You Learn Something New Every Day

And it isn't always nice! I took Little Prince to the Doctor's this morning to have his rash checked out and it turns out he has adult Shingles, which is very rare in a 5 year old! He most probably had chicken pox before he was 9 months old, and as there is no record of this from when he was in foster care then it is likely that he had this when he was with birth family. We have no medical records from when Little Prince was with birth family and it is unlikely he was even registered with a doctor. I have been crying thinking of Little Prince as a tiny baby with itchy horrible chicken pox and no one around him putting his needs first. My poor little lamb. No wonder he sometimes still finds it hard to trust that adults will help him and keep him safe :-(

The doctor says he isn't contagious, unless the rash starts to be open and weeping as it has live chicken pox virus inside. It has been too long since the rash first showed up to give him antiviral medication, so all we can do is keep him dosed up with Calpol and keep the rash dry. The rash should heal up in 7-10 days and after that we will see if he has post viral neuralgia and how severe it is. Hopefully he will fully recover, but if he is still in pain the Doctor said he might have to see someone more specialised to help deal with it. Poor Little Prince :-( Once home I gave him Calpol and we went round to his friend's house, he's supposed to go and play there this morning! I left Little Prince in the car while I explained to friend's mum and asked what she wanted to do. She said let Little Prince come and play for an hour as both boys were so excited about this playdate, but that she was worried that the virus would pass to friend's grandparents (via friend) so didn't feel comfortable letting Little Prince stay any longer. At least he gets to play for a little while.