SHINGLES

Well, I have had a rough week or so. My oldest daughter and her children came and spent a wonderful week with mce, the Dear Husband and youngest daughter, in the middle of July. When they left, I had not been feeling well, but put it down to being busy. That week-end, while I was feeding the cat-patrol boys, I tripped over the dog food shelf and stubbed my toes and then fell on the other side. It was grace personified. So, I suffered through Sunday and then bright and early Monday morning went to the Doctors office. I had broken two toes on my right foot and had a fracture on the left foot in the middle of the foot. Then I was given a lovely boot-shoe for my left foot, and told to stay off my feet (hahahhaha) and to rest. I felt terrible. Gave it another day and decided I had to go back to the Doctor, because the pain was so bad. They looked me up and over and said, “How long have you had the sores in your ear, and what is this by your eye!” I had seen the Physician’s Assistant (PA), and she had to go get the Dr. who had to go get the other PA, I usually see and then they brought in the other Dr., so there were 4 of them and just me. And I was looked over, very officially. And we had to discuss my blood work again and my other health issues. To make my long sob story shorter, I have 3 active strings of SHINGLES on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th. The 1st and 2nd are the most dangerous, because of your eyes and vision (and I don’t have any activity on the 1st) and my 4th string was almost over. So, if you have been keeping up in the last few sentences, I have 2 active strings of shingles, the 2nd and 3rd. Here is some real information on Shingles, by the Mayo Clinic Staff.

“Shingles is a viral infection that causes a painful rash. Also known as herpes zoster, it often appears as a band of blisters that wraps from the middle of your back around one side of your chest to your breastbone. Other parts of your body can be involved as well, including your neck, face or scalp.


The pain of shingles can be excruciating, and the cause might not be immediately evident. But once the telltale rash and blisters start on one side of your body, it's more easily identified as shingles.


Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus, the same virus that causes chickenpox. After you've had chickenpox, the virus lies inactive (dormant) in your nerves. Years later, the virus may reactivate as shingles.


Shingles isn't a life-threatening condition, but it can be very painful. Sometimes, the rash leads to a debilitating complication called postherpetic neuralgia. This condition causes the skin to remain painful and sensitive to touch for months or even years after the rash clears up.


Typically, the shingles rash occurs on only one side of your body. This is an important sign to help diagnose shingles. It may appear, for example, as a band of blisters that wraps from the middle of your back around one side of your chest to your breastbone, following the path of the nerve where the virus had been inactive. Sometimes, the shingles rash occurs around one eye or on one side of the neck or face.


Pain is usually the first symptom of shingles. For some, it can be intense, with just the slightest touch causing severe pain. Sometimes the pain can be mistaken for other problems or diseases, such as kidney stones, gallstones or appendicitis, depending on its location. Some people experience the pain without the rash, which makes diagnosing shingles more difficult.


Although the shingles rash may resemble chickenpox, the virus typically causes more pain and less itching the second time around.


Anyone who's had chickenpox may develop shingles. If your immune system doesn't destroy the entire virus during the initial infection, the remaining virus can enter your nervous system and lie hidden for years. Eventually, it may reactivate and travel along nerve pathways to your skin — producing the shingles.


The reason for the encore is unclear. But it may be due to lowered immunity to infections as you grow older. Shingles is more common in older adults and in those who have weak immune systems.”


So now back to the rest of the story. I then had to wait in the examination room, while they looked for an Opthamologist that could see me asap. They told me where they were sending me and I whipped out my card with my own eye doc’s info. So they called that office and I was told to come right over. I started at the first Doctors office at 1 pm and was sent to the other Doctor, about 3 pm and finally home with all the prescriptions about 5 pm. So my foot issues are on the back burner. I go to the Doctors, again this Friday and have 3 appointments at 7:30 am with the eye Doctor, 8:30 am with the regular Doctor and then 9:30 am for the orthopedic surgeon for my foot. My dear husband has Friday off and he is the chauffer for all my appointments.

The optimistic timeline for getting over this is “a few weeks !” And my nerves are SHOT ! And I am grouchy ! And my left eye hurts, bad ! And my main pills look like giant horse pills ! And I hate pain pills ! And my stomach hurts ! And I am supposed to take one of the pills with milk ! And I hate milk, so have been drinking flavored milk, and I now don’t like that either ! And now I am classed as an “older adult !” And I am complaining ! A lot !

But am feeling slightly better, but not good yet. Which explains why I am writing this latest blog. So, have a great day and be glad that you don’t have shingles, (yet).