The Pox

Poor Jarrod has been laid low. A couple of weeks ago he complained about a bump behind his ear hurting. I felt it and dismissed it as a zit, after all he is fourteen. Then,this past Thursday night he had me feel and there were four bumps behind one ear and one behind the other ear. I then realized that they must be swollen lymph glands which is something we get really excited about around here because Darren's dad and grandfather both died of Hodgkins disease. I told Darren I would get him an appointment with the doctor on Friday. Friday morning, which was the last day of school, he woke up with what looked like a fine rash on his arms. He had mowed the day before so I just assumed he had gotten into something. I took him to the doctor and they did some blood work and said they thought he had a virus but wanted to see him back in a week to recheck his counts. The doc said the rash was "contact dermatitis" and told us to use cortisone cream on it. So all was well, or so we thought. He went out to his grandmother's house and mowed after school and then came home. I noticed that he had broken out a little more but didn't think anything more of it. I went to church for a jewelry show and when I came home he was burning with fever and the rash was getting much worse and blistering. Then it hit me....I've seen this before. This is chicken pox.

I feel like such a bad mother. The other two boys were vaccinated for chicken pox but that was not one of the vaccinations they were giving when Jarrod was little. I could have taken him to the doctor to get it later but never did. Now he is paying the price for my procrastination. He looks absolutely awful and doesn't feel much better. He stayed home from church today and laid around all day. He got up and came to the recliner and sometime along about 7:30 p.m. he moved to the couch and that was pretty much all he did all day. Hopefully he'll feel better in a few days. What a way to start summer vacation!