As submitted to http://acanac.org/blogs/geek/

Well, this week has been a challenging one, to say the least.  I'll walk you through it.  On Monday (New Years eve), my eldest daughter was supposed to go and stay at a friend's house.  When she woke up in the morning, she started throwing up and this continued throughout the day.  Needless to say, she was kept home that evening.  The next day she was still feeling a little ill and her younger sister also started to feel sick.  Assuming it was a bout of the flu, we carried on with the day-to-day.

Now I have been off from work this week on vacation.  My plan was to finish the rec room ceiling and electrical work.  On Wednesday morning, all of that changed.  I was cleaning up in my workshop in when the girls came down to let me know they had gotten out of bed.  The first words out of my 7yr old were "What are these spots all over me?"  I took her up to the bathroom so that I could see under the best lighting.  There it was, in all of its glory: the chickenpox.  I checked out my 5yr old and she was starting to break out as well.

Off to the magical blue fairy that I call Google to find some answers.  Google pointed me to the less powerful, yet equally important Wikipedia.  I'm going to summarize some of the information here for all of the parents that read my posts.  I didn't know much about the pox when I started out this week, but I am a bit of an expert now. = )

• Chickenpox is caused by the Human Herpes Virus 3 (HHV-3).
• Chickenpox has a 10-21 day incubation period.
• It is highly contagious through physical contact 2 days before symptoms appear.
• It can also be spread through the air from coughing or sneezing.
• An infected person is contagious until all of the blisters have scabbed over.
• The blisters usually last for 5-10 days.
• Scratching or itching the blisters will leave scars on the skin.
• Most people only ever have the chickenpox once.
• Pregnant woman and the elderly should avoid contact with infected persons.

The best way that we found to help the kids out was to bath them a few times each day in a bathtub filled with water and a few handfuls of baking soda.  We also give them an antihistamine medication (Benedryl) to help with the itching.  To give them peace of mind, we have been covering some of the spots with calamine lotion; however there is no evidence to support its effectiveness.

Do not give them Aspirin under any circumstances.