Shingles

Amidst all the holiday fun last week, I got shingles.  Merry Christmas to me!  :-)
Here is how Buzzle.com describes it:

Shingles is a sister disease of chickenpox and is more annoying in nature.  (Editorial note: I agree.)  Shingles (also known as Zoster) is a medical condition in which painful blisters are developed on the skin. Zoster is caused by a virus ‘Varicella Zoster Virus’ (VZV) that also causes chickenpox in humans. Any person who has had chickenpox in childhood is at the highest risk of developing Shingles disease.
If a person develops chickenpox, even after recovering from the disease, remains of the VZV virus still remain dormant in the patient’s body for the rest of his/her life. Shingles disease is also considered as revisiting chickenpox disease, which surfaces once the required conditions for the disease are met such as: patient is under stress or his/her immune system is damaged (certain medical conditions/disease cause significant damage to patient’s immune system such as AIDS (another editorial note:  Also bone marrow transplantation-- 1/3 of all transplant patients develop shingles)) which gives way to the virus to attack the nervous system of the patient. As it is chickenpox re-surfacing (shingles), it becomes more painful than its sister disease chickenpox that keeps annoying the patient even after the patient gets rid of the painful blisters.
 
Fun, right?
The rash develops along the nerve line, in my case from the middle of my back, around my side, and across my abdomen to my belly button.  It's really ugly.  I showed the boys ("Boys!  Do you want to see something really disgusting?"  "YES!"), and Joseph asked me if I was going to take a picture and post it on my blog.  Um, no.  I'm not interested in recording the horror for my posterity.  You can look up images on google, if you want.  Although I don't know why you'd want to.  Mine is worse than any I saw on Google, for what its worth.  Hey, whatever I do, I do it right!  What kind of perfectionist would I be if I didn't?  :-)
Actually, the poor souls who get it on their face and eyes are the absolute worst off.  I can't even imagine.
The good thing is that I have some degree of numbness from my ribcage down, and it would definitely be more painful if I had full sensation.  Go M.S.  Oh, wait, if it weren't for M.S. I wouldn't have this disease.  Oh, well.  :-)  It should clear up in 3-4 more weeks, so it's not forever.
So, in lieu of a picture, here is an internet diagram of the course of the disease.

Enjoy!