<p>My doctor did not want to admit me because I was so infectious but she actually came to my home a few times that first week.
I remember sitting in the bathtub asking ‘god to take me’ saying my husband is young and handsome, my kids were good, they’ll find some one to take my place…
…Absolutely delirious.</p>
<p>It haunts me to think how I’ll react when I’m really on my death bed. :)</p>
<p>Both my kids had chicken pox but we have no medical record of it because I didn’t take them to the Dr. In both cases it was “going around” amongst the preschool set of kids their age. So I wasn’t too surprised when they got it. As a nurse, I knew what it was and knew what to do for them. Both DH and I had chicken pox so we were OK.</p>
<p>I don’t remember anything on their college healthcare forms about CP. S2 did get a letter requiring him to get a tetanus shot. S1 is now in the military and had to get tested/innoculated for everything under the sun before leaving the country. I guess his bloodwork showed he had CP. I don’t even have pictures for proof!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I didn’t take the kids to the dr either but must have mentioned it at their next checkup because it showed up in the records.</p>
<p>Scary how some of the things we took in stride back in the day now seem to cause major distress!</p>
<p>if I would have showed up at the physician with 3 kids with chicken pox I doubt i would still be a patient 
I’d probably just send the college a picture of the kids I took. In fact it was summer and a babysitter friend called me and told me she had a kiddo with chickenpox and “did i want to get this over with” and I said yes and took dropped the kids off. Sure 'nough they all three got it at the same time and i took a week off and nursed them back to health…all before the ‘vaccine.’ That’s how kids got immunity in the “olden days.”</p>
<p>mathmom, woody, and others – I had it too at 27. NOT FUN!!! I was miserable. The medication (acyclovir), which did very little, made me very, very weak. I had to cover all the mirrors in the house because I was so horrified if I ever caught a glimpse of myself. I still have scars on my face 20 years later.</p>
<p>It would not save any time, but it might be possible to do a titre test to see the level of immunity?</p>
<p>I did NOT take photos of my kiddo when he had the chicken pox. He looked awful…not something I need pics of.</p>
<p>^^yes, but all three were in the bathtub full of colloidal ‘stuff’ and they were so cute. I doubt all three were ever in a bathtub together except that week. I couldn’t resist. </p>
<p>My poor mom, my kindergarten year i missed 92 days of kindergarten. I had mumps, German measles, chickenpox, Scarlet fever and eye surgery. Fortunately I was reading before kindergarten so it wasn’t a “lost year.” The vaccines are all good, but I’m secretly glad the chickenpox happened somewhat naturally. I immunized the kids as required and available but I’m not “sold” that vaccines immunize as well as the real deal. i worry more now, because I suspect there are a whole bunch of kids coming into young adulthood who might not have had chickenpox when they were kids and I worry that the vaccine efficacy is not as strong as acquired immunity which puts them more at risk.</p>
<p>When I was a little kid our mothers used to arrange what are now called “play dates” with other kids, (who we didn’t even know), for the sole purpose of getting diseases like chicken pox, measles, mumps, etc… I was so good at German measles, I got it three times. </p>
<p>And we did the same thing to our kids who were born in the late 80’s.</p>
<p>We went through this. It had to do with the state rules around immunizations as opposed to the school’s personal rules. I thought for sure my doctor would document he’d had it even though I hadn’t taken him in – I had photos. He insisted DS take the test. Because he was an infant when he had it, he said it was possible he did not gain immunity and it was best to know and immunize if he needed it. It turned out to be no big deal to take the test and he had the immunity. The doctor did get a kick out of my bringing the photo in though. I don’t think a school would accept a photo – they need a physician to sign off.</p>
<p>And, by the way, my pediatrician said he wished other states were as strict as the one requesting the proof of chicken pox immunity.</p>
<p>Thanks Toblin…I’m sure some posters thought i was nuts.</p>
<p>Some years ago, at our preschool, a four-year-old boy died from chicken pox. So tragic.</p>
<p>We had the same issue from the college about proving for D1. The kids had the shot, at the right age. The former doc was gone and the medical records sent to the new doc, we then learned, did not include a record of that (long story.) We simply had the blood test done for D1, brought D2 at the same time. Straight into the pediatrician’s lab, did the blood sample, left. </p>
<p>I do agree to be grateful a school health center noticed. Maybe your daughter had it. Maybe the next kid never did and didn’t get immunized.</p>
<p>I had chicken pox twice. The first one was when my mom took me to a cousin’s house when I was 4 or 5 to “get if over with.” Somehow I got it again on 6th grade, my mom didn’t think it was a big deal. I was also vaccinated against rubella/german measles and got it afterwards as a teenager. It was really bad. I still have sensitive lymph nodes. I guess I don’t get immunity that easily.</p>
<p>While I understand people who made their kids get sick in the past (like my mother) didn’t mean to harm them, I am glad that is less common these days. Many of these illnesses are much more dangerous than people realize. I am sad it took a friend dying for my family to realize it.</p>
<p>Chickenpox was a very common illness for young children and not particularly dangerous. It was ‘herd’ immunization at it’s most natural since kids were contagious for a couple days before the spots appeared so just about everyone got chickenpox. Vaccines only work when everybody gets them and these days there are plenty of abstainers…that is the concern I have. It can be far more serious for older people to get chickenpox.</p>
<p>Dr.'s office gave us a form for me to sign. We’ll hope it’s enough. </p>
<p>Dd1 had cp in 1993. Because she was under 6 months old, doctor told us to expect her to get it again. When she was barely 3, I let her play with the neighbor boy who had cp, thinking she’d get them again. Nope. She got shingles instead.</p>
<p>My kids had cp at 14 and 16 months. It’s in there record. I don’t understand why the OPs documentation from a medical record isn’t sufficient. I’m so glad that chicken pox was the only childhood disease that they had to go through. I have both cp and the mumps and remember both well. I’m so old I even remember my small pox vaccine!</p>
<p>I’ve had two smallpox vaccines once in elementary school and again when I went to Europe in the mid seventies. No scars from either one, however.</p>
<p>momofthreeboys: The thing is, chicken pox can be dangerous, even for children. Regardless of herd immunity, the complications can be deadly.</p>
<p>Chickenpox is not harmless. It’s true that a large majority of children who get it recover okay. But back in the pre-vaccine era when pretty much all children got it, on average a little over a hundred children died of the chickenpox every year in the US. </p>
<p>With the advent of modern vaccines the chickenpox death rate has been cut by 97%.</p>
<p>[Deaths</a> from chickenpox down – The Chart - CNN.com Blogs](<a href=“http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/25/deaths-from-chickenpox-down/]Deaths”>http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/25/deaths-from-chickenpox-down/)</p>