Conference moira::parenting_v3

    Kathryn:
    
    I was the product of a generation whereby "Moms PREFERRED" that if 
    one of the kid's got mumps, then ALL the kids should get it (at the 
    same time ... and thus get it all over with "at once"!).
    
    Well, I have an older brother and a younger sister.  I have had very
    few childhood diseases ... and I've been subjected to every one of them
    many times over the years!  It will be interesting to see how many I
    get from JA!
    
    Now with vaccines, I do believe you hear less and less about those
    "standard childhood diseases", HOWEVER, Jim's kid sister (now 7) still
    did contact some of them (chicken pox, etc.).
    
    JA's had her share of ear infections (seems to be related to teething).
    Well, I was overtired and frazzled by the last one (a week ago), so I
    talked Jim into going to the Pedi's office with me to "consult" with
    the Pedi about JA's long string of ear infections.  Pedi didn't seem too
    bothered by them (another long story!), but Pedi did say that JA's got
    a file the thickness of an average 2 year old and, at the rate she's
    going, her immune system will be totally loaded BEFORE the age of 2.
    
    Pedi told us that we can't PROTECT her from the environment, we can
    only try to avoid DELIBERATELY SUBJECTING her to "stuff" ... and per
    Jim's comment, Pedi agreed that it's not recommended practice (any
    more!) to bunch the kids such that they all get the mumps (or
    whatever!) so they can then get it over with.
    
    I think I also noticed that the MMR vaccine isn't given until round
    about 18 months  (shots chart is in each examing room -- and having
    read each one of them a thousand times, I can't believe it's not
    imbedded in my memory bank! -- but I think it was 18 months).
    
    So if I were you ... well, I would also make alternate sitting
    arrangements until a diagnosis is made.  I'd probably call the Pedi's
    nurse and ask for some "assuring words of semi-wisdom".  But we all
    know that the contagious stage is BEFORE the "results" and, thus, if
    any exposure is imminent, any possible damage has already been done!
    
    I don't wish any of this childhood illness stuff on my kid, HOWEVER, I
    also realize that there's not an awful lot I can do to avoid it ...
    since the damage is done before we know the results!  We can only hope
    that all parents will take ample precautions against warning other
    parents of the possible exposure (which your sitter did).  I also think
    we pick up most of our viruses and colds from the MANY "sick" kids you
    find in the grocery store, playgrounds and Pedi's office!  (Try to stop
    your kid from chewing on the Pedi toys - which sick kids have probably
    just finished drolling on! - or your kitchen table legs, or the corners
    of your coffee table, or the discards in the kitchen trash, or the dog
    food (and the list is ever-ending!).
    
    Unfortunately, there's just so much we can do to protect our kids from
    their environment!!!  But we will (and always should!) keep trying.
    
    Good luck, Kathryn, and hopefully Your-Little-One will be just fine.
    
    Dottie
    
    PS:  The way I stopped JA from eatting the dog's food was to place the
         kitchen trash basket on top of the dog dishes.  Hummm, seemed to
         work -- until I found her picking through the trash!!!
    
    

I would definitely keep your little one away for now.  MMPS is definitly 
contagious.  I remember when I did it, I managed to get it on both sides.  
None of my sisters, playmates or Dad got it - they also stayed a good distance
away from me. Everyone except MOM kept there distance, and I rewarded Mom by 
giving her the mumps (but only on one side!)

Good luck!

Be very careful that any men who are exposed to a child with mumps have
already had mumps or were immunized against it.  Mumps in an adult male
can be extremely damaging, and usually causes sterility.

				Steve

    re:-1
    
    Yeah, I thought I heard something about sterility in adult males
    before.  Good thing I brought her to my back-up sitter today -
    especially because my husband is supposed to pick her up this
    afternoon.  I *definately* want to have another child someday!
    I called my sitter earlier, but she's not home (probably at the
    pedi's office) so I don't know about Timmy's diagnosis yet.  In
    the old medical book I've got, it said that the contagious period
    lasts all through the illness and that the incubation period is
    14-21 days.  I guess I'll find out soon enough id Ally has been
    exposed to it.  Who knows - she may have even picked it up from
    whoever Timmy got it from and hasn't shown any signs of it yet...
    
    - Kathryn
    

I remember reading that mumps is one of those diseases that is on the
verge of being wiped out.

