chicken pox diary - hour 48

Since the last diary entry, Pooky bear has been through a lot. Her first night (hours 8-18) was rough on her. She woke up repeatedly because she was in so much pain and itched at the same time. Her pox were scratched so much the night we didn't know she had them, that she had huge scabs where the pox were. By hour 18, the sores were red, very large and irritated. She still had normal chicken pox, but also had these sores (about 10 of them).

Being concerned about the chicken pox, I had plans to take Pooky with me to my Dr's app't. By our 19, I slept in and nearly missed my appointment. Pooky quickly reminded me that she was to come with me to my appointment. We both quickly got dressed and headed out the door. At the appointment, the Dr. explained that the sores were actually chicken pox which became infected. What actually happened was the first night Pooky bear became itchy on her neck, she scratched so hard it became a big infected scab. Then when the chicken pox spreaded, she would scratch her neck, then other chicken pox, therefore infecting them as well.

I felt so bad for Pooky bear and wished there was something I could have done. I did tell the Dr. I had been putting polysporin on all of the scabs. The Dr commented that is why her infection did not spread to flesh eating disease. This made me feel a lot better, knowing that my instinct to put polysporin on the sores helped Pooky.

Putting on the polysporin has not been the easiest task. She finds it very painful because of the sores. My husband and I had to both put on the polysporin on her at the same time to speed up the process. (Note - It definately helps to give acetometaphen 1 hour before hand to help with the pain) Once the polysporin was on the pain was gone and the itchiness.

She is now on antibiotics for the infection, benadryl for the inflamation and irritation, acetometaphen for the pain and polysporin. So far, this winning combination is helping combat the chicken pox and infection. She is feeling much better. Her and little monkey have been playing and getting ready to put up the Christmas tree. She is not out of the woods yet, but is 80% better than even last night.

Lessons learnt in the last 48 hours:

- teach pooky bear to call us even if she does not feel it is neccessary

- excess scratching leads to infection, which if not treated quickly can lead to flesh eating disease

- difference between reactine and benadryl: reactine - great for prevention
benadryl - great for treatment

- combination of reactine once a day and benadryl every 6 hours helps with further break out and treatment of the chicken pox. (note- I understand that chicken pox is not an allergy, but the medications used to treat allergies also help in the treatment of chicken pox. This does not mean the reactine and benadryl can prevent chicken pox, but help once chicken pox has appeared)

- erythromycin is hard on the stomach, so giving her the acetometaphen and benadryl and food 1 hour before ensures all medication will remain in her stomach and not be lost in a possible upset stomach loosing all contents. It is still important to take the medication with food as well.
My routine 1 hour before antibiotics: administer benadryl, 1/2 hour before antibiotics: administer acetometaphen. This has helped huge with pooky bear. It is important to note we did not discover this technique until hour 36.