I did not get him the vax, then he got sick and I was told he could have died

[Mama_2_Boy]

So we are very vax selective and I like to think that I do my research and know a bit. We did only mandatory vax for my son when he turned 13 months and carried those through. Then this past spring, he got chicken pox. OK, fine. 1 week into it, he got a bad ear infection. It was dripping and oozing constantly and I brought him into emerg. It was terribly red and painful and infected and we got antibiotics. First time in his 4 years he was on them. Fine. While being looked at by the emerg doctor, he said that the chicken pox did get inside his ear. He said to me that the eardrum had ruptured and that the chicken pox could infect his brain and be fatal. He told me "this is why you should have had your son vaccinated for chicken pox" I was so surprised because I did not know this. I took him to his family doctor 3 days later for follow up and she said it was good that he did not get the vax because now that he has gotten it for real, he is protected. She said often time the vax does not work.
Ok, so my thinking is, what if the vax DID work, and my child had gotten chikcken pox in the brain? Is that something I could have prevented? I'm starting to question my choices when I feel like I've come close now to him getting very ill.

[laohaire]

The vaccine was created and marketed for convenience and cost-savings: the scenario the varicella vaccine was created for is to save working parents from taking days off to care for their children with the chicken pox. Not to "save billions of young lives every year."

But since we have been "trained" to see "vaccine-preventable diseases" as very life-threatening, once there was a vax out, we see chicken pox as a dangerous disease.

Chicken pox can have serious complications, but they are very rare. Until the vaccine was made available it was always seen as an annoying but harmless childhood disease. Just like measles was years ago.

If they come out with a vaccine for the common cold, we will suddenly hear about the millions who used to die of it.

[Marnica]

Glad your son is fine....remember he is FINE.

So he got a bad ear infection from having CP....you dealt with it and now he has lifetime immunity. Whether you choose to bend under the pressure of the fear mongering you experienced is up to you.

[2boyzmama]

When I had chicken pox as a little girl, I ended up in the hospital because I had a double ear infection, a sinus infection, a throat infection, and a vaginal infection...ALL AT ONCE, from chicken pox that had gotten into my various orifices and were infected. I was one sick little girl. This was a very extreme case, one-in-a-million-type case.

When my son (my healthy son, not my special needs son) had chicken pox last summer, he got impetigo in some of his spots and needed an antibiotic ointment. A few of them scarred a bit. The dr said it was rare, but can happen, particularly in a little boy during the summer when he was still outside getting dirty. No big deal, we treated them.

My other son (my special needs son) recently had a BUG BITE inside his ear that got infected, possibly impetigo or ring worm or maybe a staph-type infection, and he was on antibiotic ointment and oral antibiotics to kick it. The dr said that this is pretty common actually, bug bites get infected all the time because the kids scratch at them, get them dirty, etc. No big deal, just treat the infection.

What's the difference between these three??? A vaccine exists for Chicken Pox, not for bug bites.

Do I feel any guilt at all?? NOPE.

Your son was one of the rare kids who had a bit of a complication from chicken pox, the SAME complication that could have happened from a bug bite--or even a scratch!!

Also, the jump from an ear infection to a brain infection is a BIG jump, sure it's possible, but would be extremely rare, and there would be signs of the infection long before it got that severe (like in your son's case where the ear infection was obvious, and you treated it right away). Those kinds of extremely rare complications should not be a reason to vaccinate every child.

[time4another]

What if you decided not to get AAA for your car because you never broke down anyway...but one day you ran over a nail and got a flat. Had to call a tow truck and get it fixed (and pay the bill cuz you were in the middle of nowhere!). Tow truck man said, hey lady you could've gotten <insert nasty crime/natural disaster thing here> because you don't have AAA you had to wait.

What if you got AAA but got a flat tire anyway and waited...

I hope the ER doc can tell a pox from a bug bite in the ear...

[laohaire]

Originally Posted by time4another

What if you decided not to get AAA for your car because you never broke down anyway...but one day you ran over a nail and got a flat. Had to call a tow truck and get it fixed (and pay the bill cuz you were in the middle of nowhere!). Tow truck man said, hey lady you could've gotten <insert nasty crime/natural disaster thing here> because you don't have AAA you had to wait.

What if you got AAA but got a flat tire anyway and waited...

I hope the ER doc can tell a pox from a bug bite in the ear...

I'm sorry, I'm not following any of this?

[chaoticzenmom]

As I understand it, The varicella vaccine was developed for aids patients because the chicken pox was so bad for them. But the vaccine ended up being deadly for AIDS patients, so they couldn't market it there. All that money spent and no target market? So, they marketed it to healthy kids for parents convenience. Gotta make money somehow.

People say stupid stuff all the time. You know that you're doing the best you can for your son. You know that he had a busted eardrum from chicken pox. What you don't know is what would have happened if he had had the vaccine. Maybe he would have gotten ill as an adult with waning immunity and ended up even more hurt from Chicken pox. You just don't know what you don't know. Your dr. "could have died" coming in to work that day...only his chances were higher than your son dying from chicken pox.

It's normal to question our parenting decisions. It's really hard when they're sick. My daughter has a high fever right now and I worry about meningitis. But all I can do is be informed, trust her body and get her help if she needs it. Just like you did.

[fruitfulmomma]

As a pp said, when I was younger chicken pox was a normal childhood disease that everyone got. There was no vax then. No one was scared of it. Even back in the mid 90's when I babysat a little girl whose mother was a doctor and had to tell her another child in our care possibly had the chickenpox she was like no big deal and asked her daughter in a cutesy way if she wanted them.

[2cutiekitties]

Originally Posted by laohaire

The vaccine was created and marketed for convenience and cost-savings: the scenario the varicella vaccine was created for is to save working parents from taking days off to care for their children with the chicken pox. Not to "save billions of young lives every year."

Sounds like the ER doc didnt want to be inconvenienced having to deal with chicken pox.

I thought this is why too, but the aids info is interesting! If so, that is even more pathetic then the working mom thing :

[carriebft]

Sometimes rare things are going to happen, and they won't seem rare if they happen to you. But just step back and maybe relook at things and see whether that helps you get more confident. I had a rare reaction to pox and was hospitalized but my children haven't gotten the shot yet; I hope for natural immunity.

[ammiga]

Lots of things coulda-woulda-mighta happened. But they are all huge stretches and leaps from one thing that did happen. Lots of things happen to sick people, but people who are otherwise healthy and properly care for illnesses usually bounce back with no issues. Just like your son did

[angie7]

Originally Posted by ammiga

Lots of things coulda-woulda-mighta happened. But they are all huge stretches and leaps from one thing that did happen. Lots of things happen to sick people, but people who are otherwise healthy and properly care for illnesses usually bounce back with no issues. Just like your son did

:

If we all worried about the what if's in life, no one would leave their house (and there are a thousand dangers in that alone) Glad your son is fine, he happened to get a little worse case then others but he is protected for life. He is okay and he's healthy. Trust your instincts.

[KoalaMommy]

was your son admitted to the hospital? I mean, if he was so deathly ill, he should have been admitted, right?

There are plenty of kids out there who have gotten vaxed and gotten chicken pox. All illnesses carry a risk of secondary infection, and some of those kids also get those infections, and some even die.

You recognized that something bad was going on besides the chicken pox and you took your child for treatment. That's called good parenting. Honestly, that doctor should be worrying about other things. Because now your child has immunity, and he couldn't turn back the clock with his lecture and YOUR CHILD IS FINE. :