Day Eight & Nine Of Chicken Pox

Over a week of having Chicken Pox and I can happily say the (to use an overused cliché) there is light at the end of the spotty tunnel. Body has almost stopped itching and scabs are nearing the end of their life on my body. All in all, it is easy to say that a virus that was expected to take 10 days to heal as only taken about eight, so I am very proud of my immune system.

Due to the virus ending, it has meant that on Tuesday I final managed to shave and comb my hair back to normality. The stubble finally went on Tuesday and that was a painful experience – however, I lost no blood as a result so it did go better than I expected. It has revealed a face that is still quite red and patchy. I do wonder how long it will take for my skin to fully recover from being completely covered in Chicken Pox. I never thought my skin was that nice before, but now I think it was lovely.

While having Chicken Pox, I have bathed every day and not only does it stop you from smelling (because not only do you look bad, but you smell bad too) but it also helps to relieve the itching. For me, I have not put any fancy bath salts or Bicarbonate Soda in the bath as I found it just made me itch more. The Internet is full of people suggesting ways to relieve the itching and what-not, but I have actually found that using absolutely nothing helps. I know I have already said this in a previous blog, but I just want to reiterate the point. One thing I have found useful during the scabbing period is E45 cream, or any moisturising cream would help. It helps the skin to recover quicker. If you use it on your face and you haven’t shaved for over a week, it does get stuck in the beard, but that is a small price to pay.

At this point in the Chicken Pox illness, I feel absolutely fine. If I was to never look in the mirror, I would think that there was nothing wrong with me. My body is now just repairing the skin. Slowly, but I want it done properly. I am already aware of a few scars/dents that Chicken Pox is leaving. I have a rather big one in the chest and a few small ones by my nose thus far. I am sure there will be more though.

My appetite has yet to return though. Getting ill is the only way in which I seem able to lose weight, which is slightly worrying. At the moment, I am hungry, but as soon as I start to eat, the hunger will disappear and I will only eat a small amount. This is a shame, but the only thing which is wrong with me now is lack of energy. I feel like I have been ill as I feel so drained emotionally and physically. Of course, part of this is due to the lack of eating, and thus the paradox continues.

I have come off of all the drugs I was on. Anti-Histamines were the first to go as they are suppose to slower your driving reaction speed, so seeing as I want to go out, they have gone. They were supposed to stop my itching too, but I never really felt their benefits. Essentially, anything that was designed to stop me itching I seemed immune to, which was not a great help. The second to go were the Paracetamol. This was just generally used to relieve all the aches and pains that also come with Chicken Pox. I was taken eight a day, plus the Anti-Histamines, so ten tablets a day - not even druggies take that much.

Seeing as I am pretty much better, I have no excuse to no longer be at school, so on Wednesday I shall be returning to school so my peers can all ask ‘How are you feeling?’ and drive me made with the question being constantly asked. I have missed school and my friends. Chicken Pox is a soul-crushing illness and all you want is a hug. Of course, it would be careless to hug people when you have a virus, whether they have had Chicken Pox before or not. I am looking forward to getting a few hugs, and hopefully it will help me down from the tower of depression and back onto the flatlands of being content.

There is not really a great deal to say really that wouldn’t just be repetitive or even more boring, so I shall end the blog here. I am planning two more updates here. One to go through my first few days back at school and how everyone reacted to someone with a scabby face, and the other when I have fully recovered and healed to explain anything else that may happen and go through all my dents and scars. I may buy some Bio-oil...

Ciao for now!

Day Six & Seven Of Chicken Pox

The weekend and I could happily say that the end was in sight. First day with no fresh new spots and they were all beginning the slow process of healing. Scabs are awful things, and they do not look nice. I no longer looked like I had been suffering with Chicken Pox and instead look like I had been attacked - with a very sharp pencil. I have a name for every stage of the Chicken Pox process.

The first stage is when the first spots start coming out, and this quite rightly I have named the ‘Puberty Stage’. The second stage is when the face is covered with these spots and has dramatically swollen, and I named this the ‘Elephant Man Stage’. Thirdly, and disgustingly, is when the spots burst and the puss dries and I think this is the ‘Elephant Man With A Fungal Infection Stage’. Then you have the stage I am on now when the face has gone back to its normal size, scabs have formed and the dried puss fallen off, which is the ‘Attacked With A Sharp Pencil Stage’.

I hit depression again the weekend though which was not good. Whenever I am ill for more than a few days, you can almost guarantee that at some point I will suffer from depression. Maybe I do have some server mental problem, but that is a problem for another year. A letter confirming my University cancellation was the final brick in the towering depression. Anyway, the weekend was not the most cheerful of time for me, but the fact that I was beginning to heal, a few days ahead of the Doctor’s prediction was good. There is hope for my immune system yet.

Me getting Chicken Pox is somewhat of a relief though. All my childhood my Mum tried desperately to make me have the virus, but of course my body was very stubborn and refused to get it. I finally have it, and I have had it young enough to avoid any major complications. Sure, my scars will be worse than normal, but that is something I can live with. The timing was not brilliant, but at least they are out the way and another major event in my life has passed quite uneventfully.

