to take a chickenpoxy child away for trip, partially on public transport?

[dappply]

since yesterday DS has chickenpox. Doesn't seem to be feeling very bad, but is very spotty. we had plans to go and visit friends this weekend. It's a four hour trip, an hour of it by public transport (boat trip as they live on an island).
Am I meant to isolate him? Should he not be going on public transport? WIBU to go?

If your doctor really said this, that you shouldn't bother isolating your DS as chickenpox is so common anyway, then he is being massively irresponsible . It can be a major issue for anyone who is immunocompromised for any reason.

Yes, it was a cross-post . My cousin died suddenly about the same time as your DD. She was only 29. I know that the sadness doesn't go away.

I am glad I held back then
sorry about your cousin.

choices chicken pox

Clear and unambiguous - stay away from work and stay at HOME if you are infectious. The difficulty with relying on the opinions of friends is that they are very often not based on fact.
Your GPs advice is unbelievable - I'd speak to the practice manager.

hmm dunno. I do know that standard medical advice for most scars is to keep them out of the sun.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/behindtheheadlines/news/2011-12-20-can-the-sun-stop-chickenpox/ -- this seems to say that the sun makes it less likely for you to pass it on to someone else

Hope you own stock in porridge oats!

There is a lot of ignorance (in the 'I didn't know that type of way, not just being ignorant iyswim) about CP.

One of my DHs friend's lost her 19mo son, who was otherwise fit and healthy, secondary to CP. Yes, it is really rare for it to happen but it scared the life out of me as my 3 DDs had it at the same time as he died.

It seems that CP is widely accepted as a 'normal' childhood disease, where some people are happy to host / attend Pox Parties to ensure their child gets CP while they are young because that is somehow better for them. I don't think people are aware of how dangerous it can be - pneumonitis is a very real complication of CP which does affect lots of children (sorry, no hard facts or figures to back this up, just ime).

Conflicting advice, like the OP was given, isn't helpful at all. Whatever the GP's reasoning for not telling OP to keep DC isolated was incorrect, and quite scary considering the implications to some groups of the population if they were to get CP.

Mrs DV - I'm sorry but I don't think that's a fair post from you. The op has had conflicting advice. She's asked here for views, listened and changed her plans and she is (like all CP OPs on mumsnet) still getting a kicking. Unless chicken pox is eradicated, children like your dd remain at risk, along with adults. The behaviour of any one individual will do nothing to alter the overall level of risk present to the immunosuppressed from an illness which is endemic. I'm so sorry about your dd, I've read your story many times and her loss is utterly heartbreaking. I work with a very vulnerable population, I know what CP can do but the OP is not acting irresponsibly. She is trying to make good choices with the information she has.

Hope you don't mind OP, but I wanted to ask a question.

My DS has chicken pox and although I'm keeping him away from other people, i've been to work as usual. I'm a bit worried having read this thread because i had no idea how contagious CP is and I am worried I could be spreading it too? There are 2 women in my team, one who is 32 weeks pg and another who is just about to have IVF. I know I am immune to CP as I have had a bloodiest, if that makes any difference?

Unfortunately soozy it often comes down to the bare fact
'I dont want to have to put myself out and my DC might get a bit bored'

This is enough for many people to ignore all the advice in the world.

So although the OP said she was going to cancel her trip - great, well done.
She is still willing to take the risk that her child may infect someone outdoors.

Because unless she takes her child to an open field and makes no stops on the way or back and doesnt go anywhere near another human being - there is a risk.

It never ceases to amaze me that people will do this.
Admitedly I have seen far worse cases. Every excuse under the sun comes out as to why the child HAS to go to playgroup, playground, shop or beach.

At least this op has the good sense to alter her plans to some extent.

northern if you have read the thread you will see that I have given measured and calm advice.

I only got angry when the op was snarky because she had decided that she was going to take her child out and objected to me questioning why.

I am not being unfair. I am illustrating the consequences of being selfish. If you do NOT know your child has got CP you cant do anything about it. If you DO know you MUST keep your child isolated.

I will not aplogise for ramming home the consequences of playing fast and loose with an infectious disease because you cant be arsed to stay in for a week or two.
Let us be clear, the OP doesnt NEED to go out, she WANTS to.

Any one I've known with a child with CP has stayed home for the duration. My DCs were all very poorly with it, so they needed duvet days and going out really wouldn't have been a consideration.

I can understand the OP wanting to get out - if she had a garden to escape into for a while then it wouldn't make sense to want to get out, but she doesn't have that option. Hopefully now, having had the good sense to change her going-away plans, will also reconsider and keep DC indoors until the very last spot has scabbed over.

Although, if he's anything like my friend's DS he will be more unwell towards the end of CP - with a young immune system fighting CP he then had a very nasty bout of tonsillitis so had a few extra days at home, cuddling with mummy on the sofa.

MrsDeVere. Your daughter is so beautiful.

No. Not if you're planning on sitting next to me or my loved ones.

I have to say that I have read the whole thread and am really suprised that the op has asked this question. I thought that everybody knew that children were contagious till they scabbed with cp? Therefore you keep your children in quarantine as much as you possibly can! I thought that this was common knowledge for gods sake! Its fairly easy to find this out on the net! Am very surprised, if you can go on mumsnet then you can check out current medical advice!!!! I wonder if she is taking the p* ?

Please don't my DD2 has been on huge quantities on steroids in the last month and if she caught it now she will be very very ill. We are doing our best to avoid places she might get it, CM, softplay, nursery etc. but public transport is sometimes our only way to get places including the GP and if there was a obviously poxy child on the bus I would find it very difficult to hold my mouth. I know there may be other carriers on our journey but the one blatantly not giving a stuff about anyone else would seriously piss me off!

