Broken By Chickenpox

So scared my hubby would fall asleep forever...

- Lianne La Borde/Fiona Locke

By Nicola Sheldon, 40, from Billericay, Essex

Watching my hubby, Jon, cradling our newborn son Harrison, my heart swelled. 

‘He’s perfect,’ Jon, then 34, gushed, tears in his eyes. 

It was December 2011 and we were so excited to start a family. 

I’d met Jon through work. He was handsome, charismatic, funny. I knew he was The One.

We moved in together within three months, married in 2009.

And now little Harrison was our world.

Only, in May 2013, Jon contracted chickenpox.

He couldn’t remember if he’d had it as a kid.

‘I’ll soon beat it,’ Jon sniffled, as he battled the flu like symptoms.

He avoided itching the spots – but, after three days, Jon had agonising pain in his shoulder, shooting down his arm.

‘It could be the start of nerve damage,’ his GP warned.

It’s a complication of chickenpox in adults.

Jon could ride it out and risk permanent nerve damage, or take anti-viral medication.

The medicine would act like chemo – strip his immune system to reboot it.

‘I’ll take the tablets,’ Jon decided.

We were warned the antivirals would wipe Jon out, but within 24 hours of his first dose, he was like death.

‘It’s like I’ve been hit by a ton of bricks,’ he groaned.

He felt like his whole body was shutting down.

‘It won’t last,’ I promised him. 

I was wrong.

The spots disappeared, but Jon became bed-bound, sleeping 20-22 hours a day.

‘I feel like I’ll stop breathing at any moment,’ he gasped. I was beside myself. 

Jon was diagnosed with post-viral fatigue. 

‘It’ll last a few weeks,’ one doctor said.