Shingles
By W. F. Twyman, Jr.
Life is unpredictable.
One can be cruising along in life and, wham! Without warning, one is stricken by a burning sensation. A visit to Urgent Care and the prognosis is stunning. You’ve got shingles! This predicament happened to my friend of longstanding. After seven days, she was able to go outside and attend church for the first time in seven days. What is this scourge?
Shingles is a virus that lies in wait over one’s lifetime. If one had chickenpox in grade school like I did, one recovers but the dastardly virus hides out in the nervous system. All of the milestones of college, law school, the first job, the first career, marriage and children occur while the virus bides its time. And then one day without warning…
I had no personal awareness that Shingles was a thing until days after my sister’s funeral in January 2020. My Beloved Cousin invited me over to her place for drinks and shared memories. She loves a good drink and properly took me to task for commenting about my wife’s love of red wine in the evenings. At some point, she exclaimed that she had recovered from shingles and it was the worst thing in her life. She talked about the pain and time off from work and no reprieve from the pain. I never knew. Like me, she had had chicken pox in her grade school days.
A few months later, my supervisor-minded mother-in-law urged me to get my shingles vaccine. I saw shingles as a distant problem. My mother-in-law refused to let it go. Eventually, I was worn down. I got my two shots. Did I suffer a reaction? Yes, I did. I was out on my back for a day or two. However, I now had the peace of knowing shingles would not get me. The virus would not get me.
“I have shingles.” — my friend
I saw the pictures. Red blotches on the back, the full length of the arm, splattered across the hand. She was ok but the pictures looked horrible. She felt like she had aged a decade over the last six months. The sinister virus decided now was the time to wreck havoc on a woman’s life. Unable to sleep on her back, her right arm, hand and upper torso felt burnt out, just like Beloved Cousin. I didn’t see the rash on her neck, lower head and chin.
A religious woman, she made sense of her affliction in a fallen from grace way. “I figure I must be a terrible heathen bc I’m sure feeling hell’s burning fires.”
Conclusion: If you had chicken pox in your young days, you may have forgotten but the virus remembers you. It stalks you and your aging immune system. Do yourself a favor and get vaccinated. All praise to Beloved Cousin for sharing her pain. Blessings to mother-in-law for insisting I get the vaccine. And a speedy recovery for my friend.
Good Day!