Yeah, us neighborhood moms did that. Also with measles and mumps. And there were two kinds of measles—one “German” which was maybe rubella?
But especially mumps if the kids were little. Because everybody knew that if a boy caught it when he was older it could “drop,” go into his testicles which could make him sterile.
What is it with the scars in the middle of the forehead? I have one there, too. So does my sister.
I used to say I was channeling Harry Potter, but then a friend of mine (same age as me) got shingles at like age 26. I had to admit, his scar looks more like a lightning bolt. Mine just looks like a dent.
I had what seemed to me at the time to be a bad case of chicken pox when I was little… maybe 5 or 6. I had welts all over and itched like crazy. I don’t remember feeling sick otherwise, just taking lots of baths with baking soda in them and my dad (who I was visiting for the summer–he got all of my major traumas: chicken pox, broken arm, appendicitis…) wrapping me up in a blanket to keep me from scratching. I really don’t want to get shingles so I’m going to ask my doctor about the vaccine. I know it’s free if you’re 60+ but I don’t know what it would cost for me or if my insurance would help.
Yes, you should, because the threat doesn’t just come from your own kids.
My boyfriend was sitting in a meeting at work once and someone commented that a coworker was out with chicken pox, which he had gotten from a niece or nephew. Everyone in the room had been exposed to him before his spots first showed up. That was how they found out that 75% of the adults in that company had never had chicken pox. Only one person at that company ended up catching it from coworker and they were both out for weeks. But, it could have been really bad.
I don’t believe that’s true. My folks are 60 and 61 and just got theirs, and are waiting on reimbursements from their insurance companies. “Paid for by insurance” maybe but not “free to the general non-insurance-carrying public.”
I think the vaccine is recommended for people over 50, and you may have seen signs about it being recommended and perhaps confused it with being free over 60.
The vaccine isn’t on the schedule here- I think the cost-benefit analysis didn’t find in favour of it.
I definitely went to a chicken pox party- distinctlyremember watching Ewoks on the TV as my friend’s mother painted her with calamine lotion.
Predictably, I got chicken pox- which I recall as being itchy but not horrible.
Neither of my sisters (who shared a bedroom with me) caught it from me, and both ended up getting it in their teens- which was not good.
For irishbaby I’m going to wait and see what happens- if she gets it before the age of 5 I won’t worry to much, but if she hasn’t had it by then I’ll investigate getting the vaccine privately (non NHS).
Well, I was just going based on what my mom told me (she turned 60 last week). Maybe it’s just her insurance that has no copay if you’re 60+.
I just got a copy of Dominic’s immunization record from his school (which oddly I didn’t have a copy of–each school has faxed it to the next school without ever giving it to me, and I’ve never gotten one from any of his doctors, either). I had them fax it to me at work, which seemed easiest. Anyway, it looks like Dominic DID get the chicken pox vaccine many years ago, so we’re all good.
But now I really want that shingles vaccine. And I’m only 39.
I had chicken pox at the age of 31. It was horrible; I was doing a show where I had no understudy, so I went on anyway. Exhausting yourself is not a good strategy. It lasted for almost three weeks, my fever at its worst was 103.5 and I was completely knocked out. Many of the marks got deeply infected. That was the sickest I’ve ever been.
It could have been worse; a friend’s brother died of chicken pox when his fever hit 104 and stayed there for a day. He was living on his own at the time, someone had checked in with him on Sunday - when they visited Tuesday evening, he was gone.
I can understand people pre-vaccine wanting to make sure their kids got it.