to go on holiday with my chicken pox ridden DC?

[NighteyesLovesGingerbread]

Basically my DC all have chicken pox. we are due to go on holiday in 2 days.

my friend has just said ' I hope you have insurance now you wont be going away' and then proceeded to tell me how unreasonable I was being when I said we were still going and how dangerous it is for others. I am well aware of this, I have several extended family members who are immune-compromised so understand the risks to them.

we are driving to the holiday destination and staying in a stand alone private house with private pool. obviously I will not take DC into the service stations or supermarkets etc but as far as I can see there is no reason for us not to go as they wont be in contact with anyone other than us.

so, AIBU to still go on holiday in this situation.

No one is spreading anything here, the op said they would take the right precautions and are driving and staying in a place on their own so

How will she protect other Chanel tunnel users who need to breathe?

I have nothing useful to add in the stay or go.

But just want to add my pox experience as it's still in real time...

Ds2 - Came out in spots last friday, there was a fair average spattering of them by sunday and there was no sign of illness. Monday it went downhill from there. Spots only stopped appearing yesterday, temperature keeps going up to 39 once medicines have worn off, he is covered head to toe and is incredibly miserable and itchy. Even going out in the car to do the unavoidable school run has been horrible for him. He's just wanted to curl up at home on the sofa. We've had to access GP's once (pox under eye lid) and out of hours after non stop crying and non moving temperature.

Meanwhile a few years ago, Ds1 came out in spots on a Tuesday, mild temperature, and spots scabbed over by the Saturday.

YABVU immunosuppressants can be taken by anyone and you wouldn't know. I have crohn's disease and take them. You are putting other people at risk so you don't miss your holiday.

How will she protect other Chanel tunnel users who need to breathe?

oh for god sake, get over yourself there, how bloody ridiculous.

We flew home 19 years ago from a week in Spain with DD aged almost 2 when her spots had appeared about halfway into the holiday. Mentioned it at the airport when we checked in to come home - no issue whatsoever, we got priority boarding but that's it. Not like it's leprosy is it - what would PP have us do, one parent remain in Spain (and stay where?) and one parent fly home with the non-spotty child?

stop taking any notice of the ridiculous on here. go and enjoy yourselves. its not the black death you know!

but as stated no one would know would they?

Do you mean no-one would know whether people are infectious in the period when they are incubating the disease? I would imagine like most diseases extensive research has been done on wether infectious period. Without evidence the major medical sources wouldn't all be able to categorically state that it is infectious from one or two days before the spots appear.

It may be a common illness, but it affects children very differently and some children can really suffer with it.

I honestly can't think of anything worse than travelling in a car for 10 hours whilst suffering flu like symptoms, a temperature and a painful itchy rash - Yes I would much rather be home flopped on the sofa or in bed!

Im sure the mother would be able to judge how poorly the child is and wouldnt even suggest going if that was the case Hazey so stop being so dramatic.

Bloody hell, I don't know if you have ever had suppressed immunity, it is an absolute bitch.

No it isn't the Black Death, but it can kill or make seriously ill people with suppressed immunity, and some people have very bad complications when they get it. Not knowing whether your child might be one of the ones that have complications would make me want to stay home.

Crustaway do stop it, you're not big or clever.

Travel insurance cover chicken pox in their cancellation for the reason that holidaying with pox is bad for the poxee and potentially those exposed in myriad ways mentioned up thread

Haha, the flu like symptoms isn't even me being dramatic, that's fairly standard for chickenpox!

But yes, I probably am being dramatic about people with suppressed immunity and children that suffer complication, because those circumstances are, you know, dramatic!

oh for god sake, get over yourself there, how bloody ridiculous

Do you understand how dangerous CP can be to certain groups of people? Or how it can be equally as dangerous for perfectly healthy people due to secondary infections as well as a few other things.

You would not usually be allowed to board a plane with CP and a lot of that is down to how the air on them works. My understanding is that it's not a dissimerler system on the tunnel trains if so you are in essence exposing all the other train users and knowing you are doing so.

