[Filet Mignon]

Originally Posted by Katiana

I thank you for not blaming the nurses for the problems with your mother's chemo! We better get back on topic, about chickenpox parties. I think they're a bad idea, and that's putting it diplomatically.

Well, I understand why you think that.

My wife and I never did anything like that with our kids.

[camping!]

Originally Posted by Filet Mignon

There's certainly some merit to that train of thought!

I wonder though (and please don't take this as offense), if the vaccine didn't keep 2 of your kids from getting Chicken Pox anyway, do you think it will be effective as they get older? I do not know the answer to that question, so I'm just thinking out loud.


Also, as you know, the severity of Chicken Pox increases as kids get older. I'd guess that the thinking behind these Chicken Pox Parties is to have the kids exposed when they're still very young, and the virus won't be so severe.

No offense taken! I wonder what is the best thing to do myself. Unfortunately we won't know till our kids are well into adulthood.
Like all parents whether we choose to do the chicken pox vaccine or not, we really only want the best for our children.

[SCGranny]

I thinkt he whole "chicken pox party" idea is primarily an Eastern and Midwestern thing. I heard of them when I was in OH - in the 80's.

MY children didn't get vaccinated, of course, they were too young - but every one of them contracted chicken pox as babies. It was much easier I think than if they waited until they were toddlers; we could fold the sleeper mittens down over their hands to keep them from scratching the sores. They still rubbed them, though - and my DD has two scars on her face. She's better off than her father, whose face is deeply pitted with pox scars, from when he got them in school. I got them in First grade and it was a horrible 7 days of fever, vomiting, itchy rash, and nasty pustules all over my body. We used oatmeal baths and packs, and calomine and still - it was awful.

I am not anti-vaccine; my kids got every single vaccine, on time or early if I could do it. I had a relative die of scarlet fever, and my mom lost her hair from it. One of my dearest friends was the last person to get polio in the state of SC - he spent a year on an 'iron lung' and to this day walks with braces (he's in his 50's) and must have PT and medication throughout his life. He is physically stunted and underdeveloped, but has a brilliant mind - think what that must be like for an adult male. As an EMT I responded to a motel where there were five sick children - they all had chicken pox and were miserable, but Mom and Dad were determined to take them to Disney World on their vacation. We could not quarantine them, of course, so they went on their not-so-merry way, infecting any and everyone as they went, no doubt. The poor kids were so miserable; I can't imagine what kind of 'vacation' that was for them.

I don't want my kids to get sick from anything preventable. I know a lot of physicians and durn few are in it for the money. I would only allow a physician I trusted to put their hands on my kids. But likewise I can see why some folks wouldn't trust a physician and would prefer a 'natural' immunity. I think we draw a very fine line between parental responsibility and informed refusal... and I don't want anyone's children to pay the price for either misinformation or mistreatment, because frequently it isn't only their children paying the price - but the taxpayers who pay those financial costs, as well as unsuspecting parents whose children are unwittingly exposed to infected children.

[IsThisOneTaken?]

Saw this article posted to fark.com and thought of all of you.

Inside New York Chicken Pox Parties | Page Six Magazine | The New York Post

[Katiana]

I took a break from this thread as I was getting too wrapped up in it. However, I agree with both camping! who says parents just want what's best for their kids, and SCGranny, who talks of a trust relationship with one's health care provider (this does not mean trusting blindly, of course), and that people in the health professions are not in it just to make money. This is particularly true of pediatrics and family practice physicians, who make the least of any medical specialties.

That parents want what's best for their kids is my guiding principal in my work; I also think it is my job to help them figure out what's best. It isn't always what some actress, who has a huge publicity machine to help her, says. The anti-immunization folks have a huge internet presence.

I enjoyed the article from the New York Times. It did present some good information from some physicians. It is interesting to me as a pediatric nurse, that people who don't immunize often become very concerned when they think their kids have been exposed to vaccine-preventable diseases. The anti-immunization literature would have people believe these diseases are now non-existent, or at most, extremely rare. This is not true, and as our epidemiologists like to say, they're all only an airplane ride away.

I am posting the following link for everyone's reading enjoyment:

Unprotected People Reports Involving Chickenpox

[lookinginNE]

I am in the Paxton area of Nebraska and am also looking for a Chicken Pox Party. I am willing to travel to attend one. I hope you have luch finding one. I think I may have to travel to Colorado.