Last week Matt came out in spots and phoned me to see if he’d had Measles, I told him he’d been vaccinated against the disease which didn’t mean he couldn’t have it but it was less likely. A doctor confirmed that it wasn’t measIes but Hand, Foot and Mouth caught from his little one. Now that’s something I never heard about when I was growing up.
I remember being stunned to learn that Measles wiped out whole Pacific Island communities when the disease was introduced by Europeans because as a kid it was considered just part of life. We all expected to have a nice couple of weeks off school with Measles, Mumps and Chicken Pox. After the initial stages of feeling a bit headachey etc and having spots it was a lark although one friend seemed to have some hearing loss after her bout of Measles. We were on a caravan holiday when my sister, Jaynie, came down with it and I remember being annoyed with her because the back seat of the big, black Pontiac was darkened with a blanket and I couldn’t see out.
I never did get Chicken Pox or German Measles and actually got a chance to “star” because of a Measles outbreak.
I don’t know if it happened every year but certainly one year there was a Henley Beach Christmas Pageant and my brother, Michael, was to be on a float with a girl as “Jack and Jill” but Measles struck. The girl came down with the telltale rash and couldn’t participate so I was slotted in as her replacement and it was my face that appeared in the newspaper photos.
You didn’t know that about Nana did you?
Musings of a Retiring Person 