Collecting them all
Some people are bird watchers. Other people spot trains, or collect baseball cards or try to visit all fifty states. Me? I get to add another disease to my lifetime sick list. Actually, I guess I get to add two diseases, since chicken pox hadn’t previously bee on the list either.
I don’t know what you’ve heard about shingles, but whatever you’ve heard, it doesn’t do the pain justice. This morning I decided that there really wasn’t any reason to get dressed first thing. The elastic in my underwear at both waist and legs is torture. I pulled on a long T designed for sleeping and my robe, and I intend to stay in this casual attire until forced to dress for book wrapping tonight. Frankly, I think I’d have the guts to go to Barnes and Noble dressed as I am now, but since it wouldn’t reflect well on my organization I won’t push it.
The morning has been lazy. I’m currently cooking the “free” turkey I earned at my grocery store. The plan is to convert the thing to soup, but it’s a hell of a lot of turkey (the smallest one they had left when I got there was 21 pounds). I’ll make some soup, but I may just freeze some of the meat for future uses. I discovered when I got home from the store last Wednesday that the check-out girl charged me for my free turkey, even though she was happy to take my free turkey coupon. I’m going to have to go back and try to negotiate with them this week, which won’t be easy since I’m working Monday through Thursday.
I doubt I’ll be eating any of the turkey today. I still feel generally punky, and don’t have much appetite. I continue to run a low-grade fever as well. Hopefully that passes by tomorrow. I plan to let my boss know I’ve got shingles, since it’s theoretically contagious, but I’ve a sneaking suspicion they aren’t going to send me home.
Had a tenant years ago that had shingles so bad he wound up in the hospital just to manage the pain so I really do feel for you. I can’t even imagine how bad it is to have it where you do. Show up at work in loungy/sleep pants sans undies and see how fast they send you home 😉
P.S. I broke out in impetigo once while on vacation in Scotland. I was NOT amused…..
Famous Mommy Blogger Heather Armstrong, AKA "Dooce," got shingles this year, too. I believe her doctor told her that the pain of shingles is worse depending on the patient’s age. The older a person is when they get shingles, the more painful. Heather is in her early thirties, I believe, and she wrote about the pain, but it didn’t seem to be as intense as it was for my grandfather when he had it in his 60s.
My grandfather’s doctor gave him Librium to help him cope with the pain, but after the first couple made him feel "drunk" he stopped taking them. As an early-ish member of A.A. in high standing he couldn’t in good conscience take anything that could compromise his sobriety. Then he started taking Tylenol like breath mints.
I think the location probably matters, too. In my grandfather’s case it was shaped like a lighting bolt that went from his hairline almost to his left eyebrow and he had the scar for the rest of his life. His doctor was afraid that if it progressed past his eyebrow that he would go blind in that eye. Luckily, that didn’t happen.
When the shingles came back a few years later, it didn’t seem to be as bad as the first time, either that or he had learned to tolerate the pain better. The first time he had it I have memories of him holding his forehead in his hands, being careful not to touch the lesion and rocking back and forth with tears streaming down his face. The only other times I remember seeing him cry were when his mother died and when he lost his driver’s license (he saw it as his freedom) after the TIAs started. He was a tough old bird, so I know it had to be bad.
Because I’ve seen what shingles can do first hand, I really do sympathize with you.