Oh No!

I've always imagined that chickenpox is a nasty disease that cause a terrible itch to the sufferer. Not to forget the hideous scars it left behind. Hearing (even read!) the word 'chickenpox' could also start me scratching. I think I have offended some friends and relatives with my; "OK, got to run now" when I found out their child has chickenpox (or even demam campak or measles)

Apart from thinking the positive sides of sending Sarah to nursery, I went further and scared myself with the thoughts that she will be susceptible to various illnesses. Yes everyone! Sarah's got it. She got me really worried, especially thinking the sleepless nights she will have to go through because of the dreadful itch.

The weather has also been very warm these few days. For your information UK people don't really know about the thing called "Air-cond". We are however blessed with a desk fan which unfortunately stopped working 2-3 days before Sarah got the chickenpox! The Mama had to hand-fan (Is there such word as that?) Sarah using a hardcover storybook.

Anyway, it has been a few days now. The spots are the most around the nappy area, some on her chest and back. A little on her feet, face and head. We expected worse than that. Thankfully, it seems that she's had a mild one. Now the blisters look like they are drying up, some have black scabs and some look like a hollow dent.

Oh yes, I've just remembered something Sarah said when she saw some spots on her face. While trying to cover her spots with her little hand she said, "Oh No! Stevie will see the spots!" I told her that she has to be rested at home until the spots are all gone, but then she insisted that she has to go the the nursery! [So now you want to go to nursery eh??!!]

Before I took her to see our GP, I explained that the GP might want to look at her spots so that he knows what medication to give. Of which she replied, "Sarah tunjuk my hands and face only. I don't want to show my b****t (bottom) or my c*** (chest). Sarah malu nanti"

Throughout the break out, Sarah was more or less her usual self. She was not that miserable and she didn't scratch the spots that much. Her appetite was also really good. But she had problems with washing/bathing when the blisters burst. It could have been quite painful at that time.

By the way, I often heard that those who gets chickenpox
1. Must drink young coconut juice so that the spots come out and heal faster.
2. Must not be drenched in rain. Otherwise the scars will be permanent.
3. Must not eat anything with kicap (soy sauce) for the same reason as number 2.

Anyone wants to make a research on this? Babah gave me a 'semacam' look when I said I wanted to give Sarah air kelapa muda when we first saw the spots.

Sarah is on her way to recovery now. She cannot attend nursery until her scabs are all cleared. So far, neither Amar nor I have any signs of chickenpox yet although we are very much in close contact with Sarah. Let's hope that we are all free from it and pray that Sarah will be cleared soon too.

note 1: Sarah could have gotten the chickenpox from anywhere, not necessarily from the nursery.

note 2: As far as my earliest memory is concerned, I have not yet had chickenpox. That's why I am very petrified of it. Especially when I was pregnant with Sarah and Amar (and any other time too).

note 3: Babah has had it. So he was quite cool about it although he thought that he's caught it from Sarah when he saw some spots on his face, but that I think are jerawat. Still, one may get it more than once in his lifetime, right?

Amar wanted to be in the limelight too. In the midst of my fearsome of the chickenpox break out, Sarah and Amar continued their daily activities almost as normal. I am yet to write up a proper development on Amar. For the time being, suffice to say that he enjoys playing rough activities with Sarah.

It's heart warming to see Sarah making Amar laugh. We feel proud of him that he's responding to his surroundings more now and making effort to be involved in a more normal children's activities; let it be a normal run around and simple peek-a-boo.

On Monday (11 June 2007) evening, shortly after Babah arrived from work - the kids started to behave extra excitedly. They were running in circles (according to Babah) (I was in the kitchen preparing dinner) when suddenly Amar fell and wailed so loud that got us all worried.

His right hand looked limp and as if dislocated from his wrist! I really thought that it looked as if it was dangling away from his arm. Babah (having watched too much of Lost) went into the kitchen and found a senduk nasi (something like a flat ladle) and tied it to Amar's arm with a brown tape.

The chicken was still roasting but I had to turn off the oven and quickly got changed. There was no time to think about the colour scheme or nicely ironed blouse. I ended up wearing a mismatched colour outfit, but who cares? My mind was racing to think of plans should Amar has to stay in the hospital. We went straight to the Children's A&E department, Coventry University Hospital with wailing Amar all the way in the car. We registered at the reception and waited to be called.

Not long after that, a senior nurse called us and took the full history of the incident. He passed a comment on 'how efficient' Babah's quick thinking of the improvised bandage. (which later Babah wondered if the nurse meant it in a good way or with sarcasm??!!)

The nurse weighed Amar and gave him a syringe of calpol and ibuprofen (which we did not get around to giving him). Then we were asked to wait in the waiting room to be called by a paediatrician. There were at least 10 other children waiting to be called. The in-charged doctor will treat patients according to the severity of the illness - not first come first serve.

As we were waiting, Amar calmed down and started to move his supposedly injured hand like normal. Babah did some tests to see if Amar was really OK. We were quite worried if he has dislocated his shoulder or hand or arm or fractured any parts of his arm, as he was crying rather abnormally when he injured his hand. By then, he looked very much normal again. He even gave us his cheeky smile. His hand looked very much 'in place' too, honestly we really thought we saw the hand was somehow detached from the wrist! Seriously!

After a few minutes of contemplation, we decided to self discharged. Babah had to sign a form for this and then we went home. When we arrived, Sarah and Amar started to run around again like nothing have happened before.