A Pox on Us

The kids almost didn't go to school this morning. At breakfast, Sis showed us her itchy belly covered in 10+ red spots, like ant bites. Oh, goodness--with the recent fever, could this be chicken pox? I had it, what, 3 1/2 decades ago, and can't recall the progression. So we looked on various trustworthy medical sites: Fever? Check. Red spots? Check. Itchy? Check. No school. But we did page the doctor just to be sure and to see what to do next. Which is when she called back, humoring us. Apparently the spots arise during the fever, are extremely itchy (Sis's weren't), start on the face, and spread like wildfire. This wasn't that. And so the doctor thinks it's some kind of contact dermatitis or other kind of contact rash, especially because her last temp was Monday (5 days ago) and said they were okay to go to school. Which is exactly where they were about 15 minutes later . . . .