Melissa Etheridge

[kostgard]

Discussing 'innocent' diseases, chicken pox can be a nuisance when you're a child, but it can be outright dangerous to an adult. Just because it seems to be mild when the patient is young, does not mean it will have the same outcome when you're an adult.

My dad had chicken pox as an adult, and he said it was the most hellish experience of his life. I had it as a kid, but it was a super-mild case and I've always been kinda worried that I could get it again as an adult.

Chicken Pox vaccine wasn't really a big thing yet when I was a kid, and because my timing is impeccable, I broke out with the pox at a slumber party. Again, totally mild case for me, so no biggie. But I gave it to a friend that night and she had a horrible case - practically every square inch of her body was covered in lesions/blisters and they scarred like hell. Her mom totally hated me after that.

Just a little illustration there that a kid can seem totally fine, goes to a birthday slumber party and sleeps in a room with about a dozen other kids, then wakes up with the chicken pox - having spent the night before spreading my virus to all the kids present at the party, and the one kid who did not have immunity (she was the only other kid who hadn't had it yet) got seriously ill.

[twodollars]

I had horrible chicken pox when I was in middle school along with my three sisters. It sucked and I still have 3 scars on my face from it. I also remember having to go to school when one of the scars was healing on my face and kids making fun of me. It sucked. I do remember my sending me and my sisters over to play with every kid in the neighborhood who had the chicken pox when I was in elementary school. She wanted us to get them when we were younger.

Related to vaccines, if you've had the chicken pox do you need to get the shingles vaccine? Shingles sounds horrible and I definitely don't want to get that if possible.

[ikmccall]

I had chicken pox when I was 23 and it was very painful and I still have scars. If twodollarsgot the shingles vaccine, I don't think it would hurt. Shingles and chicken pox are technically the same virus and you can get the virus twice.

[Deleted]

I am seriously making an appt. with my general practitioner today. This convo is very motivating. I want vaccines, boosters...the whole nine yards.

[azaleaqueen]

My doctor says the vaccine is necessary and gave me a prescription or it. However, insurance doesn't cover it and it's over $200 so I haven't. My own damn fault. I asked him about it, he didn't bring it up.

[OnyxRose]

I got chicken pox twice in fourth grade and in seventh grade. The 7th grade experience was far more horrible than the elementary version so I can just imagine the adult version.

Melissa doesn't really care about the children. She just wants to stick it to Tammy.

[GirlyGhoul]

By trying to deny her own kids vaccinations, Melissa has incited the mass vaxing of perhaps hundred of Greecies and their fams. MA HA HA HAHA HA HA HA!!! Take that Melissa!

And to be fair, if Mel had a legitimate concern or (semi)educated stance on being anti-vax, I'd at least listen to her. (ala Jenny McCarthy) But she doesn't. She can't give a good reason, just 'she doesn't believe in them'. So it's like she just trying to excert some control over the kids she abandoned and her ex. That's annoying enough, but their health could be risked by this! I hope the judge not only sides with Tammy, he or she adds in a verbal smack down to Mel. I also hope her new girlfriend takes note and decides not to have kids with her. Mel doesn't need any more little people to screw over.

[mochakitty]

Melissa Etheridge Weds Linda Wallem

What a great birthday present!

Two days after they both turned 53, Melissa Etheridge and partner Linda Wallem married on Saturday night at the San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito, California, at the foot of the Santa Ynez Mountain range.

"They were so happy," says a guest. "It was really beautiful."

In the course of the intimate outdoor ceremony, Etheridge sang Wallem a new song she wrote especially for her and which Etheridge had never performed before – not even to Wallem.

"It was such a magical moment," says the guest, who added that Etheridge wore a grey suit, while Wallem was in a white dress.

All four of Etheridge's children participated in the wedding: Bailey Jean Cypher, 17; Beckett Cypher, 15; and twins Miller Steven Etheridge and Johnnie Rose Etheridge, 7.

Among those also looking on as Etheridge and Wallem exchanged their vows were Jane Lynch, Chelsea Handler, Rosie O’Donnell, Whitney Cummings, Peter Facinelli and recording artist Sia.

"The ceremony was such a beautiful start to the night,” says the guest. "The setting was perfect. It was something Melissa and Linda wanted early on. It was as perfect as they envisioned."

Sunday morning, the newlyweds will leave directly for their honeymoon. Working closely with a personal vacation advisor, Etheridge planned to surprise Wallem at a secret location.

The singer and the Nurse Jackie creator had been friends for more than a decade before they began dating in 2010. Last June, they announced their engagement following the Supreme Court's historic decisions regarding gay rights, with Etheridge calling Wallem "my true love."

"I look forward to exercising my American civil liberties," Etheridge wrote on Twitter after the Defense of Marriage Act and California's Proposition 8 were deemed unconstitutional. Those liberties, she added, included "getting fully, completely and legally married."

Earlier this week, Etheridge, whose new solo album comes out Sept. 30, teased that she'd be debuting some new music at the wedding, Tweeting: "Ok, so I might be singing a brand new song that no one has ever heard to someone special at a intimate gathering Saturday…just wanted to share."

[Deleted]

Yeah, that's going to end well.

[wilbert]

How do you get a job as a personal vacation advisor??? Heck I'd settle for suitcase packing assistant.