Suffering from chickenpox? Welcome to the party :D

How did I get it: From a friend who got it from a friend who imported it from India. Since I had taken a vaccination for chickenpox (Okavax or something like that), I felt pretty safe in being in attendance for the aforesaid friend while he was confined to his room. Alas, no one told me that the vaccine is only effective for 5 years. And I had taken it when I was around 12 years old! Not surprising then, I spotted a tiny bubble on my left arm couple of days after my repeated good-samaritan visits. The first thought in my mind was "Oh hell! the vaccine has failed." But being the ever optimistic Saggitarian that I am, I forced myself to believe that it was a pimple. And to prove my point, took an exhaustive antibacterial bath for half an hour.

The onset: Even the appearance of couple more watery pimple-like bubbles on the back of my neck by evening were not sufficient to ebb out my optimism and I was very naively hoping that this was the last of the spots. However, I could not suppress a tiny voice at the back of my mind that it was indeed the onset of chickenpox. Within a span of 24-40 hours, there were few more spots on my tummy and much more on my back. Finally, I surrendered my mental protests to the inevitable and emailed my supervisor to inform him of the price of being a good-samaritan. I got two weeks off with kind advises and well wishes. 

Riding the storm: While I was feeling slightly feverish from the start of first spot, the manifestations became evident after two days. I had very high fever and my body looked like that of a dalmatian. The highest density of spots was on my back, which could be compared to a white porcelain plate full of mustard seeds ( many of them pea-sized). The second highest density was on my front torso. I went to NHS walk-in centre next day, only to be told that there was no apparent treatment for chickenpox and that I had to take paracetamol after every 4 hours. They also suggested to use some cream for excessive itching on the spots. Seeing that I was already taking paracetamol for my fever, and had no patience with the itching cream, I returned back to my room without gaining much insight into my condition. The next 4 days were horrible. Constant perspiration, shivering and high fever throughout those four days. Sleep was out of question and it was paracetamol which provided enough relief to be able to visit the restroom couple of times a day. Although I must admit, being in bed continuously for four days with no company did provide me enough time to go over all my heroic and not-so-heroic deeds since my childhood and to sort those out which needed commendation and those which needed repentance. The list of latter was much longer than the list of former, but I did not dwell on it much because it was time to take paracetamol :) 

I would like to mention something at this point, which is very important and the only reason for me to write this blog is - I had far less spots on my body and hardly few on my face. While all the people whom I have seen suffering from chicken-pox, had infinite number of spots all over their body and their faces resembled that of the far side of moon. I do not have a scientific explanation for this luck but I would like to hazard few common sense guesses:

a. I have a better immune system. 

b. Virus was unnaturally kind on me in its effect.

c. It might have been sheer luck with which all Saggitarians are bestowed with.

d. OR, it might have been the way I behaved during those four days. I will explain:

                    I was unable to take solid food during those four days. Partially because it was too painful to think of eating and partially because it meant cooking. Therefore, I survived on juice. The friend who suffered from chickenpox before me was kind enough to bring litres of juice to my room everyday. The ones you find in marts and corner stores; mango juice, tropical juice and others. It is worth mentioning that he also got blueberry juice once, which was so horrible in taste, it might have been the sole reason for the virus to make a hasty departure from my body. So I had litres and litres of juice in those four days, believing that the antioxidants and other good things in juices help maintain good skin and give the body power. Guess it worked for me, because at the end of it all, I escaped with a fraction of normal number of spots people get. And those spots disappeared pretty quickly after that. While the same friend did not take juices and his face and body remained polka-dotted for many months. 

Secondly, I changed my dress and bed-sheets everyday, despite every thought of not doing it. It must have helped, because in a way, I was removing all the external viruses from my clothes, pillow-cover and bed. So, less number of viruses means less horror in the end. 

So, in summary, I would suggest someone suffering from chickenpox to stay calm, take paracetamols regularly, never to scratch the over-itchy spots, maintain cleanliness and take plenty of juices. Once you are over the worst phase, double and treble wash all your clothes and your belongings. It should prevent the spread of chickenpox. Lastly, thank nature for providing a life-lasting immunity and vaccination against many such similar viruses without the cost running in hundreds of pounds!! Oh! And don't forget to give blueberry juice a try!