3 weeks ago I had what looked like a recurrence on my left arm. I treated it, and the bumps went away.
Last week I got a hot rash on my neck, and a swollen lymph node right above it. So I just dealt with the hot rockin' awesomeness of having an exposed rash on my neck for a week. I lanced a few of the blisters that showed up, and once tried applying the scabies medicine to the area, thinking maybe it had transferred through my pillow from my arm to my neck.
Yeah, no good. At some point the open blisters started to scab over and spread a little, and people started commenting on how beautiful the affected area is. Kind of looks like a vampire bite.
Then yesterday I started to notice itching around my upper back and chest, and matching little red bumps. Time to see the doctor.
I was #6 at Patient First this morning, and a very nice pregnant doctor recoiled slightly when I showed it to her. Perhaps she just didn't want any of my flesh-eating bacteria. Wuss.
So she lanced a few blisters herself, took a swab sample or two, and told me she thinks I have...wait for it...shingles! And do you know what shingles is? I didn't: it's herpes!* Hot snot: my wife is waiting for a bone-marrow transplant, and I develop a highly contagious skin condition.
So now I'm taking Valtrex. It's the single biggest pill I've ever seen, and I get to take 21 of them.
Thank God Amanda's not neutropenic right now.
My favorite part of the whole doctor-thing this morning was that after she took a few swabs, I started feeling seriously nauseated. I was trying to listen to her and hoping she'd be done soon so that I could get outside for some fresh air. I quickly realized that wasn't going to happen, and apparently she realized the same, and they made me lie down on the bed, put a stool under my legs, and placed a cold washcloth on my forehead.
I think having seen the needle and knowing that someone else was poking my skin did it to me, but I was sure I was going to retch.
Here's a shot of the sexy needle (the one on the right). Just looking at the picture makes me feel queasy:
*Ok, so it is herpes, but more specifically it's a recurrence of Chicken Pox. Read about it here (with charming similar-to-mine neck-shot goodness).
4 comments:
I had shingles when I was younger but your outbreak sounds a bit worse. I hope you get better quickly.
Needles always make me queasy too.
I too had the pleasure of experiencing shingles in the summer (which made it worse). Apparently, if you've had chicken pox, it's just waiting to happen at times of high stress. And those pills are horrid.
Get well soon.
I thought only old people got shingles...
No, in all seriousness (and I haven't looked at the link, which probably says this), shingles is chicken pox, which lies dormant in your blood until you get stressed and your body is weakened enough for it to break bad on you.
Sorry that you have that on top of everything else going on in life at the moment. Hang in there!!
If you had to choose between all the things you can take valtrex for, this was the good one! And yes, they are horse pills!
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