Holiday with chickenpox

[monkey117]

Hi, I'm wondering what everyone else would do in my situation as I am finding it so hard to make a decision. My family are due to go on holiday to Menorca next Monday. My 3 year old DD1 came down with chickenpox last Thursday so by Monday she will be on Day 12 since the rash started. We are currently on Day 7 and most of the spots seem to be scabbing over so I am hopeful that by next Monday she will no longer be contagious and safe to fly. I plan to go to the doctors this Friday to ask whether he can give us a 'safe to fly' letter just in case we experience any problems. However, I am assuming that it will be highly likely that DD2 (18 months old) has caught chickenpox from her sister and will currently be at the incubating stage. Therefore it is very likely that she will come out with the rash while we are on holiday, most likely during the first week of our 2 week holiday. I am finding it so difficult to make a decision as to whether we should try to cancel the holiday, however if my DD1 is no longer contagious and DD2 doesnt yet have chickenpox at the time of our flight then we may not get our holiday paid for by insurance if we cancel. But the thought of travelling abroad with my 18 month old highly likely to come out with chickenpox is also not very appealing! Any opinions would be greatly received as I am so stressed right now and dont know what to do for the best! Thank you.

It's all relative. I have never had a child with cancer so I cannot comment on that. You do what you think is right at the time. I think you'll find there are worse crimes.

Mrdevere can i ask, if the ops dd shows NO signs of having chickenpox on monday when they are due to fly, do you think she should fly or do you think she should cancel? that where i wonder where you draw the line, mine stay IN when contagious but if they 'may' be contagious then we carry on as normal, warning people we know, until they seem like thye may be getting ill, genereally with kids you get warning signs, ie grumpyness, tired, irritable, bit of a cold, and then i would stay home and see what develops ifyswim? but in the ops situation if my child didnt have any symptoms then i would still go on holiday, but is that the right thing to do? :)

but 5madthings if you warn people when you go out that one of your DC may have CP, surely that's a risk in itself if you leave your house?? If you've just told Mrs So and So that's 12 weeks pregnant you may have already put her at risk just by letting her know that your DC may have the virus?

One thing I have learned from this thread is that you cannot keep everyone happy (mind you, that's a bit like most threads on MN isn't it).

well if i know someone who is pregnant i will txt in advance and i keep the possibly contagious child close to me, ie in the school playground and say they may be contagious giving someone the option of not getting too close, its still a risk but i feel i am letting people know and giving them the choice of getting close or not ifyswim? it feels like the better option than just going out and carrying on as normal so i wouldnt let a possibly contagious child be all kissy and huggy witha friend or share a drink/snack and make sure they have a tissue incase they sneeze/cough, just being sensible?

My eldest caught cp from dc2 at 20 days from when he came out in the rash. Dc3 has been exposed to it on multiple occasions and still hasn't caught it. You can't assume that your 18 month old will get it - just take calpol and there's an anti viral gel in boots now that's excellent for the rash according to my sil whose two dc's have just had it.

Enjoy your holiday!

5madthings.
Personally I think she could fly. I have had two lots of sibling passed CP but DC5 didnt catch it from DCs 3 &4.
My DCs have been in contact with it lots of times before they caught it.

It is a dilemma because the OP is obviously a considerate person and doesnt want to put anyone at risk. I am not sure that I would, I feel very strongly about it and dont take any chances at all.

It is a very different thing from taking a child out in public who you know is infectious and not giving a flying fuck about the conseqences.

brandnew talking sense there.

lovechoc
Worse crimes? Yes I suppose there are.
Doesnt diminish the fact you knowingly put people at risk.
Did what you thought was best? Did what you felt like doing.

And as I HAVE had a child with cancer and HAVE had children with CP, let me assure you - not going out for a couple of weeks is a whole lot easier than having to protect your child from selfish muppets for two years.

HTC

oh thats good mrsdevere i was wondering if i was being selfish, mine never caught it from each other, ds1, ds2 and ds3 have all had it at seperate times! and ds4 was exposed when ds2 had it and then again when ds3 had it and has been exposed numerous times at pre-school and still not got it, ditto dd. i do go out when they have been exposed and warn people as i say, which is my compromise i guess, but i wonder if that is reasonable? glad you think its ok.

and yes its different taking a child that may be contagious out, its an unknown risk but a child that IS contagious is a KNOWN risk and not ok.

i wonder if my view will change if i do end up taking immunosuppresents, its getting a balance i suppose, but its really not hard to stay in IF your child is ill. its just when they may be ill, or going to be ill that it gets a bit trickier, as esp when you ahve more than one or two childrne that can be quite often!

