I dont know any other bakers I can give my cakes to to do if im ill. I was around a kid with chicken pox a couple of weeks ago, and ive been feeling ill for three days with aches and pains and generally bleurgh feeling! I havent had it before and am not convincing myself that I am getting it...
Im paranoid that If i get chicken pox, what do I do?? I have an eighty year olds big cake to do next week, a 3 teir wedding cake, and the week after i have a friends surprise party cake and my sons best mate's birthday cake. Can I still do it if i wear gloves and a mask? Can you transfer chicken pox via cake? And wont it be really gross if people collect cakes and im all scabby??? wahhhh! what do you DO in this situation??!!

First of all, go to the doctor. Chicken pox as an adult is NO fun and can be worse than for a child. I don't want to scare you, no actually I do want to a little bit, but only so you go and get a professional opinion. Just because people say it's a childhood desease, does not mean it's a harmless illness, especially not for an adult. See waht the doc sais and go on from there. Keep away from people until you go, wash hands frequently and do not scratch or touch other people.

Ask the doc, he's the professional, not cakers

Ursula thanks for your message! I dont have any spots yet, I know from past experience with my GP that if I go with vague symptoms he will send me straight home again. Obviously if I get gravely ill or spotty I'll call the doctors and see if they want to see me.
Just more wondering what other people do in this situation when they get ill and have orders to do?

As soon as you have the first blister, cancel the cakes. You do not want to work on them when you are ill. As an adult, you need even more rest than a child (my sis had it when she was 17 and it incapacitated her for well over 2 weeks and she was weak for another two) Perhaps you just caught a cold, but you would still have to use protection when you are making the cakes. See how you feel tomorrow and go on from there. I used to be a nurse, so I do know somewhat, what I'm talking about. Some people get it light, others really get it bad, I hope you don't get it at all, but it's always to be safe than sorry

All the best to you and let us know, how it turns out. Tell the truth, if you were making my cake, I would rather you rest and go completely without cake. Here's a virtual get better cake for you

Talk to your parents and find out if you had chickenpox as a child. If you did, but have been exposed again, you might develop shingles. My 9 yo had chickenpox recently, and my 13 yo felt a been rough and got a bit of a rash around his side, which is the classic shingles symptom.
Either way you definitely shouldn't be working on cakes... Hope you're ok..

No one is going to believe this, but...
As a kid I had chickpox 4 times. Each time was confirmed by my doctor (one time from my mom's doc because she was a the doctor's for something and the doc looks at me and says: "You know your kid has chickenpox, right?").

My mom would always tease me that when I was 10 I would get shingles, well when I was 10 I didn't get shingles but she did. It was a really bad case too.

You have to be careful as an adult. Chickenpox can be deadly to adults.

Actually, cai, I DO believe you. I used to work with a girl who'd had it three times. I guess sometimes the body doesn't build the immunity it's meant to...

I had a friend who got chickenpox and then shingles at 28 yrs. old and she almost died from it!

Also, I believe chicken pox is an airborn type of thing isn't it?? Passed through the air??? Also, most contagious before you EVER see the first blister.....so if you're getting it, you're contagious now, not when you're all scabby!

How Does Chickenpox Spread?
Chickenpox is contagious, meaning that someone who has it can easily spread it to someone else. Someone who has chickenpox is most contagious during the first 2 to 5 days of being sick. That's usually about 1 to 2 days before the rash shows up. So you could be spreading around chickenpox without even knowing it!

A person who has chickenpox can pass it to someone else by coughing or sneezing. When he or she coughs, sneezes, laughs, and even talks, tiny drops come out of the mouth and nose. These drops are full of the chickenpox virus. It's easy for others to breathe in these drops or get them on their hands. Before you know it, the chickenpox virus has infected someone new.


http://kidshealth.org/kid/ill_injure/sick/chicken_pox.html#

jojo, where are you located? Maybe some fellow CCers can take some of your cake orders for you?

