Mending

E is on the mend. He has a way to go yet but definitely on the mend.

Job 2

And E was smitten "with ^asore ^bboils from the sole of his foot unto his crown."

Quite literally poor fellow. Bravest little lad I have ever met.

Ouch!

This is E's back yesterday. One website that spoke about the pox suggested a child might get 50 or more spots. E definitely has the 'or more' part of this. This afternoon it is worse than this picture and I estimated the 50 could be found in any 4 inch square you cared to pick.

Now fast asleep (finally) after the hospital visit you can get some idea of his discomfort.

I have not seen Chicken Pox before for real, to remember what it looks like, but all those pics you get on the Internet to show you what it looks like pale into insignificance when I look at E. The density of his spots and vesicles must be 2-3x what they normally depict. They're on his head, his ears, face, neck and torso. And round his chin and mouth there is more spot than clear skin. Elsewhere we are looking at between 20% and 50% coverage.

I can only assume it is so bad because he got it while still recovering from scarlet fever and his immune system is already depressed.

E keeps telling us not to "see". "Don't see" he says, feeling self conscious about his appearance.

They are starting to move into the blister phase which means relief is on its way, but for now he is more subdued than I have ever seen him bar when asleep, and is keeping his mind off it by playing on the computer.

He must feel rotten, and as parents you feel pretty helpless too.

***

As the day progressed it just seemed to get worse and worse and more and more crops came til there was nearly as much spot as there was clear skin. We spoke to NHS Direct (NHS Choices) and because it was a simultaneous dose of the pox and scarlet fever, they got us to talk to the emergency on call doctor. The doctor then said we should take him for a visual assessment at the Royal, after which they might admit him.

As it turned out, however bad it looks, the doctor had seen worse before (so bad that this other patient could hardly open their eyes). E is bad on the face but not quite that bad.

He was prescribed a drowsy antihistamine because he isn't sleeping on account of the discomfort, and apart from that we need to keep doing what we are doing. In another 4 days he should stop producing new crops and we will be on the way out of the tunnel.

And for our next trick...

E now has the Chicken Pox.

Well, might as well get it all over and done with on one go.

***

So, since we are not going anywhere, D is converting his Virtual Matter website (currently static HTML) into one that is driven by a database. To develop his PHP skills this is not based on an existing CMS.

Scarlet Fever

Well the official diagnosis of E is that he has a streptococcal infection (with some symptoms of Scarlet Fever) that the Doctor called Scarletina. This has resulted in a red rash and was preceded by common symptoms including nausea and vomiting (but no coating on the tongue).

E is now on a 10 day course of anti-biotics. He needs to be kept in until he has finished the course.

Because it is a "notifiable illness" we have had phone calls from the health agency. The initial contact suggested that close family members might need meds as well, but they called back later to say that they would wait to hear what the Doc said. The Doc in fact simply extended E's antibiotics course from 5 to 10 days. The Doc also told us that there were a lot of streptococcal infections in the area. This is also apparently a first for our local Nursery that E attends. At present they have Chicken Pox going round, so we were expecting E to get that. This was a total surprise.

The chances are that D's "bad cold" is also a strep infection as it is taking a bit longer to get over than the usual cold.

So far M has no sign of even a sniffle.

Plague House

MORTICIAN:Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead!

CUSTOMER: Here's one -- nine pence.

DEAD PERSON: I'm not dead!

MORTICIAN: What?

CUSTOMER: Nothing -- here's your nine pence.

DEAD PERSON: I'm not dead!

MORTICIAN: Here -- he says he's not dead!

CUSTOMER: Yes, he is.

DEAD PERSON: I'm not!

MORTICIAN: He isn't.

CUSTOMER: Well, he will be soon, he's very ill.

DEAD PERSON: I'm getting better!

CUSTOMER: No, you're not -- you'll be stone dead in a moment.

MORTICIAN: Oh, I can't take him like that -- it's against regulations.

Sorry to report that we are ill. D has had a rotten cold (man flu, aches, pains etc) since Tuesday but had to work through it, spent most of yesterday and today in bed. J has been off all week, and E appears to have just come down with it. M is the only one not to be showing signs of infection yet. Good thing too, or we would all be in a pickle.

Definitely man flu. No woman in this house got it.

Snowmen

Dan and E build snowmen, and explore the snowy garden.