DD was exposed to chicken pox!!!

[D L and K's Mom]

DD was exposed to chicken pox. She has been vaccinated but so were the 3 children who came down with the chicken pox. I looked up the incubation period on web MD and it is 14-16 days. She was exposed on the 2nd we leave for WDW on the 22. I am hoping she is Ok , there is nothing we can do now...just wait. I will call the Dr in the morning but my question for him will be should I be worried for all the children in her pre-school etc??? Since she was exposed can she expose them or is it only the day or two before the blisters and when the blisters are open? I know she was exposed to someone who came down with them a day later?
Older DD and DS had them years and years ago...they both came down with them on Christmas Eve....I am hoping we do not have a repeat of the red dotted Christmas. If she gets them I think she and I will be staying home and DH, older DD and DS will be traveling to WDW without us...so sad. My calculations are.....if she was exposed on the 2 and it takes about 16 days them she will get them on the 16-18 and we leave the 22 ...she will still be contagious. Oh well, I can't do anything about it. I will call DR in the morning since someone told me they can give her something if she does come down with them to lessen the virus. I will ask about that and if I need to notify other people. DS is a special needs child and since he already had them (really bad he was in the hospital because he could not eat) I don't think he is in any danger or can danger anyone in his class by coming into contact with his sister but I want to make sure I have all my facts straight just in case. I would hate to pass this on because I was naive about the facts.

 

[disneyfanforever]

We had the same thing happen last year right before our Disney trip. My DS 5 was exposed at preschool. Four kids in his class had come down with the chicken pox and all had been vaccinated. Luckily, none of them had severe cases (probably due to the vaccine). I calculated incubation periods and worried myself sick that he would get them on vacation. He ended up not getting them. He was perfectly fine and I worried for nothing. We had a wonderful vacation. His best friend, however, came down with them while we were on vacation and they were always together so I think it is totally a hit and miss type thing. Good luck!

 

[Karel]

I thought the whole point of getting the vaccine is that even if you got the CP, the illness would not be severe.


If she gets them like the 16th, I don't think she will be contagious on the 22nd. I always thought you were the most contagious before the spots appear.


As for preschool, you can't keep her out the entire month until she may or may not break out with them. She should be ok until the 15th.

 

[dmslush]

Boy, it seems like Chicken Pox is raging right now! There have been several people on the board with it or with the kids with it. My own dd15 had it a couple of weeks ago, and it is running rampant in her high school right now.

 

[minkydog]

'Tis the season. I came home in first grade with Chicken Pox right after Thanksgiving. Yup, all my 4 younger siblings had chicken pox for Christmas. My poor mother! You should see the pictures, though. They're a hoot

Let's hope it bypasses you this time. Only about 25% of the kids who get immunized will actually come down with it and usually it's just a mild case. My oldest had a bad case of chicken pox, long before there was a shot for it. THe other two were immunized and each developed chicken pox--DS 1yr later, DD 5yrs later. Neither one had a bad time of it. DS has special needs, too, and he breezed right through, no fever, not cranky It was well worth having the shot just to have a milder case.

In the meantime, your DD is not contagious until about 24hrs before she breaks out, which could be between from Dec 11-18(10-17 days from exposure). If you make it to 21 days, you dodged the bullet.

 

[Sparx]

There is a chicken pox epidemic at my HIGHSCHOOL.

I've had them, and like 10 of my friends in the past few weeks.
to your dd.

 

[miss missy]

I know people who expose their kids on purpose to "get it over with" and I worry about that. My DSis had them when she was 7, she was in childrens hosp for 2 weeks and almost died. She got them inside so they were touching her brain!! I forget the name of what she had but she couldn't walk straight and she couldn't touch her nose or anything, her hand would go way to the right or left. It was scary! So I do not take the pox lightly.

Here is what I mean...

http://www.webmd.com/content/article/44/1739_50887.htm

Oh and check this part out

"And if your children are exposed to chicken pox in the meantime, call your pediatrician promptly. Given within three days of exposure, the vaccine can help limit the infection. If more than three days have passed, doctors sometimes prescribe acyclovir, a medication that fights the chicken pox virus, among others. It may shorten the infection and decrease the extent of the rash."

 

[Barb D]

DS15 had a mild case when he was 11, after having been vaccinated at 5ish. He had all of 10 pox, but they wouldn't scab over so he still couldn't go anywhere. ETA: Neither of his sisters ever got them, even though they were around him 24/7.