It's avoidable

Oh and immunosuppressed people cannot protect themselves using vaccines, carers are told not to have close contact with the person they care for for several weeks after the vaccine if the carer gets the jabs.

All of this opens up the question why the hell do they not vaccinate against chicken pox in England, when nearly every other civilized nation does!!

Can't you just delay the outward journey by a couple of days and go once they are not infectious and you know the risk of complications has passed? Spots are usually only 5-6 days before they scab over. That is what I would do in your shoes.

If you are driving and it's 10 hours surely you can explain and rearrange channel tunnel crossing? I know you are loosing a couple of days of holiday but its a hell of a risk to take sick kids into another country. I can imagine you being rejected at port when they check documents/passports etc if the kids are obviously poxy.

At least at home for the extra 2-3 days they are comfortable and near a hospital/docs where you will have no issues with them getting any medical help they may need.

Taking kids with chicken pox on holiday will likely invalidate any travel insurance you have (as you knew they had pox before you went it may class as an existing condition and if not declared ensure the insurance is declared invalid) and could leave you with a whopping bill if you had to take one of them to docs etc.

All of this opens up the question why the hell do they not vaccinate against chicken pox in England, when nearly every other civilized nation does

They do.

On the nhs if you are a carer to or close family of a high risk person.

Or you can pay for it if not

YABU OP, because of the open-window Eurotunnel part of the journey. The rest sounds manageable.

Crust away there are rules about what infectious diseases you are allowed to travel with, it's not up to the mother. Alongside customs is Port Health, who control the spread of disease between countries. It's actually up to them. I'm cabin crew and if those children came onboard a plane we'd contact Port Health. I'd imagine Eurostar are meant to do the same.

I did ask OP earlier if she had spoken to a port Health or her doctor, but she didn't reply.

I agree with others, i think yabu.
I got cp in my 20s. I do not have a good immune system. I was very ill. It made my disabilities worse.
I got it from a bloody customer at my work.
Yes it was like having the bloody flu!
As for mays comments maybe immuno compromised people should not go anywhere? Just stay in their houses all day everywhere? Not work? Bloody selfish.

YABU

1. because your children might feel too poorly for such a journey even if they seem ok now
2. the channel tunnel is a bigger problem than your realise - you may have the loo in 'your' section - so people will be queuing past your open car window, the recycled air, the risk is not as minimal as you think - people who are unable to travel by air due to illness are more likely to travel by tunnel, and your choices are therefore increasing their risk.

you may also find you are not permitted to travel - it is probably worth you finding out as you would not want to be refused entry at border control if they spotted the kids with the pox.

I don't know why I open these threads, as I am always left astounded at how fucking short-sighted some people really are.

I miscarried at 12wk after contracting chickenpox - it was horrendous. You can do a search on my name for the details, but suffice to say it was not a pleasant experience.

I don't build any immunity to chickenpox and the vaccine is totally useless on me - maybe I should be in some sort of protective bubble so that the selfish and inconsiderate twats of this world are not inconvenienced?!

.....aaaaaaand that's why I vaccinated my kids against chickenpox.

NHS won't introduce more vaccination programmes until the take up rates for the existing ones esp. MMR improve. They are considering it though, I believe.

Friends who had their kids vaccinated as a matter of course (from the US and the continent) cannot believe we expose our kids to this misery.

OP states that she is aware of risks to those who are immuno compromised having relatives who are in this position.

On that basis, how would you feel if one of your relatives were in intensive care or at deaths door because someone did what you are planning to do? Your child maybe? Would you be so blase then? You say the risk is minimal, it is to you because you and your children are not at any risk. You could potentially cause a fatality or long lasting health problems in a stranger because you want to put your needs first.

The fact that this is covered under travel insurance and in travel provider policies should be ringing alarm bells that this is serious and not something to ignore.

OP speak to your GP. If he or she feels it's unadvisable to travel you can get a medical certificate and claim on your insurance for travel on another date. If he or she dies not see it as a problem you can go ahead safe in the knowledge that you have sought qualified medical advice (possibly with letter from doctor to say they are OK to travel)

"does" not "dies"