Enforced Rest, Part II

I never, ever call my parents to tell them when I am having surgery, did not call when I had a breast biopsy, usually don't tell them when I am sick. The reason is my mom goes to pieces for example, when I have a cold, thinking I will die of pneumonia. Then she doesn't take her insulin, then she gets sick, and it is all my fault.

As I've said before, she was not like this before her strokes. She always was a worrier, though, and never understood those who do not worry excessively, as she sees it as a sign of great love. Since she has been ill, she has taken it to the nth degree.

(Now, I've never had major surgery. If I was having brain surgery or open heart surgery, I would tell her if possible prior to the fact. With the minor surgeries I've had, I wait until I get the lab results then tell her I'm just fine. She doesn't like that, but oh well.)

But yesterday afternoon I got out my new headphones for my Skype telephony program on the MacBook and gave the parents a shout. Mom thought I was calling to brag about my new kitchen (I got all new appliances last week, which is another post), then said "HUH?" when I told her about the shingles. Shingles they know about as a friend of theirs, long deceased, had recurrent complicated shingles. "How did you catch that?" was the question, so I got to educate. My brother ME, who was an independent duty corpsman in the US Navy for many years, popped in from work about that time and we talked about it as he had seen ~ 25 cases in clinic. "Get on the antivirals!" he thundered. "I will, tomorrow!" I replied.

As we were on the phone I was so aware of how uncomfortable I was. I leaned back in the chair and immediately sat up straight as the pressure of the chair back was almost excruciating! We spoke for over an hour then I ate sushi for dinner that I'd picked up earlier and watched some TV.

By the time bedtime came, I almost was beside myself with discomfort. I dug around in my medication drawer and came across an opiate pain medication that I had left over from my breast biopsy a couple of years ago. (Note to self--get more today!) Probably not totally safe to take, but oh well. I took one then went to bed.

I slept like a rock for ten hours. Ah, bliss!

Upon awakening this am, though, I noted a few more blistered places on my torso. At least, as Kirkepiscatoid says, it is on my torso and not my face like my grandmother's was. It gets dangerous then. I go to the doctor at lunchtime for the antivirals and pain meds.