Chicken what???

Living On Oxygen for Life

Though I am 45 years old now, I grew up with two sisters who are healthy but had the misfortune of coming down with Chickenpox as children. That’s right… they had chickenpox and I somehow was spared the dreaded virus when my sisters had it. I wasn’t allowed in the bedroom they had to stay in together but I did talk to them from doorway when my mom wasn’t watching. Shhh!! Don’t tell!

Chickenpox is pretty contagious. For some reason my mother thought that I must have caught a really mild case of chickenpox when my sisters had it. I never really thought that I actually had chickenpox but maybe I had, as child, developed some antibodies to protect me from the chickenpox. I mean, since I was around my sisters or at least I was in the house too.

Now that I’m an adult and my mom kept thinking that I probably had a super mild case as a kid, deep down I still thought I didn’t. I was careful over the years when there were rumors of someone, within my vicinity, coming down with chickenpox. Having the chickenpox as an adult is much worse than having it as a kid. Couple that with being a respiratory and cardiac patient while having the chickenpox as an adult… well, it’s a recipe for trouble.

After hearing about a vaccine for the chickenpox in 1995 on the news a few months ago, I started wondering… Do I REALLY have antibodies for chickenpox? I thought it was time to find out for sure.

So, during my last appointment with my Primary Care physician, I asked him how likely was I to have been exposed to Chickenpox but never developed the virus to have chickenpox antibodies in me already? Hey, it was a good question, right? He said it was likely that I had antibodies. But we weren’t really sure. I wanted to get the vaccine but if I already had antibodies for the chickenpox, then I didn’t need it. The only way to know for sure was for me to get lab work done for Vericella. I told my doctor that I’m pretty sure I didnt have the antibodies and he bet me that I did. I said, “Ok, I’ll bet you some ice cream that I don’t have them.” Guess who won? I wonder if he’ll get me some ice cream.

I went today to get my first of two shots. The second will be in a month. It’s a live dose which makes me nervous. I’ve never been given a live dose of anything before…. that I know of. So wish me luck! You can read all about Vericella (chickenpox) from the CDC website.

Have a great week everyone. It was nearly 80 degrees today and I really feel for the people who live in the NorthEastern coastal states. What a blizzard!!! Stay warm! Follow my blog so you don’t miss anything! *hugs*