to take out my dc who has the pox?

[sleeplessinseatle]

Obviously not to playgroups etc, but I've got a baby at home and don't think I can cope otherwise. Is there anywhere we can safely go where there won't be lots of kids/pregnant women?

The day before DS came out in spots we bumped into a friend in Tesco whose little girl was being treated for leukhemia. DS and the little girl went to play in a helicopter ride.
Next day chicken pox. Poor child had to be rushed to GOSH to get the immuglobin shot. This was the 4th time for her.

When I took the dcs out while they had cp , they were kept in the pushchair with the rainhood down.
Our doctor always provides a special room for children with suspected CP etc

There is another little known side effect of CP. A 6 year old boy in DSs class had a stroke leaving him paralized all down one side, although he did eventually recover. This was within a few weeks of CP. 50% of all childhood strokes are caused by CP

YABVU. This angers me so much.
Loudlass I am so sorry for your loss.

do you have friends whose children have already had the pox? you could go to their house or invite them over to play?

Look, these serious complications are statistically rare, horrible though they are for those involved. For most people, it's a minor illness. If you are in an at-risk group, either get vaccinated or buy yourself a germ suit. It is not reasonable for the majority to be seriously inconvenienced on the off-chance that they might come into contact with a member of that small group of at-risk people. Particularly when the at-risk people are at more often at risk from those who don't know they are infectious because they are incubating the disease but not showing it.

YABU

My daugther aged nearly 4 died of complications arising from chicken pox last April.

Try telling her it's boring at home.... oh no... you can't ....

Yes, but people are arguing that it is the eqivalent of black death and that you shouldn't set foot out of the house even if you have run out of bread, milk etc. Chicken pox is, to the vast majority of people, a minor illness not a notifiable one.
Taking the opposite point of view to its logiacl extreme noone should ever leave their house without a germ suit on, just in case.

SGB - what about my daughter - she wasn't in a statically at risk group - she was a normal, healthy 3 year old.

The vacinne is not given in the UK partly because it is not completely reliable.

Chicken pox is a nasty illness. It is certainly not reasonable to spread it around. If anyone is unfortuante enough to have the experieince of sitting with their child in high dependency or intensive care, they will be able to explain how a few days bored at home is NO FUCKING BIG DEAL!

And having read Toby Young's article, though I normally think he';s a wanker, I agree with him about Pascal's Wager and people who don't understand risk.

You have had some good ideas on here OP - park with no playground, countryside, deserted beach etc. Churchyards are also pretty good for uninterrupted outside play. Anywhere you are unlikely to come into close contact with lots of people TBH.

Let them in the garden, its a few days not the rest of your life.

I have seen a mother at school colelct her child from nursery with another covered in the pox. He was in a buggy under a raincover left in tyhe playground because she didn't want to risk it but had been unable to get anyone else to collect him.

Seems to me that the people who want to go out consider it okay as the risk is to other peoples children/health, rather than their own.

Okay, if you don't know that your DCs have chicken pox, then you will be unknowingly putting people at risk, but once you do know it is just selfish. It is irrelevant that the risk is to relatively few people.

loudlass so very sorry about your baby

Look, there are no guarantees with anything. It's understandable, when something terrible happens, to try to make it someone else's fault, so you can hate them, but sometimes shit just happens - your DC catch a disease from being near an infectious but unaware of it person, or they have some underlying health problem no one knew about People who are seriously immunocompromised can get very ill if they pass someone with a slight cold, but no one is suggesting that people with colds should be quarantined for days on end.

Of course it is a statistically small risk.

But then again, is staying at home for a few days really such a dreadful thing that you cannot contemplate this for the sake of considering other people? Unless you have serious problems of your own (PND or similar) or are unable to access food etc, it is unlikely to do any lasting harm.

I too have been stuck abroad with poxy children- it didn't kill me. And I have spent many many days at home with sick children: again, apart from being annoying, it did little harm.

I would do a risk assessment here. The risks of infecting a child with a compromised immune system are very small. The risks of either myself or my child coming to any lasting harm, relating to either our health or the child's social or emotional development through one episode of having to sit at home and be bored for a few days are absolutely tiny. Risk assessment- can't beat it.

Now if it were something that affected my child's longterm ability to get out and about, the risk assessment would look different. But this is unlikely to be a recurring problem.

SassySusan
Your post to SGB was vile, and I have reported it. I can understand you feeling upset about it, since your DD was so ill but wishing ill on another poster's children crosses a line, imo.

We all take risks, personally and on behalf of our children, each and every day. It is our right to decide what risks we will take. At the same time, I know that chicken pox can be extremely nasty (the DD of a friend of a friend was seriously ill, hospitalised for weeks - the father was my friend's GP who had advised her to get her DD vaccinated but had not vaccinated his own child.)

I don't think it is too much to ask of a person to refrain from going to play parks, or toddler groups for a couple of weeks until the child is no longer infectious. It is a couple of weeks out of your life, but could be a matter of life and death for someone else.

Sassysusan your anger and contempt for some of the views expressed on this thread is understandable . I hope it reassures you that many people have a more responsible and reasonable attitude to reducing the risks to others. The fact that staying indoors for a few days is described by someone as a serious inconvenience speaks volumes. I am so sorry to hear about your little girl

hormonesnomore - my experience was 21 years ago now, but is still clear in my mind - I'm sorry to hear you had similar issues, in the interim period of years I have not met anyone who also had to remain vigilant. It's good to know that my paranoia about germs was not just me being over the top. I wrote to my local paper about it, to raise awareness of the issue as ppl won't know how dangerous CP is for at-risk groups unless told :) ac

MmeLindt Thu 30-Sep-10 12:13:23
SassySusan
Your post to SGB was vile, and I have reported it. I can understand you feeling upset about it, since your DD was so ill but wishing ill on another poster's children crosses a line, imo.

MmeLindt - I assume you haven't read my posts properly.

my daughter was not ill - SHE DIED.

She is dead. Can you grasp that? You can come round to my house if you like - you can see her bedroom with her teddy on the bed that she isn't coming back to you EVER. You can look at her death certificate which quotes cp. Then we can go down her grave and you can leave some roses?

IS THAT FUCKING REAL ENOUGH FOR YOU NOW?

I apologise for being "vile". I just don't know what came over me. There I was, wanting to explain in a graphic way that it doesn't matter how low the risk is if it happens to you...

My daughter died 5 months ago from chicken pox. I think you need to go away and reflect on your understanding of vile.