All my siblings had mumps, but I don't think I ever got them.  In my 
pediatric medical file the doctor wrote "may have a slight case of mumps."
In other words, they weren't really sure if I had them or not.  It's better
to get them when you are younger (you don't get as sick, and they can cause
compilications in adults, such as sterility in males).  When I was in 2nd
grade, my friend got them, so my parents had me spend an entire day at her
house playing with her so I would catch them.  Well, it didn't work because
I didn't catch them.  (Maybe I DID have a mild case of them after all.)

Check with your pedi. if you have concerns.

� �ori

    re:-1
    
    Did they close the center because of mumps???
    
    Anyway...  I just talked to my sitter and it turns out that Timmy
    doesn't have the mumps after all.  Just swollen glands on one side
    and possibly a virus.  I had it a few weeks back and I think I caught
    it from my daughter...  All this info about mumps has been helpful,
    though.
    
    - Kathryn
    

    Sorry, the note regarding the daycare center closing was meant to
    go in another note and sort of got bumbed into this one!
    
    So, don't worry ! Nobody closed down cuz of Mumps!
    
    Dot

    I would be glad to see it wiped out, because if it's around
    anywhere, I'm certainly going to get it again! Some people don't
    retain an immunity to mumps.  I've had it four times -- yucky
    disease.  Achy, sore throat, grumpy . . . 
    
    There's an antibody test they can do to see whether you've had the
    mumps, and after I had what appeared to be mumps the third time at
    around 18,  my doctor gave it to me to see whether it was really
    mumps.  I showed as no, never, so he gave me the vaccine (which I
    recall being kind of new? This would have been 1972.) Six months
    later -- no trace of antibodies.  At 21, I got the mumps again.  I
    showed positive on the test a month after I had the disease, so
    they know it was mumps, but again, six months later all my
    immunity was gone.
    
    --bonnie

re Note 114.7 by SAGE::MACDONALD_K:

>                                 -< False Alarm >-
>     Anyway...  I just talked to my sitter and it turns out that Timmy
>     doesn't have the mumps after all.  Just swollen glands on one side
>     and possibly a virus.  I had it a few weeks back and I think I caught
>     it from my daughter...  

        So what is the difference between mumps and "swollen glands"
        with "a virus" -- isn't that essentially what mumps is?

        How did they decide that Timmy didn't have mumps, but
        something else?

        Bob

        P.S. by the way, I now have swollen glands which my doctor is
        pretty certain is caused by a virus.  His basic conclusion
        was that if I had mumps as a child, then I must have
        some other virus; otherwise I've got the mumps.  It was not
        clear from his explanation whether I was infected by genuine
        mumps or just some other virus that manifested itself in a
        similar way.

    re: -1
    
    Sorry, Bob...  I have no idea why they ruled out mumps and it didn't
    even occur to me to ask what the difference between the two were.
    Maybe mumps is simply a more severe case of swollen glands???  You've
    raised an interesting point, however.  Oh, and Timmy was fine by the
    evening after he saw the doctor.  No more swollen glands...
    
    Hope you feel better soon,
    Kathryn
    

    Mumps are swollen glands that are caused by a specific virus whose
    name I don't remember -- maybe one of the medically knowledgeable
    parents can fill it in.  But many other viruses can cause swollen
    glands, because the function of these glands is to filter the
    viruses out of the body before they cause illness.  This filtering
    can cause the glands to become swollen and sore, I think basically
    from overwork.  It clears up in a day or two.  
    
    This is often the underlying cause of tonsilitis -- the tonsils
    get swollen from filtering out a viral infection, and while
    they're in this vulnerable state, a bacterial infection can invade
    them. 
    
    I think mumps actually infects the glands, but I'm not sure on
    that point.  There's a test they can do to see whether it's really
    the mumps virus.
    
    I'm surprised your doctor isn't more concerned about it, Bob,
    since mumps can cause serious complications in adult males.  
    
    --bonnie

    Most children receive vaccinations for Mumps.  Sometimes those swollen
    glands or earaches are syptoms of strep throat.  When I was 7 years
    old, my two younger sisters and I had Mumps in 1969.  Unfortunately,
    I lost all hearing in my left ear.  Letting children purposely
    contracting Mumps is not a good idea when there is a vaccination
    available today!