Chicken pox is most definitely airborne. I didn't have them until I was 18. A little girl at church had gotten them at school and me and another lady went to visit her. I thought as long as I don't hug her or sit near her, I should be find right? Wrong. I sat on the other side of the room from her and never got even a little bit close to her. A week later I had them.

cai...I believe you. I have had them three times, once as an infant, once as a child, once as an adult. When I was sent away from work (at a nursing home) to see the doctor, the doctor kept saying "the book says you can only have it one time," and attempt to find something else to call it, but ended up diagnosing it as chicken pox after all. I was out of work and mostly quarantined in my apartment for a week. Felt pretty good (maybe because I'd had them earlier in life), but very cooped up.

Wow , I have never had them and was always warned to make sure I get them because that it is worse as an adult. But when ever I would purposely come in contact with someone I knew I would not catch them. So till this day Im 30 and have never had the chickepoxs

Our neighbor's son got chicken pox four times before the age of 9! Poor thing. I hope you don't have them, but you seriously need to go see a doctor. If I was the client, and you told me you had to cancel my cake due to chicken pox, I would definitely understand! I'd be grateful that you didn't want to take the risk of spreading the disease to anyone else. I had to cancel a cake for a good friend because of a Norwalk (?) Virus outbreak at my kid's school. Over 800 people infected. Nasty. My friend was thrilled that I didn't do the cake. The last thing she needed before heading off to a tropical vacation was a horrible virus sweeping thru her family.

I found out when I was pregnant with my daughter that I had never had chicken pox ( my doctor didn't believe me when I told her I'd never had them and sent me for blood test ). So I had the vaccine along with my daughter when she was old enough to get it.
My doctor recommended the vaccine cause I'm old!!! but also cause you can get really sick when your older and just for vanity reasons (no pox scars!)

I got them at age 28, and was horribly sick for a week and a half. I couldn't drag myself off the couch, let alone do anything. The symptoms started ouot like a really bad cold; headaches, congestion, runny nose, aches etc. I would definitely let your clients know now and see if they want to try to make other arrangements, and maybe try to arrange someone else yourself as well.

Hi everyone thanks for all the comments.
Well over the weekend, its definitely materialised at chickenpox
I initially felt really quite ok. and only had a couple of spots under back of neck hairline and about five on my tummy and thought
"wow, this isnt that bad, these will scab over, i wont be contageous by wednesday, (you are not contageous after the spots scab over, usually takes five days). I thought I may still be able to do the cakes."
Last night more and more spots appeared, my head is covered, i cant move my face and i feel rubbish!!! No way can I make the cakes. Maybe the ones the week after next, if the spots are cleared up, but certainly not next weeks. I have told my friend with the wedding party cake, it was a gift anyway and she was fine with it. I have phoned the woman with the large party cake for this saturday, no answer to phone and no voicemail facility. She is on my facebook page however ( I do a lot of my business through facebook) so I have sent her a message on there.
I have emailed five different decorators in the area who look like they do cakes similar in style and price to mine to see if they can help - no replies yet but I can pass on their details to the client.

wahhhhhh I feel so guilty. But this cake was for an 80yr olds party and i dont want to take any risks. Also since im STILL getting new spots, theres no way they will be clearing up by the time i would want to start working on the cake. I would not want someone with weeping blisters working on my cakes!

I havent heard from the client yet - do you think i should offer a discount on any futur orders? I feel terrible about this, she was very excited about the cake, and very particular about how it should look - i feel like ive ruined the party!!

For what it's worth, my doctor said there is no way that you can pass CP on through food as it is airbourne and the virus will not live on food. HOWEVER, I totally get how gross it is to make a cake for someone when you have spots/scabs!! If i had of made the cake with only five or six spots, of course i would have covered up and put on gloves etc, but iwth this ammount of spots, frankly the thought makes me feel more ill than i already do!!!!

sorry for the long message, I am dreading this lady calling back! Thanks for reading this far!

Oh I am in the UK, in Bedford, and yes if any decorators are in my area and able to help with this party cake, please do let me know!!!!! Thanks!