Shingles and Shingles

Looks like I will get all new shingles on my house, over 50% damage, he said.  The adjuster was ever so nice.  He had come all the way from Florida to help with the tornado damage assessments.  Just glad I have that checked off my list of things to be done.  I made a list of all I knew had been damaged, but he noticed more.

Needless to say, my life has been stressful.  Thankfully, I do always feel like I am in control, even though I may not like what I am controlling.

I'd been itching too, so I thought I had red bugs or poison ivy/oak.  I had pulled a few weeds, planted flowers and raked some in the yard a few days before it started.  It began with just a patch, but that didn't last long.  Soon, it spread and was driving me nuts.  Not only did it itch, it ached and hurt!  But by then,  I was away from home and no matter what I put on it, there was no relief.  When I got back home, still scratching and moaning, there was tornado damage to deal with.  So, it was Wednesday before I could get an appointment with the doctor.  I had done my research on line by then and been scratching for well over a week.

When the doctor walked in, he greeted me, and asked how I was doing.  "I'm doing well considering," I said.  "I'm pretty sure I know what I have, but wanted to see if you agreed."  He opened my gown and looked at the red rash on my back, closed it quickly and said, "I know what it is, what do you think it is?"  "Shingles," I responded.  "You are right, and a good case of it, I might add," he said as he sat down and started pounding on the keyboard by his computer.

"We're just in a little of a pickle, though, you're past the point I can give you anything to stop it, but we may be able to dry it up a bit.  But no guarantee...and your chemo limits what can be done too.  How bad is the pain?"  "Bad enough, but I've tolerated it this far," I said.  "Been using the numbing cream I use for my port and the pain medicine I already have. It helps but there are two things, first the itching and then the pain in the muscles around it, they are different."

(This is the way it looked in the beginning, so you can understand why I thought it was poison or red bugs.  It eventually wrapped almost all the way around.  Guess the bruising is from the incessant scratching and rubbing on the door jamb like a pig.  And yes, I had tried to get the vaccine last fall when I got my flu and pneumonia shot but chemo patients cannot get it due to the fact it is a live virus vaccine.)

He reached in a drawer and pulled out his visual aid, a small simulated section of backbone, to help explain what was going on. "Shingles is a viral infection of the nerve roots in your spine.  When you had chicken pox when you were a child, the virus didn't go away, it just went to sleep on these nerve endings.  In some people, it wakes up and presents itself as shingles.  We're not sure why it affects some people and not others, but there are certain factors that can influence it," he said.  He held up the small section of backbone, and wiggled the little nerve endings that protruded out from the vertebrae. "Shingles causes pain and often causes a rash on one side of the body. The rash appears in a band, a strip, or a small area. Shingles is most common in older adults and people who have weak immune systems because of stress, injury, certain medicines, or other reasons.  Of course, you fit into all of those categories.  Most people who get shingles will get better and 92% will not get it again.  But, with the luck you have been having, you may be in the other 8%!"  

Nice, I thought.

We chatted for a few more minutes and he was ready to leave, but he paused and said, "I sure miss John.  He was one of my favorite patients.  I always enjoyed seeing him come in."  The tears started welling up in my eyes.  "I didn't mean to upset you, I know it is hard, but I just couldn't leave without saying that.  Please know, even if I don't say anything, I miss him too."  He closed the door and I sat there and cried.

PCQ