Day 23 of Chicken Pox - The End

I think I can pretty safely say that I have finally beaten the Pox which in no way originates from Chickens. All the scabs have fallen off, meaning I am now fully healed. All very well, now that should be the end. But it is not. I thought I would get Chicken Pox, then after a few weeks I would be back to my normal self, with no evidence of ever having it and be fully immune to it. Well, I am as immune as any person who has had Chicken Pox, of the Chicken Pox virus. The answer to that is ‘Reasonably’. There is no evidence, assuming you don’t count a body full of scars and dents, and then there is not any evidence. As for being back to my normal self, I am still feeling slightly depressed and still have not regained full energy.

To quote a slightly famous band that a few people have heard of, "Scars are souvenirs you never lose" - Goo Goo Dolls. I very much agree with that statement. In fact, the now hardly seeable scar on the back of my left hand is a souvenir of the time I jumped a barbed wire fence for reasons I cannot remember. However, a big dent to the right of my nose, which is one of many ‘souvenirs’ of me getting a childhood illness late, is not one I particularly want.

I have been told by friends that ‘Chicks dig scars’. These are the same ‘Chicks’ that people talk of, that don’t want ‘fit’ guys and also judge humour, intelligence and kindness over appearance. I am pretty much living proof that girls will almost ENTIRELY judge you by your appearance and NOT on your intelligence, kindness nor humorous qualities. These are the friends that think lying will protect you. Anyway, I have drifted off subject – CHICKEN POX!

I am yet to try bio-oil, partly because I cannot be bothered with the hassle, so I cannot inform you as to whether it will help with making some of the scars disappear. I am not of the illusion that bio-oil will make the dents disappear, because that is not what it does, but I ASSUME that it will help in making them less obvious. I know it is completely different to someone having their face deformed after a car accident or an attack from a dog, but I can slightly empathise with them. There is something very odd about looking at your face in the mirror and it being different, however slight they may be. I have roughly 7 dents/scars on my face, of varying size, and every time I look in the mirror, I now stare at them, in the slight hope they will disappear (it never works).

However, it is my fault. I scratched. I loved it. Still I scratched my Chicken Pox, and that is what has left these scars. Every spot that I didn’t touch healed quicker and better. The ones I scratched and touched and played with, took longer to heal, and left a mark. It is a mark of satisfaction as I like to refer to them as. Scratching Chicken Pox is like a woman eating a bar of Chocolate. You enjoy the sensation for a few seconds until you realise you’re going to put on a small bit of weight/be left with a scar.

The moral of this story – DO NOT SCRATCH!

Still I am suffering from a lack of energy (well, less than normal) as I am finding that walking up the stairs at school, a once easy task, is now painful and completely tiring; getting to the top of two flights of stairs never used to make me out of breath and sweat. Apparently, it is normal to feel drained for quite a while after getting Chicken Pox if it was quite severe, which I assume mine must have been.

Assuming I did have Chicken Pox quite severely (I don’t know how you tell), then I will be fully immune to any future attacks from Chicken Pox (excluding Shingles). This is a relief in some ways. I didn’t want to have kids that had Chicken Pox in many years to come, and have to avoid them for a week to protect myself. Chicken Pox really did worry me. Ironically, I didn’t want to get Chicken Pox at an important time in my life, for example about 3-4 weeks before my 18^th Birthday and in the middle of A-level exam period. I was also rather worried that I might go my entire life without getting Chicken Pox, until I was 80, when it would probably kill me. Forgetting its inconvenient timing, I am absolutely relieved to have finally gotten it.

In case you are wondering, I have now got everything school-related finally sorted. I will be retaking the last year of my Photography course, and as a result, continuing on with my ICT coursework, to get a ‘fantastic’ grade, as opposed to an ‘okay’ grade. Essentially, I have a pretty easy year ahead of me – a contrast to the hectic, first year of University I was expecting. Anyway, that is all good news, if you forget all the bad stuff such as my life being put on hold a year because of a childhood illness.

I am now nearing the end of this blog post, which is the final update to this blog. As of yet, not a great deal of people have looked at this blog, but it will continue to sit at the corner of the Internet, waiting to be found by anyone who types the right words into Google. If you do have Chicken Pox, whatever your age, you have my upmost sympathy. Being 17, you get to ‘appreciate’ how bad Chicken Pox really is for people who have it, whereas when you’re 6, it is just a week off school and you pay not much notice.

