Shingles

So last Friday as I was calling Dave between classes, like I do everyday, he convinced me that I should drive home for the weekend. This made some sense because he hadn't been feeling well since Wednesday and my mom was planning on letting me borrow her "old" car (a '97 Camry that's been well taken care of) since she just bought a new one (and the Camry gets WAY better gas mileage than the '88 Lincoln Towncar my grandparents were nice enough to GIVE Dave and me, which was also VERY WELL taken care of...I love it!) and I figured I could leave the Lincoln with Dave and drive the Camry back up to Stockton.

Have I lost you yet? Sorry...back to the story! When I got home Friday night I met Dave at the football game at Liberty in time to see the band perform the 1/2 time show and to say "hi" to the McGuires (can you guys believe Karlee is a sophomore?!?!). He was feeling pretty bad so we went home after 1/2 time. When Dave was changing for bed, I noticed a rash on his back. Using my expensive education :) I diagnosed him with shingles and told him to prepare for some excruciating pain (hahaha...he thought he already felt bad at that point!).

I had to leave my sick hubby and drive back to school EARLY Monday morning. Normally I'd leave on Sunday, but Dave talked me into staying one more night...he's VERY persuasive. I drove the Lincoln back to Stockton because Mom forgot she'd promised to let my brother, David, and his wife borrow the car this past weekend to drive to a marriage conference in Monterey (since neither of their cars is very reliable). It worked out, though, because she gave me gas $$ since I came down (partially :) to get her old car.

Anyway, when I talked to Dave on Monday afternoon he felt like he was dying. He doesn't have medical insurance because he's not a "real" teacher (thanks, KHSD), because he's relatively a healthy guy, and because we can't otherwise afford it (yet). I wouldn't have it either (yet) if school didn't require me to. But I called the Dr. he's seen before (who's my Dad's MD...that's the connection) on Monday afternoon and they were able to get him in early Tuesday morning.

The MD said "Oh, my God!" and ran to get his camera when Dave showed him his rash...when Dave does something, he goes BIG. He confirmed my diagnosis of shingles (which anyone who has had chicken pox can get...it's the same virus that lies dormant in your nerves and can flare up anytime after the chicken pox--called herpes zoster). The MD knows Dave doesn't have insurance, so he rounded up some antiviral medication "samples" and prescribed some painkillers.

Poor Dave! The painkillers did NOTHING to stop the pain for the first few days. And he's pretty likely to get postherpetic neuralgia (unexplained and usually untreatable nerve pain that follows a zoster infection) because he was infected for almost a week before he got the antiviral medication.

Now the pain is controlled with the pain meds and I actually heard him laugh over the phone yesterday. Please pray for him to continue healing and to hopefully avoid postherpetic neuralgia!