Pox Deux

Last Monday, I called my mom and announced, "It's been fifteen days since Jiro got his first spot, I guess Satchel has eluded the Chicken Pox."

On Tuesday night in the tub, Warren noticed two of the tiniest spots you've ever seen on Satchel's back. He called me in. "Do you think these are Chicken Pox?"

"Hmmm...they look more like flea bites," I said. "Jiro's spots looked more like zits."

Nevertheless, when I dried Satchel off, I did a full cavity search looking for more spots. I didn't find any. On Wednesday morning, I searched again. I saw a few more, but they still looked nothing like what Jiro had.

That evening, when I picked Satchel up from school, I noticed two red splotches on his face. "Lift up your shirt, honey," I instructed. His stomach and back were covered in spots.


"Do I have the Chicken Pox?" Satchel asked me.

"Yes, I'm afraid so," I said, calculating the number of days before Warren had to leave town in my head.

I went over to the head teacher and let her know that Satchel would probably be out the rest of the week. "I hope he doesn't get them too bad," she said.

"Jiro did pretty well," I said. "Except for the full scale attack on his left butt cheek, he was fine."

Then I looked at Satchel. "Do you feel itchy?" I asked.

"No," he said as he headed for the car.

Little did I know, I had just made a major gaffe. Not three minutes into the ride home, Satchel started whining. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"I'm itchy," he said. "And my butt hurts."

By the time we got home, Satchel had lost his ability to speak. Instead he alternated between screaming and crying. I, of course, thought it was all show--typical three-year-old drama.

By the time we finished dinner, Satchel was a sobbing mess. We gave him some 24 hour Claritin and an oatmeal bath and he was asleep before we could even get his pajamas on. Unfortunately, he woke up about every 30 minutes to scream some more. At this point, I realized it wasn't just drama. He was miserable.

By Thursday, Satchel had about a thousand spots--way more than Jiro ever did, but luckily they weren't concentrating in any one area. He remained medicated and miserable throughout the day and all day Friday. Warren took excellent care of him--so much so, he didn't want me anywhere near him. It was pretty demoralizing to have my magic mommy powers disabled, but I did get a real thrill out of watching Warren in the role of #1 Nurturer.

By Saturday, Satchel was scabby and happy.

All in all, I think we made the right decision to forgo the Chicken Pox vaccine. I'd like to say that both Satchel and Jiro got through the illness unscarred, but I literally don't know for sure. Jiro's butt is still healing and he may have a pock mark or two on his forehead. However, Satchel's pox were much smaller and appear to have barely scratched the surface of his skin.