Right here's another scenario...if a child had chicken pox but had to be hospitalised whilst he was at home with the virus, I'd have to take him/her out in public (not to a shop, but to a hospital), so what do you do in that situation then? I'm sure this has happened to the odd parent here and there. You cannot avoid taking them out if it's in their interests to be hospitalised can you?? But then you'd also be putting others at risk too? Where do you draw the line, what is right and what is wrong? You cannot be black and white about this.

you may be sent an ambulance, but just going to the hospital i would think that they would very quickly get you into isolation or a seperate waiting room etc tbh, thats very different from going to the shop, one is essential, the other is not!

He would be put in isolation if he had CP and had to go into hospital.
They do this in order to protect the other children.
Its really not that difficult to work out.

If the CP had made them as ill as it did my friend's child or the little girl across the road they would be blue lighted to hospital in an ambulance or you would get them there in a cab.
You wouldnt hop on a bus and toodle along to A&E.

CP is an infectious disease which is very dangerous to a lot of people. It is entirely possible to keep your child away from others until they are not longer infectious.
It is a small price to pay, it is a few days out of your life.

It really IS that black and white.

I think you sound like you handle it sensibly 5madthings. It really has worried me that people knowingly take out contagious children (not suspected) just because they can't possibly expect their husband to pick up some milk and bread at the end of a 12hr shift.

I'm very cautious with where I take DS and genuinely have no idea where he has got chickenpox from. He has to have three years of chemotherapy so it's always going to be a worry. As much as I'd love him to be wrapped up in a protective bubble, he is still a three year old who deserves as normal a life as possible.

As my son is hospitalised for chickenpox as I type, I can tell you that I carried him to my car and drove him to hospital. Then I pushed his pushchair directly to the ward where we have been in isolation ever since. Not too hard to work out?

Hope he gets well soon windy.
How long have you been in?

thanks windywendy hope your ds is on the mend asap xxxx

Thank you! We came in on Tuesday night and were expecting to be in until at least Monday, but he's done so well we are ossinly going home tomorrow. Fortunately we caught it really early and he was on antivirals with just a couple of spots so he's not been too poorly with it. They did warn that he will probably get it again over the next three years as he can't build up an immunity to it, poor thing!

Sorry to hear that windywendy. Hope your ds continues to improve.

Bless him. Its a bloody pain though, having to rush them in for the zig thingy.

Do you have other children who havent had CP? You can get them vaccinated if so. It doesnt absolutely guarantee they wont get it but it cuts down the risk a lot.

How is he doing with the chemo?

I am struggling to believe that anyone could possibly think their need for bread and milk goes above the health of others. In the 21st century, when all you need to do is order your groceries online. It isn't even remotely the same as having to take your child to hospital.

I think that there is a lot of ignorance about. Many childhood diseases can have very serious complications. That is why we are so lucky that we can have vaccinations.

Unfortunately, in Europe the medical view seems to be that the cost of vaccinating outweights the benefits. In the US the general view is that you should vaccinate against chickenpox. In Europe there also seems to be quite a lacksadaisical attitude to ensuring that the adult population is appropriately immunised (many vaccinations didn't exist for those who were born before the 1970s), in the US the advice is for adults to check that they have had the childhood diseases and otherwise get vaccinated against them. Here you have to fight to get the vaccinations. The nurse at our practice told me that the risk I face as severe asthmatic of contracting the various diseases is small so why bother. I am a lot of the time on heavy doses of steroids which suppress my immune system as a result if I was contract chickenpox it could be fatal for me. Of course I have made sure that I am vaccinated against chickenpox but it does not provide 100 per cent protection, so yes, I can still get it.
I work in a school, so imagine how it makes me feel when I get children in my class who clearly have chickenpox which is still infectious? I then get abuse from the parents that they cannot take time off and it is a minor childhood disease anyway. Well, actually, I might die if I get it, so not minor for me.

Those who say that immuno-suppressed people should not fly, basically, you mean I should not fly then???

Please realise, there are lots and lots of people taking large doses of steroids every day, children and adults. There are lots of other people vulnerable for a host of reasons. So yes, I think that it is incredibly selfish to go out with a child whom you know to be a danger to others. The buying food thing is a joke, you can get homedeliveries or I would think you have some friends who can drop some stuff off. It seems pure selfishness.

I am sitting here like this -> that anyone could prioritise their convenience more highly than the health of someone else.

People with compromised immunity should stay at home and live a limited life? Is it not enough that they already have the unfairness and difficulties of a condition so people like Lovechoc don't have to think or make a few minor adjustments to their easy, healthy lives?

I had a good laugh at Lovechoc's attempts to try to show other people are agreeing with her... and those posters politely explaining that no, they do not.

Most CP threads on mumsnet are quite different from this one. I was told for about 8 pages that I was OTT to give my DC the CP vaccine. God love MN!

OP - if your 18 montsh has chicken pox she will feel like crap and you will not want to be on holiday in a hot place.

Call your insurance