Progress Reports and Shingles

I have been dying to post, but finding the time to do it has been impossible. I had to learn a new system for inputting grades for progress reports. It took me a while, but thanks to my good friend and colleague Noemi, I got it done in two nights. My work day began Monday and Tuesday at 5:00 am and ended at 11:59 am. Needless to say, I was extremely run down. I felt great because I could check that box off of my list. All weekend long, I was compiling grades and get things ready for these two days of progress reporting.

On Wednesday, my lovely friend, Migraine, came to visit on time. On time I say because whenever I am overworked and over stressed, he pays me an unwanted visit. This time was different. Not different because of when and where it occurred. I am used to the onset of morning migraines to meet their crescendo around noon and BOOM I am in for it. Different only because my stomach has been majorly rancid lately. I think I have an ulcer and am getting more tests done to find out the cause of my pain. My stomach hurts like the dickens with not much respite. I cannot take any NSAIDs. There is no pain relief from my migraine at all. I have to just as some people say, "deal." That is just what I did. I suffered through a long afternoon teaching. The kids were very kind to me. I tried to get through teaching some Math and then moving onto DRAs (assessments for Reading) where I could barely see the titles. My vision started to blur some. I suffered through two phone calls from the nurse and dismissal.  My ultimate goal was to get through it all and get home to sleep.  By the grace of God, I did it. I went home and slept from the time I got home until 10:30 pm. I awoke feeling somewhat better. The migraine had subsided to a minor headache. I hoped that the next day would be better.

On Thursday, I woke up feeling a little better. The effects of the migraine were minimal. I prayed that it would just leave me alone completely. When I arrived at work, I felt better. With migraines, the effects linger and could be triggered again, so I was guardedly optimistic. As it turns out, Thursday was quite a lovely migraine free day!  Yay! I did, however, find myself scratching the back of my neck some during lunch duty. I never thought much more about it. The rest of the day went spectacularly well.

On Friday, I was dragging. I was devoid of any energy. I couldn't figure out why I was so tired since I had a sufficient amount of rest the previous two nights. The day went okay and by the time I ended by last after school class, I felt completely wiped out. I felt confused all day because the back of my neck kept itching me the whole day. What was going on? I thought. Did I get bit by a spider or some insect? I remember seeing a little mosquito fly by me at home the night before. The weird thing about this was the itching area felt strange. It was swollen. What the heck can that be? I thought. When I was talking to one of my colleagues, I asked her to look at it. When she looked it, I imagine she winced because she said, EWWW! I thought, What the heck is this? She proceeded to take a photo of it on her phone. When she showed it to me, I was shocked. It was a patch of redness shaped like a photo of comet but eye shaped. In the middle it looked like there was a mini scab. From that patch of redness protruded some red chains rolling down my neck and embarking on a trip to my shoulders. The sight scared me. I thought that maybe I had some kind of MRSA or flesh eating bacteria. I thought about all the terrible things that it could possibly be. I watched plenty  of Monster Inside of Me shows. I had also read much about  flesh eating bacteria. My mom had recently contracted MRSA too. Could it be MRSA? I knew that I had to seek medical treatment immediately, but at 5:00 pm on Friday? I decided to visit an emergency room close to my house.

I went to hospital and within 30 minutes a doctor looked at my neck. They initially thought MRSA or Shingles. Another attending physician accompanied the first doctor that I had seen previously. They concurred on the shingles diagnosis. Shingles? I have shingles? Well, it is better than MRSA, I thought. They gave me a prescription of antibiotics and ointment. The nurse was adamant that I take the meds immediately, even though it was late in the evening. My pharmacy, however, was still open. I was able to start treatment immediately to stop the virus from spreading.

When I arrived home, I researched Shingles. All of my symptoms, leading up to the red rash, were spot on. I had the headache and vision problems on Wednesday. I have noticed the blurred vision, but I thought it was time to get my eyes checked and new glasses. The good thing is that I caught this early so that it cannot spread. I hear it can be very painful. Google images of Shingles was quite gruesome. My neck area is nothing compared to some people's Shingles.

A few weeks ago, I visited Walgreen's. They had this sign up advertising the Shingle vaccine. I should look into this, I thought. Should have listened. When I am finished with this Shingles incident, I will get the Shingle vaccine. I do not want to go through this again.

What causes Shingles? Stress and a compromised immune system. People have told me that progress reports are a monster to get done. I can concur and maybe, just maybe, they cause Shingles. Who knows?  Crazy week!