Chicken Pox Update!

Helen back now...so we didn't have any blood tests done, not sure why that was said on the phone. Got to the hospital and they wanted all the details of the contact that had been made. The consultant then called the virologists at Addenbrookes and the team of doctors there had to discuss what action to take. I asked the doctor what would happen if he caught it and he said it would be very serious and he had seen children die when in the same position. Little more serious than we first thought!

Chicken pox is spread either through touching or through droplets in the air (ie. through coughing and sneezing) whereas shingles can only be passed on by the uninfected person coming into contact with the affected person's blisters. Had the person had chicken pox or had blisters on their hands, then William would have had to stay in hospital and been given some immune boosting injections for who knows how long! However, it seems like they don't like to give the injections to very young children unless absolutely necessary. Instead they decided to err on the side of caution and prescribe William an oral medicine which he will take for a week commencing next week (one week after coming into contact with the affected person). Should William develop chicken pox, the medicine will hopefully lessen it's impact. Thankfully the steroids finish next week so we'll only have one day on 7 medicines, then back to 6 for a week, then down to 5!

As I think Steve mentioned in his earlier post we now have the difficult task for the next three months of deciding how to live! It's obviously vital that we do all we can to not knowingly expose William to the virus but not seeing anyone for three months would certainly drive me round loopy bend. The baby groups have finished for Easter which gives us a chance to have a think about them. We think our attitude will be to avoid anyone we know has the virus and be vigilant in checking William for signs of developing the pox. Where other children are present we will just try and make sure they don't sneeze on him and we will limit who can have any physical contact with him. We were told that people who had had chicken pox were pretty safe so if you're in that category you're in luck (or not in luck as Mr Boddy might say)!

So we'd like to say, if you are likely to come into contact with William please have a think and let us know whether you or your family have been in contact with someone with chicken pox within the last three weeks. If so, we shall then promptly run away from you! Likewise, if you have been in contact with William, then someone you have been in contact with recently develops chicken pox please let us know. I believe you can have the pox for up to three weeks before developing any pox. To put it simply, if anyone you know gets chicken pox or shingles tell us so we can avoid you like the plague :-)

I personally am not overly worried about this, it's not like chicken pox is all that common and I just have a peace about it. Please do pray for wisdom though for us in knowing what to go to and what not to go to! And of course for God to perhaps create a little invisible virus barrier around William!

William has continued to be super smiley today which is fab. It feels like he's developed a little personality in the last few days and we shall treasure every day of it because the fits or medicines can change that any time! His spasms are gradually getting worse again and he's been a bit upset with them today. They are still much shorter than before but they are definitely getting worse. I'm pretty sure the doctors have mentioned trying him on a drug called Vigabatrin and I've heard of another drug called Topamax which I'd like to ask the consultant about.

Anyway, we're off to bed shortly once William has finished having his milk. There's never a dull day on this blog!

And to finish...a picture of William asleep on his change mat. We have to change his nappy when we go to bed because he wees too much but he stays nice and asleep for it as demonstrated here...