especially since none of the other symptoms were there either.

She has been prescribed an ointment and even before the first application of the ointment, the blisters started fading out, and she seems much better now with no proliferation of these nasty boils. We are anyway expected to watch her another day and if they persist in any form even with the ointment application, then we might have to go through another round of fear – but now a little more confident that chicken pox this will not be. Welcome to the paranoia of parenthood is all I could say to myself, and a silent prayer to keep my little chipmunk healthy!   - April 25, 2011

Well – morning has broken and the boils have vanished – not a trace! Yayy! – April 26, 2011

Ref:
http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_one-dose-of-chicken-pox-vaccine-may-be-enough-for-indian-kids_1492591