A Rare Saturday Entry!!!! Rejoice! ;-)

A rare Saturday entry for me today. And you all can thank my lovely Shingles. What else do I have to do? There are only so many movies,so much TV, so many books and so much knitting a girl can do.

I'm going to start with a little description of shingles since there are so many misconceptions out there. First off, it's not an embarrassment to have shingles. It's a pain, in more ways than one, but nothing to be embarrassed about. I had asked one of my co-workers to let the bosses know that I had shingles and would be out for the week. Well, Goofball simply sent out an e-mail that said, "Kathleen is ill. She'll be out the rest of the week." *sigh* I mean, this is a legitimate state home kind of problem and he makes it sound like I have a freaking cold. I called the Big Boss myself on Thursday morning to tell him the real story, but he didn't answer so I just left a message. I also called one of the supervisors to tell her. She's so sweet, she called me yesterday to say, "Oh my God, Kathleen. I'm so sorry." Turns out her husband had shingles a few years back so she knows.

Back to the shingles, anybody who has ever had chicken pox could get shingles. The virus that causes chicken pox doesn't completely leave your body, it just goes and hides in your nerve endings and then later on in life, it can decide to make an appearance in the form of a lovely rash usually on one half of your body, i.e., the left side which is where mine is. And with the rash comes an incredible pain, but not necessarily where the rash is. And the pain is a deep muscle pain which is why I thought I was having muscles spasms. And the beauty of this pain is that it's FUCKING CONTSANT. Oh yeah, it's fabulous fun.

The doctor gave me Vicodin on Tuesday for the pain and although it didn't eliminate it completely, it did lessen it. At least, it did until Thursday. I took TWO Vicodin (checking with my pharmacist aunt = PA) Thursday night before I went to bed as when I've taken two Vicodin in the past I would just fall asleep. Well, the Vicodin magic did not work Thursday night. I got ZERO sleep as the pain was just beyond intense. It was so bad, and I reached the point where I just couldn't deal with it anymore and I just laid in bed and felt sorry for myself and cried. I'm not usually a crier when it comes to pain. I like to think I'm stoic (but that's probably not completely accurate), but I usually don't cry. But the exhaustion combined with the pain was just too much for me.

I got up around 5:30 and took my medication and then put in a movie (The Empire Strikes Back, if anybody is taking notes. I had watched Star Wars the night before, after also watching Himalaya, The Big Sleep, To Have and Have Not, Love Actually and Runaway Bride this week.) and was just waiting for 8:30 when I could call the doctor's office. I got a 9:30 appt. which made me happy, or as happy as I could be. I love my doctor because she takes the time she needs. She's never rushed to get to the next patient. She was pleased that the diagnosis she had made on Tuesday was correct (as the rash wasn't fully developed on Tuesday), but was not pleased to know that the Vicodin wasn't working. I told her what my mother had been prescribed, but she didn't think those drugs would be right for me. She ended up prescribing Norco for me and let me tell you. That stuff rocks, although it's taking its time this morning to take effect, I must say. My body has this tendency to develop immunities to painkillers pretty quickly, but I'd say that 24 hours is a little quick even for me.

When I took the Norco yesterday I immediately got a bit loopy so I laid down whereupon I had some freaked out hallucinations. The only one I remember was this giant earwig (one of the few bugs that give me the willies just thinking about them) and it was crawling in somebody's ear. That's when I decided to get up, as I was apparently not going to fall asleep. And I put in Return of the Jedi.

My mom brought me groceries yesterday. Every day when I would talk to her she would ask if I had enough food in the house, knowing full well that I RARELY have food in the house. And as I was getting a little tired of the Raman Noodle Diet (thanks Clarity), I decided to let her get me some stuff as she so badly wanted to do something for me. She made me laugh yesterday. I called her at work after I left the doctor's office to keep her posted and she answered the phone, "Doctor's Office, this is Kathleen's Mom's Name." I said, "Is this the Kathleen's Mom's Name that is my Mom?" "Yes, this is your mommy." I literally laughed as I haven't call my Mom Mommy since I was about 2 years old, if then.

The really sucky thing about this damn shingles isn't the pain though, it's the fact that I'm contagious to people who haven't had chicken pox. I had heard that it's only contagious if you touch the rash, but then I read on-line yesterday that it's just contagious being in my presence, which means that I can't go to knitting club tonight because two of the members haven't had chicken pox, and I can't go to my OS's house today for my niece's birthday party because the OS's SIL's kids haven't had chicken pox. And it's very possible that I can't go to Grandma's for Easter tomorrow because my OB (older brother's) kids are all young and I don't think they've had chicken pox. I've been trying to get a hold of them since last night but their line is busy. Yay!!! OBW (Older Brother's Wife) doesn't care if her kids get the chicken pox, in fact, she wants them to get it and get it over with. DOUBLE YAY!!! So, I at least can go to Grandma's tomorrow for Easter. The weekend isn't completely lost!!!

And now I must get back to my knitting. I have so much to do. I'm in the middle of a baby blanket for a dear friend who is due April 14 (or something like that) and then I must make one for my cousin who had a baby back in August (yeah, I'm slacking), and then her sister just gave birth to a baby boy yesterday. Whew!!! So many babies, so little time!!! Must.Get.To.Work!!!!

Hugs to all who have written and/or called this week to express their sympathy and caring regarding my hideous health issues. It meant a lot to me!