Had this sms from my friend a while back, want to share this prayer out to all those who is in need of God’s strength.

Father, we cannot see beyond today. We surrender our lives into your hands. Please hold in safekeeping our hearts, heal it and place in it assurance of peace, joy and love.

Thank you for your concern my dear friend. And most of all thank you Lord for being our righteous and merciful savior.

La vie n’a pas de sens sans vous, la vie n’a pas de but sans vous. La douleur ne disparaît pas, ni ne le goût sucré de vos lèvres. Je n’abandonnerai pas. Je ne peux pas abandonner.

Parce que je ne peux pas trahir l’amour que vous m’avez donné.

Well, its official. I finally got my long overdued chicken pox. Yeah yeah, I know I should’ve gotten it earlier, so that it won’t be so severe. But hey, I’m not going to put up an advert to ask people with chicken pox to approach me am I?

It so happens this is the first time I was in close quarters with somebody with chicken pox.

Well, the reason I’m blogging about this is that I can’t sleep coz it hurts & itch so much to share some of my horrid experience with the world and some do’s and don’ts that I think will prevent from making it worse.

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IMPORTANT NOTE :

I am NOT a trained medical professional and all the opinions below are strictly my own. Follow my advise at your own risk.

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1) Don’t blame the wrong people.

Lets do some wikipeding :-

Chickenpox is a highly contagious illness caused by primary infection with varicella zoster virus (VZV). It generally begins with spots appearing in two or three waves, mainly on the body and head rather than the hands and becoming itchy raw pockmarks, small open sores which heal mostly without scarring.

Chickenpox has a 10-21 day incubation period and is spread easily through aerosolized droplets from the nasopharynx of ill individuals or through direct contact with secretions from the rash. Following primary infection there is usually lifelong protective immunity from further episodes of chickenpox.

[source]

So you see, the desease would only be infectious until the rashes started to appear. So if you get the pox with a friend or colleague, and both of you starts having the symptoms about the same time. Most likely somebody else gave it to you both.

So don’t blame the one that fall sick first. Unless he/she came in contact with you with a body full of rashes or still subsiding 10-21 days before your symptoms show.

2) Don’t think its just a fever / headache / rash / huge pimple

To those who haven’t got the pox yet, I think they should always be on the look out when little bit of the symptoms starts showing.

IT HELPS A LOT WHEN YOU TREAT IT EARLIER.

Some precurring symptoms that I’ve went through :-

1. Fever with HUGE HUGE headache
2. Your head feels very hot and about to explode.
3. Recurring fever.
4. Huge painful pimple/appearing (in my case around my head & neck).
5. The headache won’t go away. So is the feeling of very-hot-ness.

If you have most of those symptoms showing, you should be on alert and check out for any new formation of sores/pimples, especially those that appear to be reddish in color.

3) Don’t wait

If you can see sores and rashes appearing (in places you would never imagine) it is probably the start of the first wave of the chickenpox attack.

You will easily see the distintive sores with water pockets at the middle.

Get to the doctor, or your parents if you’re a minor, IMMEDIATELY. They will know what to do.

4) Do some basic grooming

If you feel like you’re going to get the pox, its best to go cut your hair first if you have the chance. It makes a lot of different, believe me, when the sores starts to come out on your scalp.

Cut your finger nails/toe nails. You want to be able to scratch lightly when you couldn’t take the itch, and not wounding the sores.

5) Don’t wear tight clothings

Need I explain anymore?

You’ll feel so uncomfortable you wish you could walk around naked.

6) Don’t skip your meds

I know its tempting to think that its getting a lot better after your meds during the first few days, because the medicine had killed the virusses right?

WRONG.

Like most viral deseases, it won’t get better until your body has developed the antibody for it. In the case of chicken pox, the body will build up the immunity against the virus. And it takes at least 4-5 days do that.

So expect a second or third wave (if you’re so unlucky) of the pox appearing.

The meds that doctors gave will suppress it, and treat your symptoms (ie. fever, pain, itchiness), but not cure it. That part is left to your body’s immune system. And it takes time.

Put on lots of calamine lotion, don’t be shy to get another bottle from the doctor. It will help cool you down and kill bacterias on your skin that will cause infection.

