For me, it has to be when I had chicken pox. Yes, usually chicken pox is just an annoying and itchy childhood ailment. However, for anyone over 13 it's very serious. You can even die. My fiance, at 20, has never had it.
I was so sick, I missed a month of school. I ran 105 degree fever, had blisters so bad down my throat that I couldn't swallow, and was so sick that one day I slept for 17 hours straight. It affected my kidneys and liver to such an extent that my eyes turned yellow. I developed a bladder infection, and the blistering on my hands got so bad that I couldn't bend my fingers. By the time I was well enough to return to school I had lost 20 lbs and was so weak that for the last month of school I wasn't able to participate in PE (not that I cared).
Now, as the result of having an illness that most people consider to be just an annoyance, I have asthma, a heart murmur, and nerve deafness.
I would like to mention something very interesting that my doctor (at the time I had chicken pox) told my mom, and that I'v heard other medical experts say. The common misconception is that a vaccine will completely stop you from getting an illness, and usually that's true. However, there are many cases of people who were vaccinated against measles, mumps, chicken pox, and even whooping cough who have still managed to catch these illnesses...the vaccines prevent them from getting as sick as they would if they weren't vaccinated though. Anyone who goes over to Africa to do relief work might pick up these illnesses if they go to an area where there is an outbreak. This fact doesn't mean not to get your vaccines, it just means that if there is an outbreak you still could get these illnesses.
I was so sick, I missed a month of school. I ran 105 degree fever, had blisters so bad down my throat that I couldn't swallow, and was so sick that one day I slept for 17 hours straight. It affected my kidneys and liver to such an extent that my eyes turned yellow. I developed a bladder infection, and the blistering on my hands got so bad that I couldn't bend my fingers. By the time I was well enough to return to school I had lost 20 lbs and was so weak that for the last month of school I wasn't able to participate in PE (not that I cared).
Now, as the result of having an illness that most people consider to be just an annoyance, I have asthma, a heart murmur, and nerve deafness.
I would like to mention something very interesting that my doctor (at the time I had chicken pox) told my mom, and that I'v heard other medical experts say. The common misconception is that a vaccine will completely stop you from getting an illness, and usually that's true. However, there are many cases of people who were vaccinated against measles, mumps, chicken pox, and even whooping cough who have still managed to catch these illnesses...the vaccines prevent them from getting as sick as they would if they weren't vaccinated though. Anyone who goes over to Africa to do relief work might pick up these illnesses if they go to an area where there is an outbreak. This fact doesn't mean not to get your vaccines, it just means that if there is an outbreak you still could get these illnesses.