Here's hoping they bypass you!

 

[Pooh Crew]

All five of my children were vaccinated and two of the five came down with the pox anyway. Both cases were very mild though and only lasted about three days from beginning to end. One son had about 15 spots and the other had about 40, but only a few of them actually turned into the blisters. Honestly, it was not the chicken pox that we had as children. I don't even think my boys felt bad!

 

[D L and K's Mom]

I fell much better. It was one of those things...I heard it and my heart dropped to my stomach. If she gets them DD and I will have to stay home if we stay home how will DH handle the other kids in the parks we (DD and I ) will never be able to get a flight Christmas time to connect with them and even if we are lucky enough to find a flight we won't be able to afford it and if we can afford it how will we get to the airport and then what the rental car will be with Dh and the kids in WDW.....Ahhh take a breath I seemed to have forgotten that she doesnt HAVE the Chicken pox but that she was just EXPOSED to them...
I had them when I was a Junior in High School. My siblings all had them when they were much younger and I never got them. I babysat for other kids who had them and I never got them so we figured I was immune.....NOPE!!! I got them in HS. I thought they were pimples at first and tried to Clearasil them away....nope. I had a few and my boyfriend at the time gave me 17 roses..one for every chicken pox I had......ummm then I had a huge outbreak and I was covered. I had them in my throat, on my eye lids etc...It was horrible. I didnt get any more roses ..the poor kid would have gone broke!!!
I am going to tell DD preschool teacher ( I teach at the same school) just so she can tell one set of parents in particular. I know that they have another child at home who is getting chemo treatments. I think they should know that their little boy has sort of been exposed (He plays with DD at school quite a bit). I know that he really hasnt been exposed and the threat of him getting them is slim but I want them to know.
Ok we are on day 1...no spots........21 more to go.....hee hee.

 

[poohandwendy]

Seriously, even if she had never been vaccinated, the chicken pox are only serious in rare cases. Especially in someone so young, the serious cases usually happen to older teens and adults.

The fact that she had the vaccination greatly reduces the odds that she will contract the virus and/or that she will have a case that is more than mild. Relax mom, not a big deal. She will be fine.

 

[miss missy]

Seriously, even if she had never been vaccinated, the chicken pox are only serious in rare cases. Especially in someone so young, the serious cases usually happen to older teens and adults.

The fact that she had the vaccination greatly reduces the odds that she will contract the virus and/or that she will have a case that is more than mild. Relax mom, not a big deal. She will be fine.

I posted about my sis, she was 6 or 7 then... so it can be scary. But yes, it is rare.

 

[JVL1018]

Ugh, I feel for you!
I got a letter home last week that there was a child in 1st or 2nd grade in DD's school who had the chicken pox--and we're leaving for WDW this Friday. Great.

I am not really stressed about it, the child isn't in her class, and DD was vaccinated.
DS was vaccinated as well, and about a week before our WDW trip that year(2002), 2 weeks after his shot, I noticed some scabs on his scalp-brought him in to the ped and they said it probably was chicken pox-from the vaccine-but it was like 4 or 5 of them and since they were already scabbed over he was good to go by the time we left--and DD didn't get them then, so HOPEFULLY all will be fine now.
I am SO glad she had the vax, or else I would be flipping right now!

 

[poohandwendy]

I posted about my sis, she was 6 or 7 then... so it can be scary. But yes, it is rare.

Oh, I did not mean to suggest it is impossible for serious complications when they are young...only that her being vaccinated makes her in the least likely group of having serious complications, and that is IF she does end up contracting the virus.

 

[miss missy]

Oh, I did not mean to suggest it is impossible for serious complications when they are young...only that her being vaccinated makes her in the least likely group of having serious complications, and that is IF she does end up contracting the virus.

I know hun , I just am glad they have a vaccine that helps now too.

 

[D L and K's Mom]

I just want to be able to fly there pox-free!!. We have spent many a day in the hotels and the Celebration Hospital while in WDW. DS was in the Celebration Hospital for his seizures and another time he was confined to he our room for 5 days with the flu...the real knock down I can't move because I feel like a truck hit me flu. I have to say both the hospital and the Dr who came to the room were so nice and I was so impressed with them. I just want to get to WDW without a pox. I teach first grade so I know that this is the time of year for the flu, chicken pox and strep. We have a nasty headache fever thing going around now. I had quite afew missed conferences this year becasue the parents got sick from the kids...... YUCK. I think the mild weather we are having here is not helping at all.