Day 5

Same same. Rash looks a little more "rashy" than just bumpy, but otherwise nothing has changed.

On a side note; I mentioned earlier how much the ibuprofen and tylenol help. Still true. But I've noticed that the ibuprofen is a six hour medication, and I start to need it at about the four hour mark. Feels ok for awhile, then the sharp head and ear pain kicks in.

That's all for now.

Later,

Chubbs

Day 4

I'm debating if I should keep posting pictures. The original idea was to track the progression of the dang rash. But there isn't a significant change for a couple of days. The bumps are about the same, the one by my eye is still the same etc.



Every person I've talked to who'se had it, said it was blisters in a couple of days and scabs a couple after that. I'm on like day 8 since the first little bump showed up. Hopefully this just means that my case is minor enough to just fade away.

I'll post todays picture, but there isn't much change from yesterday or the day before.

Later,

Chubbs

Day 3

Today was a work day. Luckily I'm currently at a slow station because I couldn't shake the stinking headache all day. The pictures don't look like much changed since yesterday, but It doesn't really matter. The little rashy bumps don't hurt hardly at all compared to the stabbing behind the ear thing. I'm pretty sure I'm taking a sick day next shift.

Later,

Chubbs

Day 2

Well, it's another day gone and I'm feeling remarkably good today. Nothing like a nice hot shower and a full dose of Ibuprofen and Tylenol. The over the counter meds are really helping out a lot. I woke up this morning around 5:00am with the thought that someone was poking me in the side and back of the head with a fork or something. Sort of a pulsating sharp pain. But I dosed up on the Tylenol and Ibuprofen and now I'm feeling good. Incidentally, the prescribed antiviral medicine is "Valtrex". That's the same one from the commercials for genital herpes.
Luckily my wife isn't the suspicious type! Did I mention that they cost a fortune? $303.00 for a seven day treatment. Do the herpes folks have to pay that every month?

As you can see from the picture, no major changes today. The bump looks like it's starting to get a little texture on it, and there's a little patch of bumps smack in the middle of my forehead that look like they will soon be the ugly blisters I was hoping to avoid. That and a notable droop to my left eye lid. Droopy eyes are supposed to be sexy aren't they? Not so much if it's just one eye I guess.

I've been holding onto about a 10% chance that the Doctor was wrong and it was still just a bug bite. But with the new little marks showing up I'm pretty sure this will be an ugly little mess here in the next couple of days. My biggest concern now is when to take time off work. I don't want to waste sick leave, or expose any co-workers to a stinking virus. Combine that with the embarrassment factor of having a droopy eye and ugly little lesions on your face like some sort of meth addict. In case you didn't read the Bio, I'm a firefighter and I work a 24 hour shift.
I guess I'll just wait and see if I don't look and feel too terrible tomorrow for my scheduled work day.
See you tomorrow,
Chubbs

Day 1

Technically this is day 5.
I thought I came home from a camping trip with a bug bite on my face above my eyebrow. By the fourth day however, the irritation from the "bite" had spread to below my left eye and up to just above the hairline on my (genetically substantial) forehead. I went to see the Doctor yesterday and he told me it was Shingles and prescribed an antiviral med. Naturally the good Doctor basically told me a little about the cause and origin of Shingles, and...

1 - It will be painful. The amount of pain varies from person to person.
2 - It will be painful for somewhere between 3 weeks and 3 years. Varies person to person.
3 - Expect scabs that flake off and peal. The quantity of which varies person to person.

I took that all to mean that
1 - It sucks.
2 - The Doctors don't know crap about it.

So googling the images of "face shingles" is not comforting. I found an entire collection of people with horrible blisters and scabs on their faces. Since, as of today, I only have a red bump on my head I figured I'd post some daily pictures for comparative progression. And since it is still just a red bump...
We're calling it "Day 1".

With any luck I won't get the nasty blisters and potential scarring associated with it. Ideally this blog will be pointless because there will be nothing to report. But, erring on the side of pessimism, I'll post daily pics and notes on how it feels.

OK.
Day 1
For the most part it feels like a nasty sunburn. The skin is sensitive to even the lightest touch from the cow-licked crown of my head down to my cheek about 2" below my left eye. Absolutely no discomfort on my right side at all. Even just running my fingers through my hair without touching the scalp is mildly painful.
The point where the jawbone meets the ear is especially painful however, and a different kind of pain. Here it feels like a bruise is being pushed on. Kind of a dull ache that includes the area around my ear. Very painful to the touch.
I'm not sure if it's related, but I've had a headache for a couple of days, and it hurts to swallow on the left side of my throat as well. I mentioned the throat thing to the Doctor and he just sort of nodded and gave a half ass smirk.
That's about it. Sounds like a bunch of whining, but as I mentioned earlier, I'm trying to document the whole deal.
Thanks for reading,
Chubbs

My first day blogging

Well, here I am sitting in front of the computer wasting valuable time.
As of yesterday, the "spider bite" I thought I had on my forehead is now officially diagnosed as Shingles. As I'm trying to learn what to expect, I'm finding it hard to locate a day by day history of anyone who has already gone through this. So...
I'll be blogging the experience and posting daily pictures up here for anyone out there who may have questions or problems of their own.
Thanks for reading,
and good luck to you if you are dealing with Shingles too.
Chubbs