A Whole New Meaning to Kusama's Dots...

Last year I went to see Yayoi Kusama's exhibition... Pretty crazy experience... The infinity of phallic objects sticking out of furniture, boats and shoes was quite staggering... And then there was Kusama's famous obsession with the dots... Who knew they could be so overwhelming and insane... The dots were spreading like a virus, from one canvas to the next... Even entirely covering room, psychedelic dots were living on walls, furniture, floor and ceiling in Kusama's room-sized installation I'm Here, but Nothing... Not to mention the iconic infectious red dots covering body and face, which made you feel like the dots were taking over the entire universe... Soon you begun to wonder if perhaps you will also leave the exhibition covered top to toe in the red dots...

Almost a year later now, there is a whole new meaning to Kusama's red dots... Having spent a week in bed feeling awfully sick, I now wonder if Kusama had a bad case of Chickenpox in her adult life too?! So yes that's why I've been away for a while! I was feeling really unwell for two days before the first spot appeared, the symptoms were really weird something between a flu, a food poison and indigestion... Excruciating abdominal pains were accompanying general un-wellness... I was really confused why I suddenly felt so drained and lethargic when I have been resting for an entire week during Christmas and New Years... I eventually thought I might have had too much food over the festive celebration... And then I noticed a small spot on my neck and a rash like outbreak on my chest thinking that I must be having an allergic reaction towards something...

When I then woke up next morning covered in painful and terrible looking blisters filled with liquid all over my body, scalp and face I was in shock... I then ended up talking to a doctor over the phone who diagnosed me with the fabulous Chickenpox! I never had Chickenpox when I was little, and to be honest I thought it was a virus you only get in your childhood... So it was a bit of a surprise... But omg(!) was I wrong! You can get Chickenpox when you are an adult too, the difference is it's a lot more severe than having it as a child... As an adult you get strong joint, back and chest pain, high fever, headache and lots of other unpleasant and painful symptoms... I will make sure when I have kids that they get it when they are little, honestly this has been the most horrific time I had to go through... 

I have been at home for days now, you can't leave your home until all of the spots have crusted over, because you still can pass it on... Chickenpox is highly contagious, not only can you pass on Chickenpox to people who haven't had it yet but you can also trigger Shingles in those who had Chickenpox, it's the same virus but even more serious and even more dangerous leading to severe complication... Thank god I am recovering well - today is Day 6 from the day of the first spot appearing, and I only have four spots left to crust over to stop being contagious... 

They were horrendously itchy on Day 3 - Calamine lotion helped! I basically just covered my entire body and face in that lotion, it's got Zinc in it so apart from soothing the skin it also helps the skin to heal and dries out the spots a little... Obviously Chickenpox are famous for that intense itchy stage so nothing is going to make them stop itch entirely, but Calamine certainly made the itching bearable... So I was relieved when I woke up on Day 4 and the itching was gone and that is also when most of the blisters started crusting over! 

I hope this will help anyone who is going through it right now, all I can say is you need to make sure you drink plenty of liquid, even if you only can drink a little make sure you have a few sips regularly... Eat very light soups and gentle on stomach foods, you don't want to irritate it... Also stay away from the dairy... It's a nasty virus that just has to go through your system and unfortunately you can't really do much about it, except for sleeping, and praying! It's very important not to itch the spots, as they can get infected and would take much longer to heal and can leave scarring...The severity of the virus depends on the immune system, the stronger it is the faster you recover obviously... Also the older you get the worse it is to catch Chickenpox, so I guess I am happy I got it at 29 and not even later!

Anyways all I can say is that all is well that ends well! I cannot wait to get back into my skincare routine, as for the first couple of days I could only wash my face with water as the skin was in total agony and I could barely touch it... And having a combo skin type that is prone to acne means that it went somewhat out of control, so then Day 4 I started slowly adding the very gentle Vichy Purifying Foaming Water and Vichy Hydra-Soothing Toner to my skincare routine... Will be starting my gentle exfoliations on face and neck soon to help the Chickenpox crust get off faster and get the skin in a good condition again... So yeh my lovelies won't be any beauty looks till I get there, hopefully won't take too long! 

Lots of LOVE and be healthy!