Katie
New To Stoneybrook
Posts: 153
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Post by Katie on Sept 3, 2007 23:48:04 GMT -5
Karen and Emily Michelle have both had the Chicken Pox vaccine (Varivax). Emily Michelle gets chicken pox and Karen points this out to Watson. Then Karen catches Chicken Pox which ruins her 10000th second grade Halloween with Hannie and Nancy. Karen and Emily are coated in spots from head to toe and the illustrations show this.
Now I thought that it was rare to catch chicken pox if you'd had the shot so how realistic was it that both Karen and Emily had it and had it so badly that they resembled one of Claudia's polka dotted ensembles?
Also Karen was downright mean to Emily in this book. Sure Karen was mad about halloween but it wasn't Emily's fault.
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Post by greer on Sept 4, 2007 0:32:55 GMT -5
Maybe ann just really wanted a chicken pox book? Also, I know that karen lost her spleen, which I believe can lower your ability to fight off infection, and emily is very little.
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mckay
Junior Sitter
Posts: 672
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Post by mckay on Sept 4, 2007 0:50:34 GMT -5
It seems really unlikely that they'd both get it. Was the chicken pox vaccine mentioned in this book? If it was, that makes no freaking sense. If it was in another book, well, blame it on poor writing, I guess.
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Post by aln1982 on Sept 4, 2007 7:52:28 GMT -5
^ I think you can get chicken pox after getting the vaccine but am not sure. And Karen and Emily may just be "lucky" kids (being sarcastic with this) who get every little thing no matter what ;D It's been a while since I've read this one so I don't remember if the vaccine was mentioned or not. I'm looking forward to rereading at Halloween as I always liked it and felt for Karen. I think it was understandable that she was mad at Emily, even though Emily didn't mean to give her the chicken pox. She wanted to be angry with someone. I can relate to this and I think others can, too, if they really think about it. Now I'm noticing all of the chicken pox ads on this thread ;D
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alula
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 406
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Post by alula on Sept 4, 2007 13:51:20 GMT -5
I think, although I'm not going to swear to it, that up to 10-20% of people who get the chicken pox vaccine can still get the disease, albeit a milder form than they probably would have had without it. (It's been a long time since I had to do any vax research, and a preliminary Google shows numbers all over the place--I'm too lazy to go find a peer-journal source right now). Vaccination just isn't that an exact science--people have differences in their immune systems with regards to reactivity, sensitivity, how long a vaccine is effective, and so forth. Usually having the vaccine makes the symptoms more mild, but that doesn't necessarily mean fewer spots; it just means avoiding the other symptoms, like the fever and sore throat and nausea, and especially not having any complications, like serious bacterial infections. For most kids, chicken pox is just a nuisance, but if it goes bad, it can go REALLY bad, and a lot of people don't realize that. It always bugs me when people take their kids to "pox parties" and stuff like that, just because a moderate or severe case can be really awful, and the parents are just thinking, "No big deal, just some itching." My mom would have shut me right up if I whined about my older brother giving me chicken pox, and it was my second go round. I missed a party I had a fancy new dress to wear to. Actually, though, it was kind of fun--my brother is almost five years older than me, so it was a treat for me when he would play with me, and in chicken pox isolation I was better than no one!
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mckay
Junior Sitter
Posts: 672
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Post by mckay on Sept 4, 2007 18:55:56 GMT -5
I started a chicken pox epidemic at my elementary school. I got it in the fourth grade, after evading the huge outbreak in my Kindergarten class, and a few others. I caught it from a friend's little sister (she went to another school) - no one at their home thought to tell me that she was sick, assuming I'd already had it. I don't remember it being that bad, though, or that itchy! I was spotted, but after the first couple of days, I didn't itch much.
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Katie
New To Stoneybrook
Posts: 153
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Post by Katie on Sept 4, 2007 21:48:32 GMT -5
When I had chicken pox I missed a Christmas pageant at church which I had a role in. Being sick for Christmas is no fun.
Karen specifically asks Watson about whether or not the chicken pox vaccine will prevent her from getting sick.
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Post by aln1982 on Sept 4, 2007 23:33:57 GMT -5
^ And he LIED, the meanie-mo! ;D I can see myself getting really mad at my dad for telling me something like that and then it turning out not to be true (guess I'm a bit of a brat, too ;D) I did have the chicken pox twice - once as a really little kid down my throat and in some.... unmentionable... places and again when I was 7. I actually didn't mind as I got to stay home from school (I hated school ;D) and everyone from my class made me a card, which I thought was really nice. I do remember being really itchy and miserable, though. Sorry to hear about the missed pageant and party, katie and alula. Who gave the chicken pox to Emily? I'm waiting to reread this one until Halloween.
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Post by greer on Sept 4, 2007 23:50:31 GMT -5
remember when mal had the chicken pox and scars in unmentionable places and only jessi knew? i always wanted to know what those places were.
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Post by aln1982 on Sept 4, 2007 23:53:53 GMT -5
;D I will say that I did discuss this with my best friend so I shouldn't laugh much. What book did Mal and the Pikes have the chicken pox in? I remember reading it but can't remember what book. Now I'm intrigued to read more about chicken pox ;D
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Post by abbystevenson on Sept 5, 2007 0:52:33 GMT -5
It was BSC # 31 - Dawn's Wicked Stepsister I had chicken pox pretty badly over spring break when I was 6.
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Post by sparklymouse on Sept 5, 2007 15:08:48 GMT -5
Karen and Emily played with some big house neighbors who later came down with the pox.
I thought Watson could have let Karen (and Andrew if he wanted) stay at the little house for a few days. Sure she was already exposed and it wouldn't have mattered anyway, but it would have gotten them out of the way while everyone dealt with Emily. I don't get why they were suddenly demanding that Karen help take care of Emily when Emily didn't give a hoot about anyone but Nanny. And not just play with Emily or keep her occupied for a bit, they wanted Karen to help bathe her, get her ready for bed, etc.
Emily looked cute in her costume, but she looked like a tiny Satan, not a goat.
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Post by aln1982 on Sept 5, 2007 16:35:24 GMT -5
^ ;D Love it about Emily. Agree about not letting them stay at the little house being kind of dumb. This was the same thing I thought in Karen's Lemonade Stand when they lost A/C at the big house. I thought Karen and Andrew (and maybe Kristy and DM ;D) should have been able to go back to the little house but no - it was the big house MONTH. Poor kids.
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Post by sparklymouse on Sept 9, 2007 17:31:13 GMT -5
This is the one where Emily was able to understand Karen's whole farm animal story enough to say "goat" immediately after Karen stopped talking and have Karen go "Good girl Emily. You said 'ghost!'" Poor Emily's probably a genius and her family's too dense to notice.
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Post by greer on Sept 10, 2007 18:29:18 GMT -5
poor emily i think that the engles/brewers seemed really focused on sticking to the custody agreement--moreso than is necessary for such small kids. i don't really understand this attitude, personally. divorce is rough enough as it is; why make it harder than necessary? like how karen and andrew couldn't go to the big house earlier if they wanted too--only at dinnertime. you'd think they would want to do everything to make it easier on the kids. i mean, wouldn't it just make sense to switch months? it seems like they wouldn't want someone like karen around who requires a lot of energy just to tolerate when someone in the family was really sick and needed a lot of extra attention.
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