Oh yeah - you want to know the one weird thing that all that bloodwork detected?
I have no immunity to chicken pox.
The doctor's assumption was that I had never been exposed to it, but he couldn't be more wrong. Actually, I've had chicken pox twice. TWICE. Once, when I was very little, I had a mild case. A few years later, my brother got the virus, and my mom didn't think twice about it, until the little red spots started showing up on me as well. The second time around, it seems I had it pretty bad. (Honestly, I don't remember ever having chicken pox, so I just trust my mom's memory.)
So, here's where it gets really weird: you know how the chicken pox virus stays in your spine, and it can eventually flare up as shingles? And shingles is usually found in older people? Well, there are an inordinate amount of people in my life who have had shingles.
My best friend in high school (Helen)
College roommate Shea, sophomore year
College roommate Meredith, junior year
My brother
My sister-in-law
And those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
That's weird, right? I've had chicken pox twice, but I have no immunity to it. People around me keep getting shingles, but I've never contracted chicken pox from them.
So what does this have to do with my little blog about infertility? Well, chicken pox can be very dangerous to pregnant women and fetuses, and they recommend receiving the vaccine if you've never had the virus. My doctor briefed me on all of it, and he recommended that I move forward with the series of shots over a few months...and postpone conception attempts, since the vaccine could actually cause an outbreak of the virus .
Thanks but no thanks, doc. That may sound callous, but honestly - I'm around adults all of the time. I've been around several adults with shingles. I haven't contracted chicken pox. If/when I have a baby, I will get the chicken pox vaccine post-delivery.
So that's the chicken-pox plan. Just like everything else these days, it's wait and see.
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