MrsDV - Do you mean the post where she asks about the outside scenarios because going by her other posts I think that's an honest request for information and not her having a go.

Landrover - actually advice is ambiguous. Mostly it says things like you should 'keep away' from contact or close contact. So does that mean you should just not be touching other people or should you not leave the house - both scenarios involve 'keeping away'. The NHS Choices website says stay away from 'public areas' - so is that everywhere people might be or is it places like supermarkets and theatres? It also says keep your child at home from nursery or school - but it doesn't say 'stay in the house'. So you can see why people are confused if you haven't encountered this before.

The OP has decided not to go and so deserves a break. She was only asking. I would say, if in the car or on the deck of a ferry in the open air it would be fine. Advice used to be 3 days after the first spot and I have to say some people are terribly alarmist about a disease which, while potentially serious, is everywhere and can only be protected against by having your own immunity. If it was that serious there would be an immunisation programme against it as the vaccine is available. Good luck OP and hope your child feels better. Bicarbonate of Soda in the bath really helps and I had it as an adult so know how itchy I was. ps I was pregnant when I had it and it was passed to me by my son who got it from nursery.

no i'm not taking the piss, i was told by the bloody doctor not to worry.

and i wasn't being snarky mrs d, i was asking genuine questions, but you don't get tone of voice through typing. i knew nothing of your situation. sorry for your daughter and thanks for sharing your experience.

If you are being genuine then I apologise Dapply.

Rose - ffs

I once had to stay abroad for an extra week because dd came down with chickenpox: I just couldn't bear the thought of putting somebody's life at risk.

The doctor I saw to diagnose it didn't seem to understand the problem (but then she seemed pretty clueless anyway), but the airline did and the insurance company paid up without a murmur and even very sweetly rang us up twice to check we were ok.

I think OP is losing my sympathy as -although cancelling original trip - she's still asking over and over about taking the child out at the weekend. AND they have both already been on a bus - why would you take a spotty child to the doctor on public transport? Even in a taxi you'd only risk infecting one person! I'm amazed the OP is more concerned about how they'll spend the weekend than what might happen regarding her catching the illness herself, as a pg person.

Oh dear.

Well, not having read everything already written I'll just add my few thoughts on the subject.

Mine has got this at the moment (OP - think we spoke elsewhere? anyway) and I have been trying to decide how to manage various things over the next, what, 4 or 5 days is it, before he's no longer contagious? Not much to contend with really is it, in the scheme of things.

Basically, I take him with me to places like certain shops, to school and wherever and he stays IN THE CAR. He can have the window a bit open if he likes but he stays in the car. All the time, and I try not to take too long, but he is 8 so he can manage reluctantly (he gets a bit worried on his own).

We're lucky to have the car or our lives would have been more difficult, getting his brother to school would have been tricky or running out of milk, etc etc. But it's not hard at all. It's fine.
I explained to him today how badly it can affect other people so we have to not be selfish. I think he understood eventually.

His brother had it first, two weeks ago and we did the same thing. He stayed in the car while I did a small amount of shopping, often with big brother there too to look after him. So it was alright. We coped and on day 8, which I think is well beyond infectiveness (?yes) we went out on a cycle ride, with his brother as well, to a park during school time.

Surprised to find two other children there - one a baby, at least 100 yards away from us (we parked up a fair bit away from anyone else) and the other a little girl with no hair, who looked about 5 or 6.

She was with her mum.
I told my boys to keep away from them as she was clearly having treatment for something serious. When she and her mother came towards us with a dog that had run off from somewhere, and they assumed was ours, (it wasn't), I kept the boys back and told the mum that one of them was getting over chicken pox and the other might possibly be contagious (he wasn't at that point, after all) and I said I understood it must be so hard for her.
She said it was and she really struggled to find places to take her daughter.

So anyway I felt bad for telling her in case it made her worried. And they left the park, a little while later, and then so did we, going the same way but passing them without stopping, we just said hi. I was so, so grateful that I knew my younger one was not contagious any longer, and no risk to her little girl, and that the older one had no real signs of being ill either.

I hope she was not worried. She probably was anyway

The secretary at school told me, when I said I'd left ds in the car, that there were other children in the playground with the same illness and I said well, I'm not one of those people. They aren't allowed to say anything to the parents who bring in ill children...half his class went down with it at once the other week, probably due to someone being a bit inconsiderate.

Seriously, 5 days of isolation and missing a few school events is nothing.

I should say that it's a massive playground in a field and my children were not playing anywhere near the little girl, who was justriding around on her bicycle. I was aware of where they were in relation to her all the time and consciously kept them at a distance. We were only there for a few minutes, as we stopped to take a break from cycling.

I still feel bad that we were there at all with a potentially contagious, but not yet symptomatic child. I was only keeping him off school as he'd had what I thought were some spots, and they hadn't developed into anything, and I was afraid school would tell me off for sending him back too soon, even though there was patently nothing wrong with him.

Public transport is a no, as is going out down the street and walking to school. Though I would like to in this weather. I just won't do it with him. We missed an Easter fair, dressing up day, ds2's parade. We had no choice, DP is working away, my parents are on holiday so no childcare available. No excuse, we just didn't go. It's only a WEEK.

Trying again with the link :

www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Chickenpox/Pages/Prevention.aspx

Which very clearly DOES state that if infected, you should stay off work and stay AT HOME.

Your doctor is an idiot. Fact.

When ds1 had cp I had to take two weeks unpaid leave and worry about myself because I found out I was pg on the same day. Do not travel. Incredibly selfish if you do.

I had shingles at 18 and was told I wasn't infectious. I gave dp (now dh) cp from them. He had six weeks off work! Medical professionals said that I wasn't infectious! Now we have all the info we need at he click f a button there is no reason for you to now know the dangers of infection.