Chicken Pox diemma

[519888888z]

Would really appreciate some advise. DS1 has chicken pox (spots started to appear Friday pm). We are meant to be flying to US on Sunday to visit family. Postponed trip as he was ill last time! Hopefully his spots will have crusted over and he won't be contagious by Sunday. Problem is DS2 who hasn't had chicken pox and isn't showing any spots. Dilemma is a) might he already be contagious - don't want to put anyone on flight at risk. b) supposing he became ill while away and we couldn't fly home. We are going for one week only and DH and I both have to be back for work. Is it reasonable or an over reaction to cancel trip because of possible chicken pox? Any advise greatly received. Finding this very stressful. Lost a lot of money last time (insured but excesses, admin fees, etc) not that this is of course the main issue.

betty of course I wouldn't take a child that has active chicken pox on a plane (or out of the house at all). But I wouldn't cancel a holiday because a sibling had been exposed to CP but was asymptomatic.

But fuzzy - I work in a school. We have cases of CP fairly regularly throughout the year. Our classes all mix together during the day and week - hall time, play times, assembly, mixed class lessons. And these are young children so they are in physical contact with one another a lot. So realistically there could be more than half the year a parent knows their child has mixed with someone who has been contagious with CP.

My Dh IS so immunosuppressed (from high dose chemo and a stem cell transplant) that indeed, we do not go anywhere.

So carry on on your planes. You clearly see my concerns as unreasonable.

But spare a kindly thought for us when you are flying off to foreign climes. One day you could be in our position. We never thought it would happen to us either.

We had this problem in feb but with Devon not USA! We ummed and ahhed about what today and thought we couldn't out our lives on hold et. We did go and had a lovely time but a few days before we came back twin 2 did come out with chicken pox...much worse than her sister. We had been due to fly back home (live in north east) but in the end DH had to fly with DT1 and I stayed another 24hrs to ensure she was crusted over and did a 7 hour train journey home with DT2! Given the distances involved I'm not sure I would risk it sorry. If it helps airline and insurance company were really good and we didn't end up out of pocket.

My first 2 didn't have it together (no 2 was still EBF) but the younger ones had it in sequence. This could go either way. The airline won't take you with visible spots anyway.

My friend had an enforced extra week in Dubai with her son (funded by travel insurance) which wasn't much fun as her husband had to fly back to get the others back to school. Insurance would only pay for one adult and the patient to stay.

@FuzzyCustard OP has confirmed that she has cancelled the holiday

Welsh- thankyou for clarifying, to me the comment came across as if you were the op you would go ; which at the time was with an actively infectious child. I absolutely agree that if a child who has been exposed is asymptomatic there just isn't a way of knowing if they will develop the illness, in which case I too would probably go and keep everything crossed that spots don't appear!! I was one of the few that had cp multiple times with one admission and only gained immunity with the varicella vaccine. I intended to privately vaccinate my children (having seen some very nasty complications)but my children got the virus first!! Ds was fine but dd is still under ophthalmology years later. As it's generally recognised as a mild child hood illness and we don't offer the vaccine as routine I think most people believe it is just that, mild. Unfortunately they seem to have no comprehension of what cp can do to an immuncompromised person , or even that it can be a severe illness in others. It's a personal bug bear for several personal reasons

If I was the OP, assuming child 1 had scabbed over and child 2 wasn't showing signs of infection, i'd have gone. My children have been abroad precisely once (they are all between 10-14), as I have to save for a very long time to afford holidays as a single parent. To cancel that holiday because a child MAY get an illness and there MAY be someone who is immune suppressed on the plane is, to me, to many maybes.
I'm aware how chickenpox can affect ill people, but i can't live my life on maybe, thats not a reasonable ask.
When my children had chickenpox, we did have to leave the house occasionally, there was a 6 week period where someone was spotty. we had to eat, i don't have family and at the time, knew no one to go shopping for us, no online shopping available at that time. I used to go at the dead of night in the hope of avoiding people, but it wasn't possible to never leave the house for 6 weeks.

betty I have vaccinated my child to avoid exactly this scenario! It seems to have worked as he's the only one in his room at nursery not to have had it!

My dn was vaccinated and still caught it and passed it onto my DS. Vaccine isn't a guarantee.

jedimum, yes I know and I have thanked her twice.

It's about society's attitudes and thoughtfulness, not the OPs.