A week ago the shirt I was wearing seemed to have a scratchy tag in the front. I turned it inside out looking for it. I shook the shirt out. I ran my hands over it a million times (might be a slight exaggeration, but it could be more than a million). I never found anything that would be scratchy. And the feeling didn't really go away. It was less noticeable the next day, but I had eaten tortilla chips and thought I had dropped crumbs down my shirt. Anyone with cleavage knows that this is a thing. On Saturday night, there was a rash on my shoulder. But it didn't itch. It was a little tender, but not terrible. Sunday, there was a little more. I was so tired that I didn't do much of anything. By evening I had decided that I'd see the doctor on Monday, I was pretty sure this is Shingles. At some point I talked myself out of waiting and just went to Urgent Care.
The doctor said that the scratchy tag was the first sign of nerves firing. It seems that the small amount of rash is catching this early. He said I MUST get on medication that night. There was only one pharmacy left in the area that was open. It's all the way in Coeur d' Alene, and it's already 9:00pm. So they tell me they've sent the RX over, and I head there. Only the pharmacy never got the order. And by now the Urgent Care is closed as well. So the medication that the doc said I must be taking that night, I can't get till the morning.
I've been on the medication for 5 days now. There are about 4x as many spots as when I went to the Urgent Care and they are tender. I get random pains in my shoulder, chest, back, and neck, Some feels like tiny sewing needles in my skin, others feel like someone slapped me with a pokey hair brush, and occasionally, right under my collar bone, it feels like a bubble burst and tiny sparkly bubbles are crawling to the surface. What hurts the most is that all of the lymph nodes in my neck, and shoulder are swollen and tender.
What hurts the second most is my bra strap rubbing on the rash. Today. Yesterday, that wasn't such a big deal. I think a cotton or lycra bandeau bra would be so good right now. Do you know how many stores carry those? None. I went everywhere and called everywhere else.
I 'm cranky.
And I'm pretty sure I have it easy. I am certain that this is a pretty mild case of this crap. It could be so much worse and this sucks so much! If you have ever had Shingles, or if you ever get them, you have all of the sympathy that I can give you. It's all I can do. There isn't a darn thing that helps make this feel tolerable. Get through it! That's what I'm going to be doing.