7) Don’t sleep with thick blanket

The moment I cover myself with my blanket, I knew something was wrong.

Basically you will feel the rashes all over your body dancing and jumping together. Not a good feeling.

And if you slept in it. I can assure you next day you’ll wake up with lots more rashes.

If you’re really cold, try to get one of those bath towels. They should be quite thin and can provide some insulation.

8 ) Don’t scratch

I know its hard. Believe me I know.

But trust me if you scratch it until it’s burst. You will feel pain, not itch. And you’ll leave with scars.

So, don’t scratch.

9) Drink more cooling drinks

Well the most commonly recommended drinks that people would recommend you would be coconut water.

Get the one that’s pure, not diluted and no sugar. Straight from the coconut.

10) Maintain good hygiene

It is important to maintain good hygiene and daily cleaning of skin with warm water to avoid secondary bacterial infection. [source]

11) Grit your teeth and pray to God that it will be over soon

It is a spiritual battle. If it’s not itchy its painful, if it’s not painful its itchy. There’s no other way around it.

This is the time you’ll need the Lord’s strength to get you through this.

12) Get the vaccine

I know, it’s a bit too late for that.

BUT, what you can do is to tell those who don’t know about it to go and get the vaccine. And I’m sure with your horrifying experience, you will have little problem convincing them.

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So, that about it. I hope anyone who reads this have a rough idea what to do and what not to do during your episode.

To those who are suffering like me, I feel all of you out there. And my prayers are with you.

You have stopped talking to me. I know its hard for both of us when we need time and space to forget about each other. Or maybe I’m just naive in thinking that we could remain as close friends who once shared each others life’s stories.

You said to me that you’re relieved and you have a lot of things to look forward to. I’m happy for you. I’m glad I didn’t made it worse like last time.

It seems like it all turned out to be just like what your friends had told you before, that we wouldn’t stand a chance together. And seeing you happy and relieved just confirms that even more.

I don’t know why God brought you into my life. There’s something special about you the first time I saw you. I guess I was in love with you too since a long long time ago.

And now that you’ve started to keep away from me in anyway you can, I couldn’t help but to wonder about how your life’s been.

I miss you so much … I would give anything to bring you back … but it isn’t enough it is? It just wasn’t meant to be isn’t it?

You’re a big girl, I respect your decision and will honour my promises to you. I pray for both of us that God will ease our pain and help us move on with our lives.

But you hold the key to my heart, and now with you gone, I’m afraid that my heart will never be opened again.

The last thing she said to me was “I’m sure you’re not the guy for my future … I want to move on with my life without you …”

Life’s been a great teacher, it so often gives us the most important lessons that we could ever ask for. And like most students, we will never learn before we had actually been punished. And that punishment, be it physical or mental, will make us remember our lessons for the rest of our lives.

As I’ve walked pass a quarter of my lifetime, I find that the most difficult punishment to bare, are not of those inflicted by sticks and stones, but are the regrets of the pass that haunts us in every breath we take thereafter. They are the most cruel punishment that anybody can receive.

As so, I swore to myself long ago, not to put myself in that situation under any circumstances. And that if I know and believed that what I’m do is right, I would stand by my decisions no matter how hard it would be.

Do not take me as a child who knows no consequences, as I know well that the worse consequence are the things you would never get a second chance. And no amount of money and wealth can make up for it.

I make my own path. Even though its tough, but it is my path, and I’m going to take it. What would the world be today, if everyone just follow what existing path available to them?

A safe, certain, secure, easy path is irrelevant, if the destination is not of your own choice. And at the end of the day, all you do is ending up at the wrong place, looking back at the crossroad that passed by that day, along with those people who jump on the bandwagon. And regret why you do not have the courage to make your own path on that faithful moment?

So, believe me when I say, don’t be so quick to think that you’re smart to have arrived somewhere so fast and easy, it might just not be the place you want to be in the first place.

That said, as I am taking a long hard look through the path that I’m walking through now, and saw my destination. I said to myself, “Thank you Lord for being with me up till now. I’m glad to be here, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.”

“I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” – Phi 4:13