I still at this stage had the beard and left-parted hair which made me look worse and less like Stuart, but of course you still cannot shave when you have Scabs as that will hinder the healing process for a few days and the hair being swept to the side stopped it getting stuck in my healing forehead. To be honest, I hope no-one ever reads this blog while eating because I have a suspicion I would put them off. Chicken Pox is actually quite a disgusting virus to explain to someone. I do feel very sorry for the friends that have asked the fatal question of ‘How are the Chicken Pox today?’ as more than often I have returned with a visual description of the stage I currently was at.

Webcam is a brilliant invention also for those who didn’t believe that Chicken Pox could be so bad and couldn’t understand why I was making a big fuss over it. I am sure many people had nightmares after seeing my mug on their screen during the ‘Elephant Man With A Fungal Infection Stage’. It is a shame I got Chicken Pox in May instead of the end of October. Would have been much cheaper than a plastic Halloween mask, and certainly would have scared any small children coming around for a handful of sweets. May also have made people think twice before egging the house, for there was a strange monster that might devour them.

Other than all that, my Chicken Pox is fine. Another few days and I will be recovered enough to return to my normal routine of going to school every day. Just need the scabs to heal over better. Very proud of my Immune System though! Thank-you.

Ciao for now!

Day Four & Five Of Chicken Pox

In comparison to Wednesday and how I looked and felt, at this stage of the dreaded virus I looked beautiful and could do anything. However, the bitter reality is that I was from beautiful (by this, I mean my normal state, which on a normal average day isn’t anything great) and I couldn’t do anything really. Thursday and Friday (Day Four and Five) I was not planning on sitting in bed at 10 in the morning watching the Jeremy Kyle show in disgust while laughing at a woman’s high pitched voiced telling me about her cheating husband while clutching a tissue, I was indeed suppose to be sitting my Photography Exam.  Thursday was indeed a very low and depressing day for me...

After I had an uncomfortable night Tuesday, which caused me to be incredibly tired and sleepy Wednesday, I was happy to sleep the entire night through Wednesday, so this was a big morale booster for Thursday and Friday for me. You find that sleep is very uncomfortable with Chicken Pox. It feels like you are sleeping on a pillow made of Rice Krispies. Also, you find during the night you not only wake up with more spots on your torso, but that’s you’ve scratched. I spend the entire day concentrating on not scratching any part of my body in order not to be left with scaring, but then I go and ruin it during the night.

Everyone knows that when you get Chicken Pox, it covers your body and you get them everywhere. However, people don’t realise that it is EVERYWHERE. Without going into too much detail, your genitals do not escape this virus. Alarming is the fact that Chicken Pox is actually from the Hepatitis family. Essentially, I have tried my best not to look. Itching is the worse. I thought my chest and back was bad, but as soon as the spots popped up around my manhood, I forgot about all other itching. As I’ve said, you can only control yourself when you’re awake, so let us just say I am paying for scratching during the night. A lot of cream has been used. Just painful. The Doctor never told me about that. He told me about everything else to expect from Chicken Pox, apart from that one fact that I, as a man, found very important.

Chicken Pox are compared to Volcano’s a lot. You don’t develop Chicken Pox spots, or they don’t just ‘come out’. Instead, the medical term for getting Chicken Pox spots is an eruption. My sick note contains the words ‘...when Stuart erupted into Chicken Pox’. I read the word ‘erupted’ a lot on the Internet as well when reading about this, and to me it just sounds like a Journalist from The Sun wrote all the medical journals about Chicken Pox. It sounds much sensationalised. They’re Chicken Pox, and they are not nice, but I do not think they really need to be exaggerated to that level.

(Next paragraph not for the squeamish)

The reason I think that Chicken Pox are described as a Volcano is this: The spot appears like a normal spot which one of a similar age to me will get every few days due to being a teenager. Then of course after a day or so, the spot bursts and lovely puss comes out the top, much like an erupting Volcano. Then, the crust will dry and harden; like the lava from a Volcano once it has cooled. This allows the spot to heal, before that falls off and reveals a scab which will inevitably follow suit and then, fingers crossed, no scaring will be found.

(Welcome back squeamish reader(s))

My face seems to be about a day ahead of the rest of my body, with it by Friday already beginning to recover. After it was incredibly swollen in mid-week, Friday it had calmed down and beginning to scab over to heal. Good news. However, I am a person who likes to be clean and shaven. I don’t do stubble, beards, goatees, moustaches, or any other facial hair. I’ve not Shaved since Saturday, so by Friday, it was an entire week. It doesn’t help as I am not sure whether my face is itching as a result of the scabbing or the mass of hair. I cannot shave until the scabs have healed because any damage done to them, could result in me having scars on my. Not good at all. I want this Chicken Pox to finish; not so I can return to school and see my friends, but just so I can go back to having a lovely shave.

I have not been able to work out the origin of my Chicken Pox. Apart from the fact that Chicken Pox is a virus which is very easily shared amongst other people by contact or by air-borne molecules. However, it has been pointed down to Margate, a seaside place in the east of Kent. The area is currently in the midst of a Chicken Pox ‘pandemic’ (I use that word very uselessly though) and about two weeks ago, I went there with my friends, ironically to allow me to do some Photography work. I now hate Margate, and I would appreciate it if anyone reading this would join me in fist-shaking in the general direction of Margate. Point your fist – AND shake it in anger.

Thank-you.

Ciao for now!