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Wednesday, April 10, 2019

German Measles


German Measles

The other day I was surfing the net, looking for Sunday Stupid Headlines and I saw this:


Kind of a funny story, except it happened to me.

A zillion years ago, an eleven-year-old future cranky old man was reading comic books.  One of the comics, perhaps a Little Lulu, had a funny bit about someone putting spots on their face to fake the measles and get out of school.

I thought this an interesting idea, and purely as a prank, as it was a Friday night and there was no school the next day; I mimicked measles spots on my face with Mercurochrome. Mercurochrome was a bacterium killing ingredient that was used on kids scratches instead of iodine as it did not sting.   (No longer used due to mercury poisoning or some such silly worry.)

Anyway, as a joke I told my mom, “I think I have the measles.”  As I had already had the measles, I figured she would laugh and then ask, “What have you done?”

Instead she assumed I had Rubella, or what we called German Measles.

She got panicky and immediately sent me to bed.  I did not want to go to bed as it was a Saturday.  Who wants to go to bed on a Saturday?  Also, my brother was scheduled to play that day in a High School Lacrosse all-star game.   Jim was a really good Lacrosse player and I was looking forward to this game.

I told my mom it was just a joke and washed the spots off my face…only they did not come off.  Soon I was feeling really crappy, headache and tired beyond belief…any bright lights were painful.

Talk about karma, I actually had come down with German Measles. 

I spent the next couple of days in bed with no lights and the blinds drawn.  I missed my brother playing in the all-star game, a big disappointment.

I do remember, that after that game my brother came up to my room with his then girlfriend, with a stack full of brand-new comic books and some candy.  Brothers don’t usually do nice things for each other, at least not for younger brothers, I was six years younger than Jim and generally a pain in his butt. 

I think maybe he was a little disappointed that I could not be at the game to enjoy his success…he was a damn good Lacrosse player, he played four years in college at Duke.

Anyway, it was kind of a funny story, karma kicked me in the butt, but left me with a fond memory none-the-less.

14 comments:

  1. German measles were horrible. For a week, my 2 brothers and I lay in dark rooms and cried. Sorry this was your experience too.

    Parents against immunizations have no idea what can happen. And there is a strong drive to prevent students enrolling who have not had vaccines. German measles, mumps, chicken pox--all can have horrible consequences for those who have not had the vaccines.

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  2. I think there is a lot of confusion about measles vs German measles, but I won't go into it here. Sorry that you had to stay in bed and miss the match though.

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  3. What a coincidence! None of those illnesses are fun, i remember chicken pox (measles and mumps i had when i was under age 3 and i don't remember a thing, although i'm sure i was miserable).

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  4. In reality, I'm sure you were catching the German measles while you were preparing yourself for pretending you have them. I do remember those days of having to be in the dark room. I'm thinking that's got to be one of the measles they vaccinate against these days because I haven't heard them being around for a bit, though did hear there was a measles outbreak in Oregon a month or so back.

    betty

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  5. I had them, and I survived! The worst part was, I didn't get the measles until 9th grade, and I got sent home from school with them! That's after the secretary looked me over like a monkey checking her baby for lice, right there in the office! I felt like I had a really bad cold, with watering eyes and sniffles. The spots had just started to appear. It was the spots on my scalp and stomach that betrayed me.

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  6. It is too long ago but I think I was about five or six when I got the measles. I remember having to stay in bed in a dark room. Wonder if dark room treatment is still carried out.

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  7. I had them all in the 50's and 60's. Mumps,rubella. scarlet fever you name it and I got it. I was 12 when I got measles. I woke up in the morning with spots on my face! Was sure I got pimples and proceeded top really scrub my face with a wash cloth until I was bleeding. Went downstairs and my Mother almost cracked a rib laughing. I never forgave her for that.....

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  8. Oh my, what timing on your part. I'm glad it's a fond memory though.

    Have a fabulous day, Joe. 😎

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  9. This is incredible. I mean, what are the chances? One in a million?

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  10. The same thing happen to me when I was growing up, only mind was the mumps. I wanted to get out of doing chores and told my mom I felt bad I think I may be taking the mumps. Next morning I had the mumps. I think someone higher up was punishing us..

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  11. Mercurochrome was used widely in olden days ... before they invented Health and Safety.

    God bless.

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  12. Aww, heck, what a dirty deal. I sure do remember mercurochrome.

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  13. My son brought my Granddaughter over last week to see if we could shed some light on the spots all over her torso. I thought at first it was chicken pox except she wasn't sick at all. A trip to the doctor, a test to see what it was (he didn't know either). Turns out it was nothing..just a weird virus of some sort. I remember having GM too..dark lights and all. Darn vaccines take all the fun out of life don't they? (I'm being humorous here..I'm not against vaccines)

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  14. OMG - that is hilarious, coming down with German measles while trying to fake them. What are the chances?

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