Remember this Chicken Pox suffers; you will get through this horrible illness. To use an overused cliché, ‘There IS light at the end of the tunnel’, believe me. It will drag on for days, and you will hate it, and it will bug and irritate you, but it will end. You will look at your face in a few weeks, and be amazed at how bad you looked. You won’t even believe it, and you will look back at it all as if it was a dream.

Just one more message to anyone reading this who has Chicken Pox – I do hope you get better soon and it doesn’t screw your life up too much.

Much Love

Stuart

www.im-called-stuart.blogspot.com

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!

Day Two & Three Of Chicken Pox

I hope no-one was actually reading the blog day-to-day, because after two days absence, one might have presumed I died. Well, luckily I did not. I am still alive; just very tired and even lacking the motivation to scratch the annoying spot on my back, let alone write another blog. I have am entirely blaming my parents for me getting Chicken Pox at this inappropriate time. Would I have cared if I got Chicken Pox at Four years old and missed a few weeks of school; baring in mind that at school aged four we done a few maths questions then played in the sand pit the rest of the day? Probably not. Do I care about getting Chicken Pox at 17 during A-Level exam time and missing an incredibly important Photography exam? I do. If only they had made me hug more children.

                                                        

Forgetting the depressing fact that getting Chicken Pox has hindered me going to University this year, day two of Chicken Pox was worse than day one of Chicken Pox. This was expected though. More spots developed and they got itchier and itchier. Sometimes you cannot control your scratching reflexes, particularly when you are sleeping, so it is almost certain that I will have numerous scars when this whole thing is over and done with. Thinking my face will look slightly different than before, and so will my chest. Those are where the most scratching has occurred. Chicken Pox in the genital area is most uncomfortable thing ever – whether you’re male or female according my friend – The Internet. I’m a man, so I can only give half the story. It’s the itchiest of all places. Absolutely nothing will stop the itching apart from scratching. It is so tempting to scratch. I did, and it was like eating chocolate. For about 10 seconds it was so satisfying, but then you realise the repercussions. I am writing this blog entry a few days later, and I can tell you know. I really wish I hadn’t. If you thought the itching was bad, the pain it all scaring down there is actually unbearable. I have begun smothering them in E45 cream to stop any infection and any movement causes distressing pain. That is why you should not scratch while suffering from Chicken Pox.

My face during days two and three was red, blotchy and quite swollen. The skin feels very tight, and sometimes it feels like it is crawling. You can feel your skin moving. My face felt very dead. When I touched my face, I couldn’t feel it. I just felt a slight increase in pressure. It is not a very attractive virus. By this stage in my Chicken Pox, I could easily say I had about 100 or so spots just on my face, chest and back. It just is not nice. Waking up every morning and seeing more and more spots on your face is actually very soul crushing, however vain you are. I’m not vain at all, but seeing your face in this state is actually very upsetting.

Also, I still suffering with the symptoms of flu, and infact it is actually quite bad flu. The only way I could breathe was to spray a nasal decongestant up my nose every hour or so, and I managed to get through an entire box of tissues over the past few days. Then of course, you have to be incredibly careful when wiping or blowing your nose. Normally, I would do it without thinking, but of course my face is covered in all these red bots, particularly around my nose. I also completely lost my voice for a day. Well, I still had a voice, but nothing you would recognise as Stuart. Maybe a 40 year old smoker, but not me.

There are many theories as to what you can use to ease the discomfort associated with Chicken Pox. Camomile Lotion is supposed to be great at cooling down your skin and therefore making you slightly less itchy. This did not work for in – infact it just made me itchier. Using bath salts is supposed to help as well, but instead this just made the bath uncomfortable and made me itch more. I have also used this French stuff, which essentially looks like (and works like) red food colouring. Putting it on your skin does dye your skin bright blood red and look like I could be playing a murdered body from Midsummer Murders. However, it relieved the itching slightly. Today, I have used nothing. Not anything. Nout, zilch, zot – nullity. You know what, I feel much better. I don’t itch at all. Still uncomfortable, but I in no watch itch. This is probably something that affects everyone differently, but if you get/have Chicken Pox and have tried everything but still nothing has worked, and then try nothing. What harm can it do?

Technically, from when I first had the cold, I have now been ill six days, and I do not deal with illness particularly well. So far, this current stint of illness has caused a decrease in motivation, concentration, self esteem and my confidence, as well as increasing my depression levels more every day. Only six or so weeks ago I suffered from a bad virus which made me ill for about a week, so two stints in quick succession is not going to end well for me, so hopefully this Chicken Pox will not last long.

Ciao for now!