Sick House

What a crazy mess we have on our hands. At least it's not serious.

On Sunday I stuck my insulin pump on my stomach for the first time. I had used my back for 2.5 years but built up too much scar tissue and was no longer absorbing the insulin... so I needed a new area. Within one day of the new site, there were red bumps all around it. My skin is super sensitive so I figured it was irritated from the adhesive and tried to ignore it. Then Wednesday I noticed the bumps had spread out from the pump. I had also just switched laundry detergents, so I figured Tide had done it. Forward to Thursday. I caught a glimpse of my back in the mirror when getting in the shower and noticed this rash had spread in a literal line all the way around to my spine. but only one side. OH LORD. I knew instantly it was shingles. crap. Luckily I had an appointment with my endocrinologist that day and asked for a littl extra help during the meeting. Of course, he said it was shingles. He hadn't treated it since residency so it had been a few decades... not kidding he brought up google and used the internet to figure out what drug I needed. I'm now on valtrex (yeah, the genital herpes drug... gross) for the next week. The pain is what people say. Pretty darn bad. Once again, I can thank my cancer treatment for this latest manifestation. This keeps reiterating my point that it just keeps on giving.... and unfortunately, I should expect shingles flare ups for the rest of my life. My pathetic little immune system just can't accomplish much. Including keeping my 3 year old chicken pox infection dormant. Oh joy!

Then today Ian got his first illness. We are certainly lucky, almost 15 months and no issues with him!! We had been at a friend's house all morning and he was completely normal. He played and ran around. He has had a cold for about 10 days now and just couldn't seem to kick it. When I got him up from his nap this afternoon he didn't seem right. Lethargic. Then he did the classic ear pull. But he pulls his ears all the time, for fun. But I just had a hunch...so I poked his ear and he let out a piercing scream. Yup. Ear infection. Turns out he had a fever of 102 and infections in both ears. Antibiotics for 10 days. Best part?? He came home from the doctor and ran around with a football, stayed up past his bedtime and giggled for over an hour. With a fever. I guess I'm lucky. But thankfully I also decided to poke his ear or else he would have been miserable for days.

That just about sums it up. Shingles sucks. But in the grand scheme of things, who cares. Yes, I know there can be long term side effects. But quite frankly, I'm not caring about much these days unless webmd lists death as an outcome.

Sorry, no pictures to post. Pretty sure you don't want to see the shingles. ugly.