Chicken "Pops"

At Grady's 15 month appointment, he had a full battery of shots. I'm always a nervous wreck about these - not because of the actual needles (Grady does extremely well with them), but the after effects. Grady is what the nurse calls "hypersensitive" to them. Basically, if it has a side effect, he's probably going to show it. We know this well because of the awful injection spot reactions, and extreme fevers he's gotten in the past.

I was hopeful this round though, because the doctor said there were few side effects associated with the shots he was getting, other than maybe a slight fever a week later from the MMR one.

Fast forward 9 days. We are visiting my family in Raleigh. Grady starts to get some tiny red dots on his legs. Mosquito bites maybe? A few hours later... more spots on his legs, and a few on his back. A few hours later... the spots are spreading like wildfire all up and down his arms, legs, and back. By bedtime, he was beginning to get a couple on his face, and those tiny dots had turned into eraser and dime sized blisters. Awful! He had full blown chicken pox.
We called the nurse, and then the doctor called us as well, and both of them said this happens in less than 1% of kids (a lottery we weren't excited to win), and that there was nothing to do but give him oral Benadryl, epsom salt and baking soda baths, and cover the spots in Calamine lotion. Treat him as if he'd been exposed naturally, and it would be gone in 3-4 days.
After a tough Saturday and Sunday, he was on the mend by Monday. Tuesday I am happy to report that he is 99% spot free, and the only spot or two he still has are basically just left over irritated spots near his diaper that are healing. We are all thankful that it seems to have disappeared just as quickly as it appeared!