Monday, November 26, 2012

And So It Goes

 So November, you know what?  You suck.  Housebound for a month.  I am totally freaking over it. 

Having chicken pox is not something I would recommend for adults.  Ted has had chicken pox.  Not that you'd know.  He maybe has had about twenty lesions over his entire body, had not one day of being slower, sadder or sicker than any other and has given us no respite as James and I battle on with a life half lived.

This is me today.  Sooooo much better than I have been.  Two days ago I literally could barely get out of bed.  I couldn't sit down (vesicles on my upper thighs).  I couldn't lie on my side (oh god, vesicles all down those).  I couldn't lie on my back (check out the photo below, yep one or two on my back).  I couldn't eat hot food (vesicles on my uvula and gums).  I pretty much could just about find one spot to lie in which didn't result in high pitched screams of acute pain, and just lie in it.  For a day.

 These vesicles, each and every one of them, are like fire water on my skin. They prickle like pepper, are so sensitive that even the brushing of soft fabric against them is enough to bring tears to my eyes, and as they coalesce into bigger mega-vesicles they are just evil.  Evil I tell you.  Seeing how comparatively easily Harriet and ted have sailed through their pox experiences, I am extremely grateful that they will never know this experience.  Viva immunity!

 Now it's on to James. I doubt I'll be permitted to blog any shots of him, but I figured since I did it to Harriet I need to have the gumption to do it to myself as well.  I have turned my computer on for the first time in days (in fact I had barely turned it on before then either, since the headaches were so blinding it was almost impossible to think through them) and deleted the twenty seven thousand emails that awaited me, embraced the opportunity to walk upright and even (gingerly) hug my children.  I obviously still look like a leper, it feels like I've been through hell and back to be honest, and the idea of actually getting half of what I was expecting to get done by the end of November is completely laughable.  Right now I'm working on a standard of "Huzzah!  I can walk the length of the house without crying!"  and "Look at me making dinner without feeling like I'd prefer to use the knife on myself!".   We've had some friends step up to help with basic logistics like getting Harriet to school but we are going to miss all the big stuff - the speech days and performances - that the children have been working towards all term. 

Which of course makes you realise that getting the chance to physically hug them and see them and generally be compus mentus enough to enjoy them is the biggest blessing of all, performances and speeches be damned.  Here's to (eventual) health!

6 comments:

jay said...

oh my goodness, far out, that was even excruciatingly painful to read, i cringed throughout it. oh you poor, poor things. yikes.

Clair said...

oh cass!!! you poor darling. That looks and sounds excruciating. My SIL caught the pox about 2 years back and she ended up in hospital on a drip! I hope you heal up quickly :(

Anonymous said...

I feel your pain I got them when at uni, spread like wildfire through hundreds of students. When they start to really heal up, I can't recommend dermatix to help prevent scarring. Hope you're on the mend soon. - Belinda.

Unknown said...

Shit Cass that's horrendous, you poor thing! Thank god you are on the road to recovery, let me know if I can do anything for you. Are you past the contagious period now? Let's meet up as soon as you feel up to it. xxx

casso said...

Bel - was thinking of some vE oil capsules to help with healing/scarring. I hadn't even heard of Dermatix, did you know of anyone that used a successful scar reduction idea?

Thanks everyone for your cyber sympathy! It's been pretty lonesome and honestly, I'm not exaggerating about the pain. It was almost so terrible as to be forgotten, so I wanted to be sure I wrote about it to remind myself in the future that it wasn't a figment of my imagination.

It was even worse than Rotavirus, which James and I both caught simultaneously from Harriet when she was about 6mths old. Ah, how much she's given us. ;)

JennieMo said...

God Cass...you are reminding me of my college episode of pox. I had just a few the first time as a kid...but the young adult version was terrible. I don't have many scars from my episodes...just takes a month or so to fade. The only ones that scar...are the ones you scratch off. I have two on my back and one on my chest. LOL!!
Miss you!