A Pox on You!

Chicken Pox, that is. Grace has Chicken Pox.

Do you want to take a second to re-read that and make sure you got it right? Go ahead. I'll wait.

Yep, Gracie has Chicken Pox, despite having gotten the vaccine and despite the fact that the virus has all but been eradicated. I mean, come on...this is my family. What else would you expect?

Poor Gracie has been acting "off" since Sunday. We just can't seem to make her happy. She doesn't want to be held, she doesn't want to be put down, she doesn't want to eat, but she begs to be in her high chair...it's just been an ongoing saga.

Truthfully, I figured she was just hitting the terrible twos a few months early. I mean, we're only two months away from the big second birthday, so terrible twos must be on their way, right?

But when I got her up this morning and got her dressed, I noticed a little spot on her shoulder. Hmmmm...must have gotten a little bug bite or something.

But then another dot caught my eye. And another.

I turned her around and there on her back must have been a dozen red spots, all varying in size, but all localized to the area around her left shoulder.

I lifted up her hair and they were all up her neck and the back of her head.

Combining all of this with her bad attitude and loss of appetite, I decided she needed to see Dr. Trexler.

So an hour later, the three of us (Devin is at school today) were waiting in the hall outside Dr. T's office. Since their office isn't divided into "sick" and "well" areas, anyone with a rash must wait in the hall and be taken in through the back door. I felt like the redheaded stepchild of Stone Oak Pediatrics.

Cheryl came in, took a look at My Girl Spot and said, "Well, we've seen a few cases of Chicken Pox this week and while I'm not 100% sure, I'd like to treat it as Chicken Pox, just in case."

And that was it. She did a strep test on Gracie, just in case, but it came back normal. She did think that Grace's left ear looked pretty red, so we got an antibiotic for that and were sent on our way to wait it out.

These girls never cease to amaze me, especially with the strange maladies they keep catching -- even those for which they have gotten vaccines.

I'm taking bets on when Faith will get it. Any takers?