My mother is in the late stages of Alzheimer's.
Last night my father got a call from the nursing home. The CNA that was caring for my mother noticed an unusual rash on her. She went to the head nurse and asked her to come and check this rash out. The head nurse looked at it and felt it was probably chicken pox. The doctor was called and he was to come in to the nursing home today and check Mimi to be sure of the diagnosis.
Today Papa called the nursing home after church to see if the doctor was in and what he found. Dr. Weckman said it is definitely chicken pox. Good Grief!!!
Papa and I have been told not to visit Mimi until they call and tell us she is not contagious. He was also advised that we have both been exposed to chicken pox now and have the possibility of contracting the disease. Yuck...on two counts...no Mimi visits and a potential disease in our future.
Papa and I neither remember or know if we have ever had chicken pox.
I definitely know each of my kids had the chicken pox, one right after the other, and I was in the house for several weeks as we went through the process with each of them. During all this care I never contracted the chicken pox. I feel pretty safe about me.
But Papa...who knows what to expect. I know there is some connection in adults between chicken pox and shingles. I tried to read up on it last night but I need to go back and study it again.
My mom is far enough along in the progression of her Alzheimer's until she can't even control her hands enough to find an itchy place to scratch. We can count that up on the blessing side of this process.
So on goes the adventure...
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