Don’t Be Stupid…Get The Shot

Have you noticed that if you buy a new blue car and think you have bought something a little different, something that will be easy to spot in a parking lot, all of a sudden, every car you see is that same shade of blue? So much for being unique! That seems to be true of almost everything about life; having something ourselves seems to sharpen our senses to all others who are similar.
Now that I have experienced the pain of shingles, it seems that everyone I look to for sympathy and understanding has a case much worse than mine or they know someone who has it and my case has been trumped by theirs. For the two people left who have never had shingles, I want to share what I have learned because it may prevent unnecessary illness and damage.
First, one does not get shingles unless he has had chicken pox as a child. It seems those chickens can come home to roost again and again after their initial appearance. I read in many sources that what signals their reappearance can be stress. I keep rejecting that notion because I have always believed that I was masterful at handling whatever stress came into my life.
My theory was just don’t think about it and it will go away. Well maybe I have something to learn from the people who write about mental health in our newspaper. Perhaps pretending it doesn’t exist is not a good stress reducer.
For whatever reason, I woke up with blisters and sores on my nose, eye, and forehead one morning and knew immediately what was wrong from hearing descriptions of the rash from former shingles sufferers. I also knew that being on my eye was very dangerous.
Art and our son Benjamin were busily researching my symptoms on the Internet as I was preparing to go see my local doctor. Warnings from the Mayo Clinic website about possible loss of vision and even blindness led us to go right on to Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia that has seen every imaginable eye problem.
Once there, the doctors remarked that I was fortunate to have gone so early in the course of the virus because treatment in the first 72 hours can really knock it in the head and hopefully prevent loss of vision.
Now that I am almost free of the dreaded sores that accompany this virus, I am learning that anyone over 60 who had chicken pox as a child should take the shingles vaccine. I had never heard of such a vaccine. If you fit into that age category, take it from one who thought she was invincible and was very wrong — shingles hurt and they are ugly on your face.
Go see your doctor, pay the fee and get the shot. You will be glad you are protected from such a mean illness.