The Measles Saga

Monkey may have the measles. Or maybe not. It depends on how you define "has". Here are the facts: He was exposed to a live (but weakened) measles virus via the MMR vaccine on the 11th. Ten days later, the typical incubation period for measles, he developed a fever followed by a rash that keeps getting worse and is now covering his entire body head to toe. I've never actually seen the measles in person before, but his rash looks exactly like the pictures on WebMD.

Now in my world, exposure to an illness followed by symptoms of that illness equals having the illness. Apparently, in the world of political medicine, the rules are a little different. According to the CDC's vaccine website and the various vaccine manufacturers, an estimated 5% of children who get the MMR vaccine will have a fever and rash 10 days after exposure. But it's NOT the measles, it's just a "reaction to exposure." Okay, then. You can call it that if it makes you feel better (and covers your butt); I say he has the measles.

But the story isn't over yet. This morning, 13 days after the vaccine, Sassy also has a fever and a few dots that I fully expect to spread. There are three possibilities:

1. We were unlucky enough that both children had the same reaction to the same vaccine at the same time. I believe the incubation of measles is 10-14 days, so this is entirely possible despite the slight delay in Sassy's symptoms.

2. Monkey got the measles, excuse me, the "reaction to exposure" from the vaccine and then passed it on to Sassy despite the claims that a vaccine-reaction rash is almost never contagious, and this explains her delay in symptoms.

3. Both children were exposed to some completely unrelated virus about the same time as the MMR, and it's just coincidence that they have a measles-like rash so close to receiving the vaccine.

Bottom line, it doesn't really matter if it's measles or not, or how they got it. They both have a viral rash. They both are crabby as all get-out but otherwise fine. There's nothing we can do but let it run its course. And we won't be going to Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, because there are 4 babies under a year in the family, and I don't want them to catch anything if it's avoidable.

Bing

Have you seen those commercials for the search engine Bing? The basic idea is that other search engines will give you links to websites that are unrelated to your search. For example, a search on "eating fish while pregnant" is as likely to link you to an article on pregnant pandas or fly fishing as it is diet during pregnancy. But if you just use Bing, the "search clutter" will be eliminated, because Bing is apparently psychic and knows what you're really looking for.

So I frequent a website (which will remain nameless because I'm embarassed to admit how much time I spend there) that is sponsored by Bing. When the page loads, Bing automatically scans the article for key words which it will then hyperlink for easy access to additional info and/or vendors. Let's see how well it works:

"Sammy rings the bell." Bing has helpfully linked "rings" to an online jewelry store. Um, I suppose it's easy to mistake the verb for the noun. Not what I'm looking for, but good try.

"He's about as well known as Peter Scolari." Peter Scolari is a little-known TV actor who does lots of guest appearances but is not a star (and yes, I had to look him up because I hadn't heard of him either), and Bing associates him with free HDTV for life from Dish Network. TV actor->HDTV? A bit of a stretch. Come on, Bing.

"They're already making oh man jokes about Oman." A humor site, perhaps? Nope, "jokes" apparently refers to your prospects of getting a low interest rate on your mortgage.

"They will need to purchase train tickets." Finally an easy one! "Train tickets" should link to Amtrak, right? Nope. "Earn $437/day working from home."

Sorry, Bing, your advertising campaign is not cutting it with me. I think I'll stick with Google and Yahoo.

Update on my kids

We had a monster appointment for all four kids last week with our primary doctor. Smartie and Sweetie have started growing again, so Dr. C feels okay with backing off the testing for now. We still have no answers for why they were losing weight. I am glad we did the testing, but I'm also okay with backing off. The girls are happy, healthy, and meeting milestones. As long as they keep growing, I'm not worried about them being small. It's only when they stopped gaining and started losing that we wanted some tests done.

Smartie is 36lb 12oz (.75%ile) and 3'10" (15%ile) at 7. She's become very conscious of what she eats, always asking how many carbs and protein foods have. She knows she needs to eat more to be healthy and is really making an effort at it. We're homeschooling her again this year for 1st grade, and she loves to read and do scientific experiments.

Sweetie is 26lb (.6%ile) and 3'2" (25%ile) at not quite 4. Her bloodwork is still a little wonky, but we no longer suspect diabetes as her A1C came back normal. She's my sweet and sensitive girl, always up for a snuggle. She's also becoming more social, enjoying Sunday school, preschool, and homeschool co-op a lot.

Sassy is 20lb (8%ile) and 29.5in (35%ile), so another relatively tall and thin girl. She's my earliest talker and latest walker, jabbering away with her talker sisters. She's a very opinionated, strong-willed little girl and definitely rules her brother despite his being more physically aggressive. She loves dress up and accessories. She was thrilled when we bought her first pair of shoes and showed them to everyone we met.

Monkey is 22lb (13%ile) and is 30in (13%ile). He's my earliest walker and latest talker, jumping off furniture and very active. He's also a practical joker (his dad's side of the family). His first joke was actually about nursing: he had been nursing for his usual amount of time when he popped off with a serious look, signed "more", leaned forward to latch back on, then yelled "ALL DONE!" And he laughed and laughed because he tricked me! The child is 15 months, only knows 2 words, and can play a joke already. Scary! :P

The twins are still nursing 2-3 times a day. The naptime nursing has become hit and miss, but morning and bedtime are still going strong. We're happy with this balance for now, and we'll see how long this ride lasts.

Thanks, everyone, for the prayers and support while we were testing the girls. Here's hoping they keep gaining.

Driving Directions

This really made me laugh.

Go to Google Maps and click on driving directions.

Enter your starting point as Tokyo Metropolis, Japan and your destination as Beijing, China.

Click "get directions".

Scroll down to step 48.

Good luck!