Are You Serious?

Man.  Life sometimes just boggles my mind.

I woke up this morning, happy, ready for another day.  I was feeling a bit under the weather, but nothing I would consider keeping me from my day and plans.  

I got the kids up, and after a very strange morning, I managed to get everyone off to school, Grady was chilling out, and I got my coffee.  I had breakfast, got dressed and Grady and I went to the gym.  I had a great work out, came home after picking up Olivia, took a shower while Grady took a short nap, then we headed out to meet a friend and her daughters for some time at the park.  I had been looking forward to seeing this friend all week.  

While I was at Tim Hortons ordering Timbits, I reached around behind me to my right shoulder and my hand touched some hard bumps under the strap of my dress.  I thought perhaps I'd gotten a batch of bug bites.  Or maybe it was hives?  I didn't know what to think.  

The friend I was meeting at the park is a nurse, so I decided to ask her what she thought it was.  She saw them, thought perhaps they were hives.  Well...I can handle that.  She asked me about allergies to anything, any changes, but there wasn't anything I could think of.  We had fun, talked, the girls played and we enjoyed the weather.  At the end of it, she took another look and said "Well, it could be hives, but I think it might be shingles.  You should see a doctor today."  

Shingles?  Don't only older people get those?  I've heard of them, but I didn't know anything about them.  After a phone call to another friend, who said she would be able to take care of my kids, I made an appointment to see my family doc.  I had some time, so I parked for a few minutes, read up on shingles and realized a few things.  

First off, one of the first things that happen when you have shingles is that you get headaches a couple days before the spots show.  I had major bad headaches for two days.  They were in between my shoulders and it was brutal.  I had stayed home yesterday because of it.  Second, stress can bring them about as well.  There is no idea as to what triggers the dormant virus, but stress can be a factor.  Well, considering the past few weeks and all the changes I've made in the past month, stress is something I definitely have experienced, good and bad.  Top it off with a cold last week and chances are something sparked the virus to reactivate.

So...no panicking.  It's okay.  I will take care of myself, nobody is at risk.  My kids are vaccinated, but if Grady were to touch the spots he could transfer it, so we will stay out of the school for at least the first three days next week.  There are too many little babies and pregnant women to risk it.  I have plenty of people who are willing to help me out.  We won't go to swim lessons tomorrow.  We were supposed to go to a bbq, but that won't happen due to the risk of transmission.  When my kids leave the house next week, they will wash their hands thoroughly and not touch anything until they are outside and away from any chances of spreading it.  

I've posted a link to show what it is and the risk factors to others.  I can talk to you, but if I were to touch the spot then shake your hand, that might be an issue.  Only people who have had chicken pox can get shingles, so if you haven't had chicken pox, you're safe from this plague victim as well.

It's just one more thing to conquer.  It's just another day in my world.  It's just another day, and it was still a great day!  It started off weird, was great, then took a bit of a kick.  

How does this relate to my ADHD and such?  I'm not that anxious about it.  I'm not freaking out, panicking, worrying, whatever emotion might have come up before I was dealing with all my anxiety and ADHD issues.  This could possibly be the best test that I could have had since being diagnosed to prove how good things are getting.  

And that feels good!!!

Here's the info about shingles.  :)

I HAVE HERPES!!!  Hee hee hee...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herpes_zoster